64starfire

So I'm not real happy with the wheels that came on the car. Kinda has the lowrider look that I'm not really going for. Plus I think the tires are under rated for the car. The sidewalls really push out even with correct pressure.

So I've narrowed it down some, but welcome to new ideas. I'm interested in filling the wheel wells more, but not "stuffing". I don't want some trendy faddish wheels that will be passe in 2 years.

I like the newer torque thrusts, and even a 17" upsize would be nice. I also like the corvette rally's, but I'm having a hard time finding a suitable center cap. I'd thought about Rally's with a Toronado centercap, but stock caps won't fit that wheel, and Toronado's won't fit my lug pattern let alone finding stock toronado wheels. Stock hubcaps were 14" that year so thats out, 15" at least or more. The 17" rally's are absurdly priced.

I'd like something at least close to period correct, but doesn't have to be dead on. Something that looks "right". Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Olds64

If you want period correct then you shouldn't go to a 17" wheel. IMHO, nothing beats the Cragar SS. That is what my 71 98 is getting next spring.

64starfire

Ok well let me rephrase that, maybe have a semi period correct style, (like no whitewalls or 70's 442 wheels), but sizing, backspace, color, etc could be varied.

68Tom

I think Torque Thursts or Cragars would look pretty good on your car. Or, you can go with the sleeper plain steel wheels with correct dog dish caps. Wheel Vintiques makes them pretty wide and in a variety of sizes, so if you wanted to fill your well more and put some beefier rubber on, you could easily do so.

gearheads78

Any suspention or stance plans? If not Cragar SS with whitewalls would look pimp on that car. TT2 is the wrong wheel for that car. If you want to make stance changes my answer will change. Wheel tires and stance will make or break your car so tread lighty before you pull the trigger.

64starfire

68 Tom- yeah I looked through their selection and if I remember right the olds caps they had were in a 50's olds script.

gearheads 78- I am considering airbags. The shocks are so whimpy for that car and the springs 'float' quite a bit, but not really bad. Luckily there are coils in the rear with 'outside the spring' shocks, so a conversion back there wouldn't be too bad.

Just a quick look at some of the newer cragars look pretty nice. 17" even. Kinda start lookin' like TT2's. Thanks for the input.

68Tom

Yeah, you'd definitely have to do some searching for the caps. You could always run the plain steelies until you found some. Always really liked that look! Like you've either just come from or are heading to the track.

gearheads78

Your car would also look good with chrome reverse wheels with or without baby moons.

rocketraider

Finding those would be the trick.

I think about putting a set of full polished tri-rib Radirs on my 64 sometimes. You can't get much more 60s "period correct" than that. And they are made in the United States of America.

http://www.radirwheels.com/


Why oh why oh why would you even consider putting a Chevy Rally wheel on an Oldsmobile??? especially on a Starfire??? that's just wrong.

gearheads78

order these and call it a day

Yellowstatue

How about those mid to late eighties aluminum 15" wheel from a rear drive Olds, has about 20 spokes....hard to find an Olds cap though...Buick has the same wheel but different colour...

rocketraider

Can you get those chrome reverse in a 5x5 bolt pattern? All I've seen recently are either small GM or Ford/Mopar.

KQQLCAT

I think your wheels look good. Try better tires in the right size.

64starfire

Gearhead 78- maybe those but painted the same as my car with chrome rings, caps and lugs.....

and yes you can get the rallys with 5x5 pattern. Ok maybe not the corvette/camaro rally, but yeah, maybe those steelies just wider than stock with a little negative backspace.

gearheads78

There is so much chrome on that car that I think the theme needs to be continued. IMO the painted body color with rings is not the right look. If you want painted I would do black. I saw you say price was an issue hence my choice for wheels. It would look good bagged laying down or at current height.

Of course its your car so do whats your taste likes.

ijasond

Those are nice, but the wheels you have are paid for and with a little better tire selection I think they could look real sharp.
Look at Coyswheel.com, he has some affordable alternatives to some of the really nice, but extremely expensive Intro stuff.
It took me almost a year to pick out my wheels. But my car wasn't drivable.

ijasond

That's a nice lookin' car too.

66400

Try some OEM 15" wire wheels as found as an option on late '70's-'80's full size rear wheel drive Cadillacs.

Henry

gearheads78

Um no ....stick with the small caps





Picture025.jpg

The Stickman

If you are looking for 17's there are a bunch of options out there. Cragar has some new retro wheels out in 17's. If you was the rally's with baby moons then Wheel Vintiques does them in 17's as well. I know I had no idea how much I would love my 18's. On a big car with large wheel wells they really do make a huge difference not only in looks but also in how the car handles. I am running 275/40-18's all around and they look great and not outa place.

rocket-powered

Baby moons or some of the new Cragar SS's in 17" would look good. i even have some 94-96 RWD Impala rims I was thinking of putting on my '63- I would just have to get some Olds insignias made to cover the Imapala emblems. VERY beefy rims, thick and heavier than steel. 17" too.

64starfire

I see this thread has been on sebatical for a while so I was poking around on Ebay and saw this and got me doing a little work in MS paint. I'll be the first to admit I'm no photoshop artist. These are an 18" 05'-up Charger wheel, with spider caps and trim rings. They could either be chromed or painted to the same color as the car. Oh and would have to use adapters, and would use same dia. tires, obviously lower profile. Oh, the other is the same wheel with the police center caps.

gearheads78

I don't like it at all personally plus its the wrong bolt pattern.

DDTCM

Beautiful olds! Those wheels arent so bad but if you are not happy with em then its time for a change.I think the torque thrust would look mean on there,I say go for it.

64starfire

Thanks, another wheel I've found but would have to buy one to test fit is 18" Cadillac Escalade wheels in chrome. I already know I would have to run an adapter. That and bags I think would look ****. I'll just have to wait until I finished working overseas.....dangit

Dan Wirth

A big thumbs up on Crager Mags for the period.

aristellier

Cragar SS every time[IMG][/IMG]

Run to Rund

Check out some vintage magazines and see what was out there, Cragar SS, Cragar GT, American Racing, Hurst forged wheels, etc. Some of the modern stuff dlooks similar to the Hurst wheels. Take color copies from the magazines, enlarge/reduce Xerox, superimpose them on a photo of your car, and look at it occasionally for a couple days. Part of the "look" back then was 14 or 15" tires which had substantial visible sidewall. Surf the 'net and you would be surprised at what all is out there. Coker and Wheel Vintiques are two sources for chrome wheels. However, an upscale car like the Starfire would be better with something looking like the top-of-the-line Hurst wheels, imo.

aliensatemybuick

That car has alot of glitz; I think you need a wheel to compliment that. Not sure Cragars or other aftermarket wheels would do your car justice. I also think there's something to be said for keeping with original Olds parts, even if not quite the right year. Just an opinion, but I gather that's what you asked for!

SInce you want 15 inch wheels minimum, I suggest looking for a set of Olds Polycast wheels:

http://oldsjunction.classicoldsmobile.com/ssiv.html



They are not easy to find in nice shape, but patience (and money) tends to win out in the end.

As an alternative, there was a special 15 inch wheel used in 1967-68 (usually found on police equipped and/or disc brake cars) that did use Toronado center caps, and could accomodate trim rings as well. Sorta an Olds variant of the "Chevy Rallye Wheel" look you mentioned above. These wheel are even harder to find, but not impossible (I bought a set from a fellow member of this site a few years back).

http://www.othersideoftime.com/1968Oldsmobile98.htm



I have a set of these on my 1965 Jetstar, sans the trim rings:

OLD SKL 69

Just wanted to say nice looking car. A lot of good suggestions already, the only other one I could add would be Dayton Wire Wheels. Put on some spinners and they will never be out of style.

D Appeldorn

i have those ss 4 rim's what kind of trimring's can i use, becouse i mis one of it.

i know it does not belong on a 1969 88, but are those chrome rings of a ss2 or 3 the same?

in 15 inch?

aliensatemybuick

1990s era Chevy truck 15" trim rings will supposedly fit, but may not look 100% correct.

copper128

Take a look at the new Cragar Eliminator. I think it would look "just right" for a period-style wheel on your Starfire. It also comes with a grey or black center which might tone down the brightness of your car a bit if you're looking to do that.

64starfire

Been a while since I came back to this thread. So I've finally decided on what combo I want.

FYI.I will be going with airbags...Just like the ability to go with the stock height or really low. I do not plan on butchering the suspension. If for some reason I can't do airbags without cutting...then I won't.

I'm going to run 1963 Olds' stainless hubcaps such as:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT

And get them polished really nice. Then I'm going to add whitewalls. I know white walls are not totally period correct, but hell, they still good.

Oh just to be sure, can someone tell me if these are 14 or 15"?

If they're 14" I may reconsider. I want to add disc brakes and not sure if I can run 14". The add says they measure 16" total but that doesn't help much.

64starfire

Been a while since I came back to this thread. So I've finally decided on what combo I want.

FYI.I will be going with airbags...Just like the ability to go with the stock height or really low. I do not plan on butchering the suspension. If for some reason I can't do airbags without cutting...then I won't.

I'm going to run 1963 Olds' stainless hubcaps such as:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT

And get them polished really nice. Then I'm going to add whitewalls. I know white walls are not totally period correct, but hell, they still look good.

Oh just to be sure, can someone tell me if these are 14 or 15"?

If they're 14" I may reconsider. I want to add disc brakes and not sure if I can run 14". The add says they measure 16" total but that doesn't help much.

rocketraider

Those are 14" and require special clips to hold them on. Fusick has the clips. Be forewarned- they can be a total PITA.

Narrow whitewalls are absolutely correct for a 64. If the original spare in my blue 64 is to be believed as a reference, the originals were about 1-1/2".

Oldskeeper

I have been useing these caps on my cars and purchased the clips from Fusick back in 94 and have had no problems with them,for me I line the three bar spinner up so the top bar lines up with the valve stem making it easy to pull the cap out and check the air pressure.You can get away with 4 per wheel but I use 5 and keep an extra set in my tool box just in case.
Steve

64starfire

Well, that really throws a wrench into my plan. Because that means I need to buy/find new wheels. Probably not THAT difficult but still was hoping to get away easy. Ok back to more research.

EDIT: ok, so I found hubcap.org and found 1964 olds hubcaps that are 15". Now....let me digest this for a moment...$120 each. But considering what I was going to spend on whatever hairbraided idea....it's a bargin. They're all ready polished, cleaned, etc etc. and I hope for that price they have the new clips and everything. Now I need to call them to see if they have 4 of them....I tried ebay with no luck.

As for tires..I still plan on wide whitewalls, not the little 1" strip. I'm really not going for true period correct (hell the car's not even a factory color) just sort of a period custom.

aliensatemybuick

Price aside, I would be a bit skeptical that the hubcaps you found on hubcaps.org are indeed 15 inches in diameter. Are these them?:



I am by no means the expert on such things, but I am unaware of any full disc caps in 15 inch available from the factory that year (or for even the next few after that).

Guess what I am saying is until you hear back from someone who knows for sure, I would consider that the 15 inch spec. could be incorrect.

64starfire

I asked the guy to check if they were 15" and he left the phone as though to measure, and came back and said they were 15" so we'll see. Oh, and I talked them down from $120 to $100. It's still a lot but....they're supposed to be pretty nice.

Oh btw....does anything think those caps won't fit these wheels? and if they don't, what wheel will it fit (obviously aside from hunting down stock wheels)?

thanks