I have a 67 firebird and want to change the wheels and tires to either 16" or 17" diameter rims.

My car has 31,000 original miles so I am staying with stock suspension and sheetmetal to keep it as original as I can.

I would like the stance to be a 1. slightly wider than stock front combo and 2. A wider tire combo for rear.

I need to know the rim size, rim width, backset, and tire size.

For example. I found on craigslist a set of 16" rims and tires with the following specs:
Front: 16x8 rim,5.25 backset- 225/55/16 tires
Rear: 16x8.5 rim, 4.5 backset 245/50/16 tires
Would these work without rubbing or hitting the body or suspension?
thanks !
Rich G

I would stay away from the 16" rims. Not a whole lot of tires to choose from any more.I don't know my BS off hand but I have 17" rims 7" up front and 8" in back.

Thanks Robert. I heard that there arent many choices for 16" but I looked on Samsclub and they have quite a few still.

From what Im learning, the backspace is the key to it fitting.

Good news today...I started my car up for the first time ! I replaced the carb and she roared to life. I dont think the car was run in the past 10 years...It has 31000 original miles, and the motor sounded sweet !

I just mounted 17" wheelsw/ 245zr40s on my 69. They have about 5 1/2BS. They would've cleared fine but when I installed the tubular upper control arms I went with taller ball joints so there was interference at full steering lock. Had some 3/8" spacer made and upgraded to longer 1/2" wheel studs at the same time. It all worked out.

Nice car ! With the 3/8" spacer figured in, then an approx 5" bs would have been perfect. No spacer would be needed.

Beautiful car !
Thanks !

Just a reminder that the 69 had a lot more room for a bigger tire and rim compared to the 67-68's.

Thanks.
Yeah,I guess a 5"BS would've been about right but you have to remember that I have aftermarket upper control arms and the taller ball joints so that changes the whole thing. Really, it looked like I would've cleared w/o the spacers if I had stock upper BJs but I might have had some rub on the inside rear of the tire on the frame. So I guess you could say with a 17/40s on the front tire, 5"BS whould be about the most you would want to go.

I have 17x7's on the front with 4-1/2" bs & 17x8's on the rear with 4-3/4"bs. This is with stock A arms. The drivers front rubs on the sub frame when locked to the left but doesn't rub otherwise. The tires are Nitto 555 235/45R17 & 255/45R17.

Brian

This thread may help. It has a good discussion on this, and pictures of my car with the following setup.

Front set up: 17X8 (4.75BS) TTIIs w/ 235/45/17 BFG g-Force Sports
Rear set up: 17X9.5 TTIIs (5.5BS) w/ 255/45/17 BFG g-Force Sports



https://firstgenfirebird.org/forums/ubbth...0322#Post180322