rcdynamic88

I am considering a set of the Year One 17" x 8" Magnum Wheels with 4.5" backspacing for my 1965 Cutlass. Have any members put those wheels, or some other 17" x 8" wheels on a 64-65 Cutlass?

Here is what they look like on a sweet W-30:

http://www.drivinithome.com/wp-conte...3/04/olds2.jpg

Her they are in the catalog:

https://www.yearone.com/Product/1964...442/cmw178blks


I have installed one of the common disc brake upgrades that adds 3/4" of width to front track of the car (3/8" each side). So that automatically pushes the outside of the tire closer to the fender lip. I currently have 15" x 7" wheels on the car. The wheels have 4.125" backspacing and 215/65/15 tires on the front. The tires touch the fender lip a little while turning and going up a driveway. I am concerned that 8" of width is going to be too much. My math isn't the greatest, but wouldn't an 8" wide wheel need 5.125" of offset in order to put the outside of the rim in the same spot as the 7" wheel with 4.125" offset? I think the 17" x 8" wheel would move the tire another .625" closer to the fender lip and make tire clearance even worse.

I think the overall profile of a 17", 45 series tire is not as "wide" as a 15", 65 series tire. I mean, 17" tires don't have as much sidewall so the don't balloon out as much, so maybe that gives you a little extra tire clearance. I'm sure I can find one of those tire calculators that can show me the actual section width to compare tires.

If any of you can tell me the backspacing of the 17" or 18" wheels you are using that would be great. Tire sizes would help too!

eshawl

I'm looking for the largest wheel and tire that I can put on a 65' 442 with standard coil springs. Do you know what that is? Thanks