ok lads: i've got a 92 Formula vert with 15" wheels and i think the handling is a bit sloppy. i'd like to go to bigger wheels and fatter tires. i'm a tad concerned though that the ride will become harsh. should i get 16's or 17's and what size would those be? also, should the rear tires be fatter? whether it's 16 or 17, please recommend the tire size. thanks!

17"s with 275/40/17 tire! Of course my opinion is biased but they were one of the best things I did to the car in my opinion and the ride isnt bad. What you loose in comfort is more than made up for in handling!

thanks - would that be 17 x 8 or 17 x 9?

Which is more important, the height or the width? Should one consider the ratio of height to width?

Given a 16X8 and a 17X8 which one is better?

Or a 16X9 and a 17X8?

Does the width max change with the tire height i.e. 15X10 vs. 17X9.5?

Jason

I recommend a 17x9 wheel with 275/40/17 tires. I had 15's like you, bought 16's, and now I'm looking at 17's - they're just better looking.

Yep 17s are the way to go with 275/40/17. I have some off of a 00 SS on mine, but there is a lot of scrub with the 2 in spacers required. If I had the chance to do it over I would spend the $$ on the right offset.

Im running 17x9.5 all around with no scrubbing. 5.5 backspacing and they fit like a glove. I was worried bad when they unloaded the tires from the truck at the shop, damn near EVERY tech asked "are you sure those will fit?" then it went to "those might not fit" and finally "those will never fit!". I will recommend one thing that could save you some damage for a cheap stupid *** part. CHANGE YOUR BUMP STOPS! Mine were so rotted and crappy that I hit a hard bump, wheel traveled too far and the rear tire got slashed by the inner lip of the fender. Tire survived but it looked like Jack the F***** Ripper got ahold of it!

Height will change your final gear ratio, width adds to traction and cornering. The 275/40/17 tire will keep your tire height correct and will also give you the width and added traction benefits. That is actually the same tire used on the 80's and 90's Corvette's all around when they used the 17x9.5 wheels.

i'm quite the novice at this - please explain "5.5 backspacing" and "scrub".

These guys explain it a lot better than I can, the first article is on general alignment and it explains scrub radius. The last 2 deal with wheel offsets and there is also a calculator in there as well.
Scrub radius is kind of a tricky thing, too much and the car really dumps off speed in the corners, this is what happens with a lot of wheel spacers. (like my car)

http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm

http://toy4two.home.mindspring.com/offset.html
http://www.rsracing.com/tech-wheel.html

And this is my car:
http://www.fl-thirdgen.org/blacksheep-1/camaro.mov

Hope all of this helps.

thanks

It depends on the budget you have and the handling level you want to achieve. There is nothing wrong with a 245-50-16 on a street car, but a 274-40-17 tire is 1.2" wider on each corner, or about 13%. Sidewall flex is not really an issue going from a 16 to 17" tire, its still has a decent sidewall for ride quality.

Paul, I have the ram-air cleaner on my car and I need that strut tower brace, who makes it?

That is the Edelbrock brace for TBI cars. May need to make some slight modifications to make it work right.

With 16x8 - 255/50/16 tires and eibach pro-kit springs my car looks great. Really low. But for whatever reason my car sat really high in the front with the stock springs. I say the prokit lowered my front end 2''. I would liked to have went 17's but oh well. Tires aren't even much more expensive if any for the 17's anymore.

how do i know what 17" wheel will fit my 92 bird? i know it's 5 bolt 4-3/4 but what else?

Look in one of those links and find the stock wheel info by measuring yoyr wheels.
The camaro 2000 10 spoke SS wheels are what I have on my car, someone around here will know the offset, I don't have that handy and my car is at the shop. To get those to fit I had to use 2in spacers on the wheels. (some say 2-1/4, but whatever 2in works for me) So take the wheel dimension which as I recall isa 9.5 wide by 17 in. Then measure from the rear lip (face, bead or whatever you want to call it) by using a straightedge across the the wheel and measuring down to the machined surface where the wheel bolts to the car. This gives you the back spacing, now subtract the 2in and you have it.