Looking for opinions

[ProdigyCustoms]

Without getting into weather you like 17s, 18s, 19s, 20s, 22s, etc. I do not want to start a debate about how much tire is too much tire for handling, or how much aspect ratio is best for handling, or why 17s handle better then 19s. That has all been argued to death in here. I am wondering what everyone likes from a pure aesthetics stand point.

I would like to find out what most of you like for tire and rim difference from front to rear. Personally I like for the front rim to be 1" shorter then the rear rim, in other words, 17s and 18s, 19s and 20s, etc. I also like for the rear tires to be a bit taller then the front tires, maybe not a entire inch, but close. Like 26" rear tires and 25" fronts. Basically keeping about the same sidewall on the front and rear tires, but the tire being shorter on the front because the rim is shorter. I guess I like the slight rake.



What does everyone else think?

[Ralph LoGrasso]

I generally like the same size all the way around for most cars, or a 1" smaller rim up front w/ either 17s/18s, or 18s/19s. I usually prefer the 1" bigger / smaller look on most street rods and pre '60s cars. I prefer for the tires to be all the same diameter, or the rear slightly taller, and between 30-60mm wider.

[USAZR1]

Personally I like for the front rim to be 1" shorter then the rear rim, in other words, 17s and 18s, 19s and 20s, etc. I also like for the rear tires to be a bit taller then the front tires, maybe not a entire inch, but close. Like 26" rear tires and 25" fronts. Basically keeping about the same sidewall on the front and rear tires, but the tire being shorter on the front because the rim is shorter. I guess I like the slight rake.
What does everyone else think?

You and I think alike,Frank.

[nancejd]

Personally I think the rim diameter should be the same front and back. The exception to this would be cars without fenders, like a deuce coupe or something. Tire size can be the same front and back, or slightly larger on the rear, say 275 in front and 335 in the rear.

[Stu Seitz]

I think 18's all around look best on 67-68 maros while 17's all around look better on a 69. Although if you can get a stance like big red 18's look ok =). Also I don't like the staggered look, if you can fit wide ones in the back why not the front?

[BRIAN]

Depends on the stance you are going for. Looking at your rendering I think you are going pretty low and even lower in front and are not going for ultimate handling effort but killer show car that handles? I would go with larger in rear. When rear lip is higher than front you have more tire exposed making rim appear smaller. Also deep offsets compound this. Cars with stock type stance that are more level look better even. I once read in mag for ultimate stance front wheel opening lip should be about at top of rim in front and just over sidewall in rear (about 2" of tire), I think it was a Boyd quote. Anyway it is just an opinion. 17"s and 18's look just about perfect to me. I can't get into the 22's and air bag look.

[zbugger]

I like the same height all the way around, with the rears just being wider by a little bit. Although I may be going with 17's up front and 18's out back. Don't ask me why, but I may. I personally WANT 18's all the way around though.

[F70t/a]

I'm a big fan of the 18/19 combo

[ProdigyCustoms]

Depends on the stance you are going for. Looking at your rendering I think you are going pretty low and even lower in front and are not going for ultimate handling effort but killer show car that handles? .

Brian, the rendering has more tire rake then I want in the finished car. Here are some pics of it mocked up with a set of tires and wheels from another project to see how it looks. There is too much "tire rake" in this pic, for this car. The front tires are way to small for this car, but I am trying to decide how much rim / tire I do want up front for height. As far as handling, ride height and look, it is easy confuse the super low look with handling sacrifice. Usually when a car is this low it is sitting on the bump stops. If you notice there is nothing running under the body of Prodigy because the frame is channeled into the body. In this pic, the suspension is all in the center of its travel. Handling is not being compromised by any means. Lowering the center of gravity, without sacrificing ground clearance or suspension travel / position, will always improve handling. As it sits in these mock up pics, the rocker is at only 6" from the ground in the center of the rocker, but the car still has the same ground clearance as a subframe car at stock ride height.

I did not want my opening statement to sound like handling did not matter, I just made my opening statement because I did not want the thread to turn into a debate about what size tire handles best. I just wonder what everyone likes to look at.

As for widths, The tires I have picked now are, 13.8" wide on the rears and the fronts are 11.3" wide. However, right now I am only asking about side profile.

[Jagarang]

That thing looks killer!! I HATE YOU FRANK!!

[Happyfunballs]

My personal opinion is to get the biggest wheel that fits(not only mechanically but stylisticlly(sp) balanced as well) the opening as possible, keeping in mind functionality as well. Since performance is my secondary goal, with good looks being first, I'm putting 18's and 20's on my lowered 67 Camaro with 35 series tires.

[ProTeal55]

I agree , I am all about stuffing the largest wheel package in a car , that still fits and has no clearance/rubbing issues , with a nice 35 seires tire or so.

Big Wheels + Big Brakes =

[Travis B]

It just depends on the car
I think the sick fish looks killer with 19's and 22's
I am going to run 18's and 20's on my chevelle
We recently did a 41 willys roadster with 18's and 22's it looked right on the car! As far as i am concerned the bigger the better.JMO

[OLDFLM]

I used to think 18s were the limit on a "classic muscle car".
I love the look of SWs red 73 T/A with 18s all around but personnally
like a little taller tire out back also... around 1-inch taller for that
slight rake. Options would be a 255/40/18f and 285/40/18 rear
or since I've been rim/tire shopping I also like the look of a 255/35/19f and 295/35/19 rear like Yody has on his Firebird. Both combinations have a 1-inch overall tire height difference. Both combos are 26" front and 27" rear. You could run the 255/40/18f and 295/35/19r and have a wider tire patch than the new C6 Corvette! I guess you could do the same thing with 17s and 45 series tires all around... The problem that I've run into is finding a rim that I like that comes in the sizes and backspacing needed for a 2nd gen!

With that being said who wants to donate/sponsor my new wheels?! LOL

[digitalman2112]

IMO, 17s / 18s give a "balanced" look to the car - the eyes are not instantly drawn to the wheels and tires. Once you go 19+ with low profiles, or with a large difference in the wheel size (diameter, and sometimes even width), the wheels and tires become a focal point and draw the eyes away from the other features of the car.

Since there will be lots of prodigy design & touches in the car - seems like you'd want to draw people to those features - the roll ball, the hood / stripe combo, the paint - etc, and not directly to the wheels.

Just my $0.02 - I'm sure it will look GREAT either way...

[ProdigyCustoms]

Sorry, bigger is better. Pretty much decided here.

295/30 YR19 fronts, 26.1" X 11.6" section

345/25 YR20 Rears, 26.8" X 13.6" section

[67Sally]

Based on Frank's selection......Does any body know what the performance impace is with a shorter wheel on front and a taller wheel on the rear?
W.

[Gorilla]

I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on the impact of rim diameter on the longevity-reliability of a rim. For example, how much easier is it to bend a twenty inch rim versus an eighteen? Is the wheel manufacturer more important than the size of the rim? What size of rim is ideal for a daily driven car in your opinion?

[JV69z/28]

Frank I think the combo you picked is "KILLER"! On a 1st gen it doesn't get any better than that. I know the performance aspects of the combo can be beaten to death but the car you're building is all about making a statement - not lap times. I think the 19/20 combination's time has come. Before 19" sizes were limited now it's time to start taking advantage of some of these new choises. As far as where the tire sits in the fender I like the top of the wheel at the lip of the fender opening so the top of the tire is in the wheelwell. Again not trying to say that's where the car needs to sit for ultimate handling. I think you've got this thing figured out and you'll be very pleased with the results. Good Luck - Jack

[ProdigyCustoms]

Thanks JV. As far as hurting the rim, it will have 3 1/2 of sidewall on both front and rear tires. That is not to bad, and according to the handling goods is enough sidewall to work. I do hate rubber band looking tires on any rim. Nothing looks worse then 2" of tire surrounding a huge wheel.

JMO