balage

Hello Guys,

I am new to this forum, but i have a lot of questions . I have a '71 Cutlass Supreme, and i would like to put chrom wheels under it.
I need 15" wheels, with ~235 wide tyres front, and ~265 at the back. Do you have any experience what is the allowed width and "offset" for the rims, and how wide tyres can you fit properly? I have tried one set before (you can see on the picture), but sometimes the tyre was reaching the body (maybe too small offset?), so i removed it.
I am thinking to buy these wheels:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ARE-772-5861/

Thanks a lot
Balage

joe_padavano

The 235 fronts and 265 backs will fit nicely. You want wheels with near zero offset, so an 8" wide wheel should have about 3.75" to 4" of backspacing. The wheels in the link you posted should fit fine.

balage

That is good, thanks. The only thing i don't understand is, why do i need backspacing?

joe_padavano

Backspacing is the term used for the measurement from the inner rim of the wheel to the backside of the wheel mounting surface. ALL wheels have backspacing. If the offset (defined as the distance that the wheel mounting surface is offset from the centerline of the rim) is zero, then the backspacing should be about half of the width of the wheel. In other words, for an 8" wide wheel, with zero offset, backspacing is 4". If the wheel mounting surface was offset 0.25" inboard, then backspacing would be 3.75" These are just two different ways of measuring the same thing.

balage

I see now, thanks!