Ok well my dads taking my rims off the new firebird and sticking them on his truck(I told him he could). Im debating whether to put them back on when we put the car on the track or not(hes gonna put slicks on the back anyways), my question is:
What would be the best set of drag rims for this car(85 firebird).
I havent measured the ones I took off but I think the rears are 10 wide and the front is 8(?).

Im looking to remain thrifty in my choosing, rear will need to prob be beadlock, and looking for 10 or wider on the back and 3.5-5 on the front.
Now heres the tricky part, need them to remain lightweight as well so keep that in mind when you suggest a diameter(I think the ones on the car were 15s).
Not worried about them sticking out or anything so dont worry about backspacing too much.

Thanks for any help/suggestions you can give, oh and Id also appreciate if anyone knows of good stores outside of jegs and summit for prices.

a 15x10 prostar or draglite would be the ticket for the back. i DO care about them sticking out on these cars as it helps the bad image i'm trying to fight in my area, so a 5.5" backspacing is in order here. this will set the tires ever so slightly inside, if not flush with, the top of the fender.

a 15x3.5 is ideal for the track for the front....again, in either said prostar or draglite flavor...

it helps the bad image i'm trying to fight in my area

You have a bad image Matt? Never woulda thunk it

i would go with 15x8 in the rear with 4.5 backspacing and run 26x10.50 or 28x10.50 slicks with a 15x4 front with 165 metric tires. pic in sig.

how do they grip being on the narrower side?
Any suggestion for where to look for good prices?

they grip mighty good. I got draglites 15x8 rear 5.5" BS with 27x10.5 Hoosier QTP's and 15x3.5 fronts with pepboys 165R15 metric radials. Car dead hooks with otherwise stock suspension

not me per-say eric....thirdgens...oh, you were being sarcastic, lol!

beadlocks and light weight doesn't go in the same sentence... - I'd agree on 15x8s. Actually, I wouldn't. If you're going full on drag race, mini tub it! Then you could run 15x10's esily and fitt a fat tire, still under the car, to avoid the "bad image"...

these are 15x10 prostars with a 5.5" backspacing and 275 BF Goodrich drag radials, they fit real well.

My Draglites are 15x10 with 5.5" backspace on the rear and 15x3.5" on the front.

You don't need or want to buy beadlock rims but rim screws work just fine. I use 8 screws on the inside and outside of each rim. The rims need to be drilled before the tires are mounted. It's not hard to do. The main purpose of rim screws is to keep the tire from slipping on the rim. This isn't a big problem when you run tubeless however if you run tubes, a slipping tire can tear the valve stem off the tube.

whats minitubing? never heard that before,
This will be a full drag car but my dad wants to keep it looking as stock as possible for the time being.

A full tub is removing the back section of the car and installing inward mounted frame rails and floor panels. This allows for really large tires.

Mini tubbing means moving inner fenders in as far as the frame rails to get maximum space under the fenders without doing complete refabrication work.

Mini tubbing on a third gen isn't really possible because the inner fenders are already at the sheet metal frame rails. The best you can do is inner fender modifications to allow bigger tires. This can involve removing the bump stops and sectioning over the opening. Cutting out and resectioning the front inner part of the inner fender to allow taller or wider tires to fit. Hammering in the spare tire bump on the passenger side. It all depends on just how big a tire you need to use.

I have a lot of inner fender modifications and I'm using 29.5 x 10.5 MT ET Drag slicks. I really doubt I could stuff a bigger tire under the fenders without going to a rim with less backspace to push the tires outward more.

There are cars that run into the low 10's with nothing more than a 28-30 x 9 slick mounted on an 8" rim.

there is more out there than just draglites and prostars.

yep, there is rodlites too!

draglites, rodlites, and prostars are just some of the most economical, light-weight drag wheels on the market. and Weld also pays contingency with alot of different sanctioning bodys, though centerline makes some really good looking affordable wheels as well! if your willing to pay some bigger bucks, the new wheels from American Racing and M/T are REALLY nice (would LOVE some of the new m/t wheels) but at $380+ PER wheel, i'll pass and stick with my Rodlites:

im thinking of something with a poor secondary market(ie get rims mad cheap) thats why i was thinking prostars or draglites.(100 for a pair + shipping is what i like to see.\)

good luck with that.

yeah, seriously. i'll see them going for around $250 plus shipping for a pair used. they are not cheap, even used. this is one thing that if kept nice, keeps their value.

mw66nova, those RodLites look pretty good on a thirdgen. I always wondered what they would look like on our cars, when thumbing through a Jegs catalog. Nice pics.

Hey mw66nova, did you weigh those rodlites before putting them on?

why yes i did actually, they are ~13.5lbs. for the 15x10's, haven't gotten the fronts yet, but i imagine them being in the 8lbs. range (15x4)