I came across a pair of very nice 15x8.5 slots in my garage... The 15x7's already on the front of my 85 T/A are pretty crappy.

Will I have any type of issues putting 245 60 15 tires on those 8.5 inch rims with 3.75 backspace and slapping them on the front of the car? ie. rubbing, scrapping when turning hard, etc etc.

Thanks

 

will not work, they will sit about 2" outside the wheel well

 

Well thats not a problem... I don't mind that it sticks out.

I ended up trying it and they do stick out maybe 1/2 inch past the fender. I did run into the problem of scraping the wheel well pretty bad when turning... Perhaps a smaller tire will let it turn better? I have 245 65 15's I am thinking maybe 225 50 or 235 50?

Any thoughts?

 

go with a lower profile before you decrease the width...
although with such little backspacing, it will never actually "work"

 

I may try that 1st. As long as they don't rub I don't see why it won't "work". They don't stick out past the fender much if at all. Maybe a quarter to half inch. So they are totally street legal in PA cause the tread doesn't pass the fender. I like the look too I think it makes it look "tough"

 

I'm an old guy and I love the look of nice slots with a wide lip at the edge of the wheel.

But the third gens were designed to have a low scrub radius with wheels that have a lot of backspacing. This puts the centerline of the ball joints very close to the centerline of the wheel where it turns closely around the ball joint centerline. This helps handling tremendously because the wheels don't "scrub" around the ball joint centerline before scribing a turning radius arc. This probably greatly contributed to the third gen Camaro being the Motor Trend Magazine car of the year when it debuted in 1982.
If you look at Corvette wheels from the C3 and up to present day you will see the same thing.

I have seen people putting wheels with a lot less backspacing and not designed for third gens on these cars and they will roll down the road that way if the tire rub isn't an issue. But you are messing with the factory design and giving away pre- engineered handling to boot. In my opinion sometimes it looks OK, and sometimes it looks "ghetto".

 

In my opinion I think it looks really good, surprisingly it doesn't handle any worse either... Maybe a little better actually. I only put maybe 500 miles a year on the car, so it's not like I have a lot of miles driving it to remember from summer to summer how it handled before. I am still looking for a pair of really nice 15x7's for the front tho. Here's what it looks like.

 

looks good.
put taller tires on the rear, or lower profile tires on the front.
just my two cents

 

Not too shabby.
Who's the girl in purple

 

The tires on the rim were BRAND NEW 295 50 15's I paid 200 for the rims and tires!!! So I will let them on till they wear out, but I will keep that in mind.

The front tires are the tires I had on all fours, but instead of buying new tires I figured I'd use these for the front till they all wear out than get the lower profile tires, so that maybe they won't rub as much when I steer hard. What tire size do you think I oughta go with on the front?

I now have 245 65 15's The wheels are 8.5inch, so I am not sure how small you can go with such a wide wheel. At least till I get smaller wheels.

91_5.7_TPI, The girl is my wife, we are about ready to head down to Ocean City's annual car cruise haha. that 5 hour trip was the most that car has seen in one trip since I had it. Which is about 3 years now.

 

it looks good. i like the look of a lot of rubber and not just huge rims without much in the way of tires?
i run 275/60 15 on the back and 255/60 15 on the front - and they handle just fine.

 

Hope I didn't offend you. I was trying to make a joke lol

 

haha no not at all 91...

 

Yeah I just need skinnier rims in the front to keep my 245's from not rubbing. Perhaps I will just go with a smaller tire tho.