Had some questions for you guys running bigger rims.. I'm looking to get some CCW classics in 18"... Car is at stock height, would probably want to lower it a little bit.

What is the widest rim i could comfortably bolt on to the car with little to no modification? I hear 18X11" in the back? (any specific Back spacing?)... what about the front? Could I pull 9.5" off?

Thanks guys, I appreciate the input. Tried to do a search on this topic but only found some ambiguous replies...

 

'82-'92 Camaros and Firebirds

15-inch: 15x8 with 4 1/2-inch backspacing front and rear. Use tires with an aspect ratio of 55 or less with a section width of 255.
16-inch: 16x8 with 4 1/2-inch backspacing front, 5 1/8 backspacing rear. Use tires with an aspect ratio of 55 or less and a section width of 255.
17-inch: 17x9 with 5 1/2 inch backspacing front and rear. Use tires with an aspect ratio of 40 or less with section widths of 255 front, 275 rear.
18-inch: 18x9 1/2 with 5 1/2-inch backspacing front, 18x10 with 6-inch backspacing rear. Use tires with an aspect ratio of 35 or less with section widths of 275 fron, 275-295 rear.

Wonder how accurate that is....

Think I could get away with 315's in the back>?

 

How much do you plan on lowering your car? If you plan on lowering 2 or more inches I would go with the ccw classics. If you plan on lowering less than 2 inches, I would go with the Fikse FM10s.

 

Put in a 4th gen rear end & you can get away with minor wheel well mods. With a 3rd gen axle, 11s require "major" surgery.

To me? it qualified as minor, although it WAS a bit of a PITA, but that is because I squeezed in 7" bs. With less bs (like 6"), it wouldn't have been as hard. But it was all well worth it.

 

My fronts are 17" x 9"/ 5" bs & I guarantee you....5.5"bs would not have fit. There was less than 1/4" between the rim & the tie rod, at stock ride height. Lowered now & it is better, but I still wouldn't trust 5.5" at full compression, not to hit.

 

what? the width of the axle has nothing to do with how wide of a wheel will fit. a 11" wheel will fit on a 3rd gen axle just as well as a 11 inch wheel fits on a 4th gen axle. You just need the appropriate offset/backspacing.

`18x10.5 with 6.5 should put the tire about flush with the outside of the fender, maybe out a hair, but wont require much inner wheel well work. 7" of bs like stephens, will look a million tines better, but requires a little bit of cutting and hammering.

a 295 width tire is a good choice simply because there are so many more options for that size in an 18" diameter than a 315. most manufactures seem to stop at a 295 for their 18" sizes, and for that tires, a 10.5 is perfect.

and with an 18" wheel, the tie rid fits inside the wheel, so no issues like stephen mentioned with his 17's.

if you go with drop spindles, the front becomes more complicated

 

Maybe it culd have been worded better, but if you re-read how I worded it, I said that a 4th less axle requires less work, than a 3rd gen axle does. That is an absolute fact that cannot be denied, due to the required bs/offset of wheels to fit for each axle.

A 7" bs wheel on a 4th gen axle would be much easier to fit, than on a 3rd gen axle, like mine.

 

no no no no no

you can make the argument that there are more "off the shelf" wheels that will fit right on a 4th gen rear without spacers, but aside from that, there is nothing about the 3rd gen axle that will make more work in any way shape or form.

since the op is talking about ccw's, those are custom built to order wheels, any offset you want.

 

 

Yes & no.....I wouldn't have had to do nearly HALF the cutting I did, if I had used a 4th gen axle, to fit my 7" bs. You've been there. You should know that. And definately more "off the shelf" 4th gen axle fit wheels, in the larger diameters.

My wheels started at 9" wide with 5" bs. When I had them widened 2", which increased the bs by 2", that is when the fitment "problems" started.

But yes...With CCWs ($$$$) they'll be built to however you want them to.

 

yes but you are missing the point that the 4th gen axle is what, almost 2" wider on each side? so your 7" bs wheels will stick 2" out further from the side of the car. you would have to use something like a 9" bs wheel 11" wide, on a 4th gen for the same effect. follow me?

 

Actually, my 11"/7"bs wheels would only be out maybe 1", past the fender lip, but still mostly very much under the fender. And I DEFINITELY wouldn't have had to cut NEARLY as much sheetmetal. You follow me on that point? Wider axles woulda required less sheetmetal cutting, with the same 7"bs I have.

 

I appreciate the information guys!

So far this is what i've gathered... 9.5" up front WILL clear so long as I use 18" diameter wheels (no tie rod problems that way). This is assuming a 5.5" BS.

As for the rear, looks like 11" would be a PITA. I'm not dead set on 11", in fact - thats probably over kill for me. So I'm assuming 10 - 10.5" width should be no problem with a 6/6.5" BS?.... Would this look funky at all?

and a bit off-topic...In my futile attempt at finding cheaper nice looking rims, i've only been willing to put CCW classics/ FM10's on the car... but if any of you know any cheaper alternatives with similar style.. i'm all ears... i won't hold my breath...

 

Look up HRE or Forgeline, then you won't feel so badly about paying for CCW or Fikse.

 

Any updates or success?

I'm looking at lowering my car 1" and adding CCW Classics (FM10s would be a possibility too, I love both). If you go to CCW's website they show a thirdgen on 18x9 and 18x10 and what appears to be a 1-1.2" drop, and it looks incredible.

I think a new set of them is 2200 to 2500.

 

Here is my Z28 with Classics. I am waiting on another member to get back to me about purchasing his a-arms and then maybe I will be able to roll it out of the garage and get some decent pictures with my new camera. They are 18s with a brushed center and polished lip. I think the final price with tires came out to be about $3300 (cheap tires). My car is lowered about 2.75" with a fender height of 24.75" in the front in the picture, but I am raising it up to 25.5". The rear is at 26.5" from the ground to the quarter panel lip.

 

dust3r, beautiful looking ride and can't wait to see it once you get it rolling!

What size are they? It's hard to tell from this angle but how's the dish on them? Are you running a 3rd gen rear?

I saw the car at CCW's website and it is on 18x9 and 18x10. My car is bone stock with about 1.5 to 2.0 inches of fender clearance and fenders that aren't rolled; I'm looking to drop it 1-1.2 inches, just trying to eye what size rim I can safely fit. I'm not looking to lap a race track, just doing it for show.

Here's the one from CCW's site:
http://www.ccwheel.com/zoomed-image....ssic&id=01.jpg

 

The fronts are 18x8 and the rears are 18x10.5. I have about 1.75" dish on the fronts and a 3" dish in the rears. The 10.5" rear wheels are still tucked in about 1.25" with very minor clearancing of the inner wheel well with a sledge. The fronts are the same offset as stock 16x8 wheels and the rears have 6.25" backspacing.

 

very nice car! what size tires are you running?

 

FM10's look great on Formulas

 

They look fricken amazing.




http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v5...t=MVI_1909.mp4

 

Funny that I keep seeing pics of my Formula posted here. The paint still makes me cringe every time. It's been parked for almost 5 years now... maybe it'll come out and see the light of day some day.

 

double post

 

It BETTER see the light of day sometime! How have you been man?

 

FM10s are awesome; the problem is they expose the brakes and my factory brakes are hardly anything interesting to look at.

 

I've been really good, man. I miss you. Are you on Facebook or anything else out there?

 

I still get emails all the time with people asking about the wheels. Here's a more recent pic for anyone who cares. Front needs to come down a bit. I have the centercap. Not much else to say.

 

love how ur bird looks man love those wheels to

 

Nope. Stayed away from the Facebook craze. You still have the same number? I'll give you a call/text sometime. I'm thinking about road tripping the bird this summer and Nevada is on my list. I'll have to cruise in to Reno for a bit. Going for a ride in your bird still puts a grin on my face.

And I find it ironic that Chevy started this thread awhile ago I would presume after you said you wouldn't sell him your wheels and pictures of your car surface in his thread.

 

Yep, same number. You know anytime you come to Nevada you have a place to stay. We'll party. I think you rode in my car in what, 2006-2007? Man, that was forever ago. I'm glad I didn't part it out completely, but I still have done virtually nothing with it at all since then other than move it into storage.

I didn't even notice Chevy started this thread, hahaha. He actually had an opportunity to buy my wheels when I was really broke, but he opted not to. Now he should just buy some CCW's and call it a day.

 

Dust3r -
You have drop spindles on your car from what i remember, does it look like the tie rods would fit inside the wheels up front if you had more of a positive offset? I know on stock spindles the tie rod will tuck into the wheel allowing people to run a little more back space and run a wider tire... I just need to know if it will work with the drop spindles. I'm about to order some custom wheels and would like to squeeze something wider on the front. Thanks

 

I am running H.R.E. 545 wheels, 18x10 front with 275, 18x12 out back with 335. Major surgery but they are in the wheelwell. I bought them super cheap on craigslist.