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Yep! My 6.0” b.s. cleared in the front, but I decided to give up some steering for additional clearance on the outer edge, so I could have more flexibility with my setup. I think the splined sway bar clearing depends on several factors (spindle, wheel backspacing, where the sway bar mounts on the lower arm, etc). For some people it gives enough, but for others it still hits. Also important to consider what bar people are coming from. Usually people going to a splined bar for clearance are coming from a pretty big, solid sway bar, so it can offer additional clearance when compared to those. Another thing to consider is that you're going to be impacting the effective sway bar rate at the wheel by cutting and narrowing it, which will impact handling.
That all makes sense Pat - especially this part: "Another thing to consider is that you're going to be impacting the effective sway bar rate at the wheel by cutting and narrowing it, which will impact handling."
1972 Cutlass Supreme 5.7L 4bbl
w/factory front sway bar, front drum.
My intention is to replace the front and rear springs and install Konis all around. I prefer the car sits up a little from factory ride height and have the top of the rear quarter panels to look level front to back.
There is a major hot rod gathering here soon and I didn't want to have the stock hubcaps on the car. So I found set of old Eagle Alloy G/T wheels online and polished them, and replaced the lug nuts with MCGuards.
The wheels were purchased originally for a 1977 Trans AM. I haven't measured the offset or backspacing but they are pretty deep. Theybare 15x8.
I have ¼in spacers on the rear and have installed longer studs.
wheels 15x8 Eagle Alloy wheels
McGuard lug nuts
Cooper Cobra GT tires
Front P235/60R15
Rear P255/60R15
Air shocks, rear
No issues.
I really like how these wheels look. And even though they weren't my first choice and will be temporary, I've gotten a ton of positive feedback from people and they are a good compliment to the paint color.
I wouldn't have purchased wheels with this much offset, so finding out how well they actually fill the wheel openings was worth the $300.
The 15s leave a nice chunk of sidewall an the subtle tire size difference is exactly what I was looking for. Ive run the Cooper Cobras on my last '72 and happily purchasd them for this car.
The firdt photo shows my last '72 that had more rake and a larger tire size difference from front to back. It was a great car and i think the red and black looked very good with the Cragars and rake where this car wouldn't
** The bottom photo was an error, I uploaded the wrong one. It still shows the tires placement on the vehicle.....but the hood does not have horribly applied rallye stripes. I photoshopped those on to see how it might look.....lol.
Last edited by 1.9.7.2; August 2nd, 2022 at 12:33 PM.
I've had a set of original 14x6 SSII's on this car for several years. In my opinion, 14's are just too small and you're seriously limited in how much tire you can put on a 14" rim anyway. I've had 245/60/14's on all four corners. Recently upgraded to a set of American Racing VN500's. 15x7 in front and 15x8 in back. Both are zero offset which really helps to get the wheels farther out and fill out the fenderwell. Those original 14x6's have 4.5" of backspacing (!!!). That's on a 6" wide wheel so it's no wonder they get lost in the wheelwells.
The tires are, obviously, BFG's. 245/60's on the front and 255/60's on the rear. The swap has lifted the car and pushed the wheels to the corners. Both have vastly improved the look, in my opinion. I think the larger wheels have a tendency to shrink the overall look of the car.
Mostly A Bodies but here's a C Body.
All stock original 15x6 with 5x5 bolt pattern, Swapped original wheel covers for a set of '78 98 wire covers. Unfortunately, she likes to throw covers at 70 MPH, twice with these and once with the originals. Hankook Optimo P235/75-15 WWs. I might be putting a set of '70 Electra road wheels with SS1 caps on her, haven't made up my mind yet.
Last edited by smparr; October 23rd, 2022 at 01:48 PM.
Reason: typo
I've had a set of original 14x6 SSII's on this car for several years. In my opinion, 14's are just too small and you're seriously limited in how much tire you can put on a 14" rim anyway. I've had 245/60/14's on all four corners. Recently upgraded to a set of American Racing VN500's. 15x7 in front and 15x8 in back. Both are zero offset which really helps to get the wheels farther out and fill out the fenderwell. Those original 14x6's have 4.5" of backspacing (!!!). That's on a 6" wide wheel so it's no wonder they get lost in the wheelwells.
The tires are, obviously, BFG's. 245/60's on the front and 255/60's on the rear. The swap has lifted the car and pushed the wheels to the corners. Both have vastly improved the look, in my opinion. I think the larger wheels have a tendency to shrink the overall look of the car.
really liking these, whats the dif between a VN 500 and VN 501 that I see now?
Where did the olds caps come from?
Replacement radials for original bias plys - 1965 Delta 88
For my survivor 1965 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Holiday Coupe, while it was garaged and untouched for 30 years, the original bias plys rotted. I wasn't able to find a suitable bias-ply with the proper size white stripe for any price...and I was on a budget/time crunch anyway. I found a decent compromise made by Uniroyal.
Originals
Dayton Thorobred PREMIUM 78
H78-14 is the sizing used in the day Dayton Thorobred PREMIUM 78 (bias ply) There's a little flat spot from sitting.
Replacements
Uniroyal Tiger Paw AWP II (radials)
P215/70/14 Uniroyal Tiger Paw AWPII 215/70/14 Radials look almost correct (for driving)
For my survivor 1965 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Holiday Coupe, while it was garaged and untouched for 30 years, the original bias plys rotted. I wasn't able to find a suitable bias-ply with the proper size white stripe for any price...and I was on a budget/time crunch anyway. I found a decent compromise made by Uniroyal.
Originals
Dayton Thorobred PREMIUM 78
H78-14 is the sizing used in the day Dayton Thorobred PREMIUM 78 (bias ply) There's a little flat spot from sitting.
Replacements
Uniroyal Tiger Paw AWP II (radials)
P215/70/14 Uniroyal Tiger Paw AWPII 215/70/14 Radials look almost correct (for driving)
I thought the metric replacement for an H78-14 tire is 225/75-R14, with 235/70-R14 as an option. Or is that incorrect? Various tire size charts sometimes show different sizes when cross referencing from the old letter type sizes to metric sizes.
Thanks for sharing all this info guys, this thread helped out a lot when looking for my new wheels and tires. Upgraded from the pizza cutter SSII's 14x7 235/60/14 to some beefier 15x8 torq thrust style mags, tires are 245/60/15 on front and 275/60/15 on back. No issues at all with tires rubbing anywhere even at full lock. Back Space is key, 4.5inch backspace, looks great and means the wheels sit perfectly in the wheel wells.
Before
After
Last edited by Albundy; March 13th, 2023 at 07:15 PM.
15 x 8 0 offset . 255 60r 15 x 4
1971 Cutlass Supreme . I will be installing a suspension kit so the ride height will change a bit.
The last picture is with the stock 14x7 ss1 rims with 245 60r 14 rear 235 60r 14 front. Not 100% sure on my choice of tire size but it does roll down the road nicer with the bigger tires. I changed rims to make room for a disc brake set up. As well camera angle makes a big difference in the look of rims and tires. Thanks CO
Updated my wheels recently. Previous combo (which I have posted in this thread) was 18x9 wheels front and rear, with 285/40 rear tires and I've ran both 255/45 and 255/40 up front.
After 10 years or so, it was time for a change. I went with American Racing wheels, 18x8 with 4.5 backspacing in front and took a leap of faith that 18x10 would fit in the back with 6.0 backspacing. Tires are Continental Extreme Contact 245/45 front and 285/40 rear. I will add that my rear quarter panel wheel well lips are crudely rolled by a younger (and dumber) version of myself. I'm happy to report that after a decent amount of street driving, no rubbing. Front fits with tons of room to spare everywhere, rear has about 0.5" clearance to quarter panel if the suspension where to full compress, just under 0.5" to the 2.5" Flowmaster tail pipes, and a bit over 0.5" to the inner wheel well housing.
Thanks : Yes they are Vision Wheels Shift 148.
I am happy with them. I will be doing a suspension kit and will adjust the ride height some at that time.
At this time I wanted to have the 4 tires matching, but think a 245 60 15 front 295 50 15 rear would be an awesome tire package exspecialy on a Cutlass S.
Wheels are American Racing Torq Thrust II. The front are 15x7 and the rear are 15x8. Tires are 225/60R15 in the front and 255/60R15 in the rear. I ran 275s in the rear before and they rubbed. These wheels clear Wilwood calipers. The 15" Oldsmobile Super Stock II/III wheels from the mid 70's hit the caliper. In addition, the 15" wheels from Wheel Vintiques (Super Stock I style) also hit Wilwood calipers. Yes, I learned the hard way!. I have a Hotchkis B-body spindle conversion also, which lowers the front about 3/4".
Mostly A Bodies but here's a C Body.
All stock original 15x6 with 5x5 bolt pattern, Swapped original wheel covers for a set of '78 98 wire covers. Unfortunately, she likes to throw covers at 70 MPH, twice with these and once with the originals. Hankook Optimo P235/75-15 WWs. I might be putting a set of '70 Electra road wheels with SS1 caps on her, haven't made up my mind yet.
Nice to se some full size cars , i use 215/75 -14 on both my Oldsmobiles. Tested the squarebodys front wheels
on the 88 and i think it,s looks a lot better. 15X8 with -20mm offset and 235/70-15
Nice, I actually went back to the 98's stock wheel covers. I figured out why she was throwing the wires, the centers are just too high and rub the skirts in turns. This was causing them to pop off. After having the stock covers on for awhile, I kinda like the period vibe of them better.
Gang,
Just another big car entry to help those who follow them.
This combination is for a 1966 Starfire. More or less it's an Olds 88 with buckets, a console & some slightly special trim. But mechanically it's an 88 with dual exhaust.
I just got new wheels & tires for the first time in 10 years. Factory was 14x6 wheels. Long ago I upgraded to 15x7 and ran those for a decade or 2.
What follows should work for any 65-70 88/Starfire, but not 98's since these tires don't leave enough space to fit under the fender skirts (at least in 1966 98's). We checked and it's just not enough clearance. So, 88's and derivatives only.
These are 246/60 R15's on 15x8 wheels from Stockton Wheel. The wheels were powder coated prior to tires being mounted.
Early this spring I got together with my tire expert and we (well, really he) concluded that the best solution for my car was 245/60 R15's on 15x8's. I was committed to the 15x8's as more stable and better riding, but wasn't sure what the max tire size was that would fit in the fender voids.
It worked out to be a kind of "stealth upgrade". From the side you'd never know it was anything but stock: Simple 60's big car with fake wires and white walls, right?
Except when you look at it from the back, the width of the tires becomes clear: "Cop tires, cop suspension". Great how these wide tires fill the fender, right?
Finally a rear tire shot for anyone who's interested: Fred Flintstone would be proud. I did not go for staggered, but I gather 295/60's would have fit. I prefer the ability to rotate and keep just one spare tire.
I've only had an hour to 2 to drive 'em, but can say that the car is firmer on the road, feels more sure-footed in the curves and is better off. It must be said that my suspension expert replaced the idler arm & centerlink and front shocks with some adjustable Hotchkiss products. Overall the car feels like a fresh restoration.
A semi-expected upside is that the stock speedometer used to read about 5 mph low at 60-65. It's now more accurate at about 2-3 mph low. If I recall, in the 60's, the magazines of the day considered that well within an acceptable margin of error. Frankly 55 years later, I can live with 2-3 mph low...
The only downside is that I had to remove my Cutlass OAI (Olds, but not even close to factory) under-bumper air scoops since they sat too far back and interfered with the larger tires. I just need to figure out how to move 'em forward to not interfere. More or less I have to mount them 1/2" - 3/4" forward and I'm good.
Hope this helps some of you. Looking forward to some road trips from here.
This is my other big Olds, Norman, a 1990 Custom Cruiser B-body wagon. Last year of the boxies and a true Olds with an Olds powertrain. He wears his stock 15x7 5x5 steel wheels but I replaced his flat disc wheel covers with a set of locking wires off an '81 CC in a local wrecking yard. I think they look better than the small center cap wires from '85-90 and 100x better than the flat covers.
Well thanks to “ acavagnaro” for posting up these wheels back in Sep 2022
i looked and asked around to find a pair of 15x8 ssIII to match my 85’ 442 chrome wheels but finally gave up after a year and a half.
I had also ordered the SSI in 15x8 from OPGI 3 years ago this June, still on back order.
took the plung on the American Racing VN501 15x8 with 4.5” back spacing. Ran same size on my 69 HO worked great.
tires are coopers Fr: 245/60-15 and Rr: 295/50-15
they are 5-6l lbs lighter than the steelies so 10 lbs off the front and a wash with the larger tires in rear
Or are those the more expensive custom backspace American Racing AR 500s/501s?
I was researching each because as you mentioned the lighter weight from the steel wheels is really nice. I was considering doing 15x8 fronts w/a 4.5 BS like you did with 245/60/15 but going with 15x10 w/a 5.5 BS in the rear with Nitto drag radials in either 275/60/15 or even the 325/50/15. This is for my 70 Supreme.
Or are those the more expensive custom backspace American Racing AR 500s/501s?
I was researching each because as you mentioned the lighter weight from the steel wheels is really nice. I was considering doing 15x8 fronts w/a 4.5 BS like you did with 245/60/15 but going with 15x10 w/a 5.5 BS in the rear with Nitto drag radials in either 275/60/15 or even the 325/50/15. This is for my 70 Supreme.
-Joe
they are the mono cast, available through discount auto (15x8) for $145 each, I think that’s the cheapest around.
Did not price the 15x10
Well thanks to “ acavagnaro” for posting up these wheels back in Sep 2022
i looked and asked around to find a pair of 15x8 ssIII to match my 85’ 442 chrome wheels but finally gave up after a year and a half.
I had also ordered the SSI in 15x8 from OPGI 3 years ago this June, still on back order.
took the plung on the American Racing VN501 15x8 with 4.5” back spacing. Ran same size on my 69 HO worked great.
tires are coopers Fr: 245/60-15 and Rr: 295/50-15
they are 5-6l lbs lighter than the steelies so 10 lbs off the front and a wash with the larger tires in rear
Nice job! That's a gorgeous car and those wheels look right at home.
January 12th, 2022, 11:45 AM
