Currently I have 15" American Eagle Alloy Rims Series #203 & am planning on getting the Kobel Predator GFX kit. What I was wondering is if I should get 17" rims of the ones that I already have. I will not waste my money on getting 16" rims b/c I will seriously doubt that I will notice a difference. I personally would love not to have to worry about changing the rims & tires at all but do you guys think that newer larger rims will need to be installed to make the car look right? Here are the rims that I have, look below.


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- Mike Harvey -
1986 Firebird S/E

 

Funny you should mention that Mike... i also, am putting 17's on the car, and as you know mine as the predator kit.... If i can ever sell those darn Champ 500 rims, im going to get the new WS6 ones, the chrome five stars... Problem is, the Champ 500's have brand new rubber on them, and i cant afford to take a loss on them, and i cant use them cuz they are for 16's... Doesnt that stink? But yes, ive seen a quick photoshop mock up, 17's will look great with the kit.

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1988 Formula, 305TPI, 700r4(for now), headers, stage 2 PROM, modded MAF, cat back, no catalytics, cowl hood, centerline champ 500 rims, KOBEL predator ground effects kit, Trans AM tailights, dash pouch, 92 shift console w/indicator, white face gauges, accented red trim, 12 speaker stereo, 4 amps, tint, T tops... icq 44373460 AIM:admrlam
see it at www.geocities.com/admrlam/Bird.html

 

That's too funny man. My 15" tires have about 5k miles on them & they are brand new as well, hahahaha. Jeez we are too much alike. Hey that new hood you were talking about was it the buldge inducted hood that they used on the Formulas & older T/A's?
Today I got quoted $140 a rim for the 17" of the same style rim b/c I am a returning customer & bought the olde rims there. Think that I should go w/ a different style or stay w/ the same one. I'm really partial to my current one but am wondering is if there is a more tricked out looking rim out there.
Too bad I didn't ask about quotes for tires but I didn't want to push it, hopefully those won't be too expensive.

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- Mike Harvey -
1986 Firebird S/E

 

Apparently a common problem. My 15s have fresh tires on them and I just bought 17 inch rims (no tires yet )

And I wouldn't say 16s are a waste of time. They are an excellent compromise between handling and ride. I've never ridden in a thirdgen with 17 inch wheels, but I'm looking forward to a buckboard ride pretty soon.. But I can say the ones with 16s handle noticably quicker than the ones with 15s, but are still comfortable. At first, I thought it was because the car I'm thinking about right now had the F41 suspension and I blamed it on that, but I know mine handles much better than a stock F41 and the only thing that was different were (was?) the wheels.

What you have now should look pretty nice though. I was gonna say maybe you could think about how it might look with blackwalls or solid raised letter tires, but you said the tires are pretty fresh so that's out of the question! lol

 

What size 17" tires would compliment the rims nicely????

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- Mike Harvey -
1986 Firebird S/E