Calling all Wheel/Tire guru's........In Need of help

[ProTeal55]

I finally sold my wheels that came on my 55 , and I am ready to do some larger rolling stock. I am still a bit unclear on what size wheel / tire combo to go with , that will both look good , and not have any rubbing issues...

The wheels i just sold were :

Front:
15x6 with a 215/70R/15 with 3 1/2 bs
Rear
15x8 with a 235/70R/15 with 4 1/2 bs

I would like to do atleast a 17'' wheel and tire combo , to give the car a more modern look. Something like 17x7 or 17x8 front and back would be more than fine by me...I would asume that i just need the stock dimensions transfered to a 17'' wheel / tire package ???

Bear with me , wheel/tire fitment is my weak point

Thanks for all the help............

[MrQuick]

Hi there, nice ride BTW.
The tires you had have alot of tire buldge so you can go abit wider. 15" rims and those 70 series had a total buldge of 1 -1 1/4". You could get away with 17x8 with a 245 45 17 fronts and 255 40 17 on a 17x 9 or 9 1/2" if you play your back spacing right. My WAG on BS would be 4 1/2" front and 5 1/4" rear. Your best bet would be a trial fitting.
Do you have a place to buy your rims yet? Some places offer a fitting if you purchase with them. My advice would be to find a local tire shop and go with that. That way if theres a problem they would deal with it. Im sure there are some good rep. shops around you area.

[ProTeal55]

Thanks for the comment on the car , I love it so far

I was planning on going for the same size front and back , for rotation purposes , but that isnt a major concern.

I have been trying to find a decent shop that could help me out , and so far am coming up empty handed. I called Billet Specialties , sience they are 1/2 hour away from me , and they totally blew me off. Said that they didnt have the ability to fit wheels on my car...They might make nice wheels , but their customer service blows.

Anyways , I would liek to get some more opinions on what size wheel and tire , and backspacing would fit nicely , without major modifications.
The car has disc brakes on the front , drum rear with leaf springs in stock locations.

Keep the great advice coming , it is appreciated

[Travis B]

An 18 and 20 combo will fit with ease I will see if I can find a pic of the teal green 55 we did!

It was on air in this pic I believe that is why it is sitting a little high in the rear in the pic! This was an all original untouched car that wheel and tired and bagged!

[ProTeal55]

Travis , Sweet ride !

Would you happen to know what size wheel/tire/backspace combo you guys had to run to make it all work ??

[ILLEGAL69]

Try this site. You will find it helpfull. It will even tell you your change in speed.


http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCal...?action=submit

[ProTeal55]

I would be perfectly happy with a 245/45/17 front and back , but i doubt it will fit. The rears that were 235's were about a 1/2 inch away from the frame rail , if that.

Would i be better off going with 235/45/17's all around , to be on the safe side ? I am going to lower the front end , so i dont want to run into clearance issues..

[USAZR1]

If your rear suspension is relatively stock,I can almost assure you a 17x9 or 17x9.5 wheel will not fit without moving the spring hangers. Tri-5 Chevys don't have cavernous fenderwells. Here's a link on how to build a simple backspace measuring tool.
http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/t...2318/index.html

[Travis B]

An 8in wide wheel is all that will fit on the rear!
we had a 20x8 with a 255/35R20
18x7 with a 225/40R18
no bags on the one in the picture, sorry that was a different car
I will check on backspacing tomorrow

[ProTeal55]

Travis ,

The backspacing would be great info. I figured that the largest rim i could put in the back , width wise would be 8'' , which is fine by me. Just have to figure out the backspacing to make them fit well.. Might be looking into going 18x8 on all four corners , but we will see...

Thanks for the feedback , and keep it comming....

[Travis B]

The backspacing on the rear was 4.5 I think but don't go by that! What wheel company are you going order from?

I think you should go 20's on the rear!!!!J/k

[ProTeal55]

Travis ,

Was that 4.5'' BS front and rear on that 55 ??

I think I am leaning towards either Boyds or B.Specialties for my wheels. Been doing more research on sizes than styles.

So it looks as if i finally have my sizes figured out.
I am prob. gonna run 18x7 in front with a 3.5 BS , and 18x8 with a 4.5 BS in the rear.

Now i need to figure out rubber sizes. Because the stock wheels, with a 235/70/15 was stuffed in their quite well. Dont think i can go any wider without rubbing issues...

[Travis B]

The 4.5 was on the rear 3.5 front!
The rear tire was 255/35/R20
I do not remember what the front was

[ProTeal55]

Thanks for all the great input ! It has been a great help.

I ran into a old buddy of mine , who now runs a tire shop , so him and I are gonna work togther to get me some wheels & tires.

Looking at 18x8's front & back , with 3.5'' BS Front , and 4.5'' BS Rear.
This should get me the look I am going after , without having any clearance/rubbing issues. Might end up doing 17's to save alittle $$. Still need to find a design I want.....

[Travis B]

Have you looked at Bonspeed! If I could order for my car again I would look there first and budnik second! htey have some wheels I really like! I ordered billet specialties gtx40's I like them but you know how it is you order something you see something else you want! I also have boyd magneatos on my daily driver truck and I am very happy with those also!

good luck and let us know what you decide!

[ProTeal55]

Just got off the phone with Detroit Speed. They priced me out a set of 18X8 Budnik Tiller FL's , and looks as if those are gonna be the wheels I end up going with. Just need to take a few more measurements before I go and order them.

[JV69z/28]

I hope this helps - I have a '55 Nomad with 2" dropped spindles in the front and cut springs. It has a-body disc brakes which push the wheels about .75" further out. In the rear I have a "80 F-body 10 bolt disc brake rear that is stock width. In the front I run 8x7s witha 4" backspace and a 225/40-18 tire. In the rear I have 20x8 with 4.75" backspace and a 245/40-20 tire. The rear is perfect - no rubbing anywhere no matter what the load or speed. The front should have been 4.5" backspace but Budnik could not make the Mercury 5 with that backspace. That was 1999 I don't know if that has changed. The L/F tire lightly touches the top of the inside of the wheel opening of the fender on certain curb cuts if I don't go slow enough. My advise to you would be 7" fronts with 4.5 backspace and 8" rears with 4.5 or 4.75 backspace. Just keep in mind the type of brakes will effect the overall track width - only slightly but that's may be enough to make a tire rub. Good Luck - Jack

[ProTeal55]

JV69Z/28 ,
My 55 has some sort of aftermarket / late model GM disc brakes on the front , so I am not sure how much that will affect what backspacing I will need. But I do plan on lowering the front end quite a bit , so I want to make sure the wheel will not hit the fender. So you think I should run 4.5BS on all 4 corners ?

Have any pics of your Nomad for us to see ?

[JV69z/28]

Yes I do - but still check as best as you can because every car is a little different. Also check with Budnik on how much backspace is available. I would stick to 7" wheel in the front. As has been stated before on this board Budnik is a great company and produces a great product. John is a member here and feel free to call or e-mail him for advise. Sorry I don't have pictures to post. I don't have a scanner but I am going to Goodguys Hersey Pa this weekend if anybody else is going. If I can be of any more help - just ask. Jack

[Budnik Wheels]

Just got off the phone with Detroit Speed. They priced me out a set of 18X8 Budnik Tiller FL's , and looks as if those are gonna be the wheels I end up going with. Just need to take a few more measurements before I go and order them.

Good to hear Detroit Speed helped guide you towards the light.

If you have any questions in regards to fitment, feel free to calls us at the shop, however DSE is more than capable of guiding you down the right path. We have done plenty of 55's with 18X7's on the front, and 20X8.5's on the rear. Tri-five's are notorious for working well with 7's and 8's or 8.5's with a 0 offset (which means backspace right down the middle). Relocating the rear leafs will allow for more tire and wheel in the rear, but that's if you are wanting to do the modification.

Take care,
Jon