These wheels have got to go. They are off of an S-10 and fit but being that they are considered a "truck" wheel they don't have much backspacing. They worked to get it on the road but not a permanent solution. The fronts were rubbing on the outside of the inner fender wells so bad that I had to go with a much smaller tire 195/60/15. Now that I am on the road and driving it more, it would be nice to have wider tires, especially in the rears but can't with these wheels. currently the rears are 205/75/15.

suggestions on something that might look aggressive? I am open to staying with 15's or moving up to 17's. Just trying to get a different perspective after looking at a bunch of wheels online. Very difficult when you can't put them on to see how they look.

thanks, Wade

"...suggestions on something that might look aggressive?..."


Well, your idea of "aggressive" might be far different from what others think is aggressive.

My idea is the old drag racing look, which would include smaller black wall front tires, and wide white letter rears, all with 15" wheels. I absolutely HATE the modern look of the big wheel/short sidewall tires.

BFG T/A radials are popular. But Cooper Cobra tires are cheaper. Mickey Thompson tires might add a more aggressive look, since lots of drag cars run M/T tires. Something like a P255/60-15 on an 8" wheel might work. Probably best to do some accurate measuring to see which wheel offset/tire size will fit your car. Some here can probably post what works on their car.

http://www.autoanything.com/tires/mickey-thompson-sportsman-s-t-tires

Back in '75 I took a '68 off the strip, and put it on the street. I used small tires on the front & wider tires on the rear. If I remember correctly, the wheel brand was Appliance. They made a wheel that looked sorta similar to a Cragar SS. Then, by '78, I switched our bracket Bird over to all Cragar SS wheels. Then everybody started using the solid center Cragar Super Tricks, followed by the similar Center Line solid centers. Those type wheels are still sold. But, in recent years, drag & street cars have used wheels with round holes in 'em, and then many styles of thin spokes.

Since I'm old school, I prefer the old school look. But, I realize it's not for everybody.

Below is a pic of TJ's drag car in '77, with the Appliance spokes I mentioned, on the front, and some old chrome slots I had, on the rear, with all black wall tires. The next pic is that same car & My GTO, with all Cragar SS wheels. The 3rd pic is TJ's street bird, with Appliance spokes, small black front tires, and what I think are wide white letter Pro Trac ? rear tires. Since I can't read the letters, I'm not sure. Would have to look at some other pics from that time period. The last pic is the Pro Trac ad that use to be in all the car mags. I also like the look of the Pontiac Rally 2 wheels. There are several types of that style wheel available today. There are also red line tires.

If you see my Firebird in any picture, cannot access right now, I used rims from Buick’s s model in late 60, early 70...kind of like pontiacs rally’s wheel but skinny spokes..

Bjorn, I did look at a set of Buick wheels with red line tires that were on craigslist and I immediately thought about your car. I liked them but I am not wanting the stock look that they give or the Rally II's.

OldSkool, great pics from the past! So I might not need rear tires quite that big but those look great. I have looked at Cragars and even Mini Lites called Superlites now. Just not wanting the everyday wheels cars are showing up with now. Something different.

Thanks for the input guys...

ahhh, ok...yes , its a different style youre looking for

Ran across US Mags 10 spoke for the Bird and thought they would look pretty sweet but am unsure about the size on a stock suspension. I have the mono leaf rear and springs for a small block chebby with stock control arms up front. I am guessing the 455 probably weighs a little more than a small block but not much. Has anyone used these wheel sizes or know if the suspension would work?

http://us-mags.com/rambler-u111-g-16605.htm

On the Camaro in the pic it says car has 1.5 drop with these wheel sizes;
fronts are 18x8 with a 4.5" backspace
rears are 18x9.5 with 5.25 backspace
Or they also make 17s that would be;
Fronts 17x7 with 4" backspace
rears 17x8 with 4.5" backspace

Thanks, Wade

I have US Mag U109’s on mine, they are 17x8 front 4.5” backspacing and 17x9 rear 5.25” backspacing. I have 2” drop coils and 2.5” drop leafs. 235 45 and 275 40 tires.

I got the 17" rally replicas from Year one. https://www.yearone.com/Catalog/whe...-rally-ii-wheels/pontiac-rally-ii-wheels

USMC_Ordy - Any issues with rubbing, etc.? Did you roll the lips of the wheel wells?

I cannot answer that yet as my car is still in body shop, but a friend of mine (goose919) has them but he used the same size on both front a rear ( 17X8 with a 4.5 back spacing with 245/45-17 tire) and he did have rubbing on the front but that was because he had an aftermarket 2" drop springs in the front (I think they were global west or Hotchkiss) and after he put a small spacer under it he was good. Also from everything I have read and seen you can max out on a 69 with these sizes, but I don't know about the67/68. 17" wheels.... 17X8 with a 4.5 back spacing can max out at front with a 245/45-17 tire and the back wheel is a 17x9 with 5 back spacing can max out at 275/40-17. If you start lowering it in the front you might run into problems.

Looks nice, for me OEM 15X7 front and 15x10 rear. I had N50 in the rear since 1990, I heard the tire company stopped in the making for N50.... Which website it's available?

BenNSB, I like the looks of those with the black in the windows of the spoke. Those look sweet on your ride. Doesn't look like you have been able to take it out for a ride to test them out (that is unless you are wearing sunglasses due to no windshield)

USMC Ordy, thanks for the pic, those do look sweet on your 69. Thanks for the additional info on the sizes that max out. The old cragers look spot on for back then.

Thanks guys for the pics and tire sizes, this really does help me figure out what I am shooting for.

Hey Revvingup, those are the Rally II replicas from Year one, not Cragers...lol

Not the wheels on your 69 you have in primer though they do look classic. I was talking about the wheels on the blue 67 without the hood. Guess I should have been a little more clear as to what pic I was looking at.

Oh...lol makes more sense now....no worries. I have a set on mine right now since I don't want m new ones messed up while the car is at the body shop but they are always a good choice for a bird as far as I am concerned.

I've had no issues with my Year Ones and I'm fairly low to the ground.

What size tires did you have on them?

245/45/17

Same with my 69. 245/45/17, 5.25" bs. No rub. I'm pretty low too.

Firebob, are those late model G8 wheels? I have seen them for sale on craigslist but someone said that the B/S wouldn't work. I would also imagine the bolt pattern isn't right.

No. I tried a set of the newer GTO wheels but there was like 6.25" bs and it was too much. These are BMW 5 series wheels. They are 5.25" bs. Not exactly 4.75" bolt spacing but close enough. They're hub centric wheels.

Firebob, is that a stock suspension up front and do you get rubbing with that much backspacing? Those look nice on there and certainly fit the bill for looking tough. What did you use in place of the BMW center caps or did you just paint over the logo? I may have to look into something like that as they are very reasonable to find a set.

No, fortunately for me , there is very little stock suspension left on the car. I am running some spacers up front and the only place I notice any rub is on the inside of the back of the tire. It rubs the frame and inner fender on hard over turning. This may also be due to having a different steering box with non-stock internal stops. I made some adapters for the inside to fasten the black and red PMD caps onto the new rims. Looks like the belong there.