Year One Honeycomb 17" x 9" Honeycombs on 71 GTO

[lilredgto]

Year one just came out with a reproduction 17" x 9" Honeycomb Wheel with a 5" backspacing. Only size they offer! I really like a little more sidewall so I was thinking 255/50/17 on all four corners. Would a 255/50/17 fit all around without any mods, and would they be safe on a 9" wheel? I have upper Hotckis A-arms with B-body spindles and 12" ILE brake set up.
Thanks

[online170]

I think they will work fine. I havent had them on such a vehicle, but I have 17x8.5 and 17x9.5 on a 69 cutlass and they fit fine. Not sure of the BS but it has a good 2.5" lip on the outside. The 8.5" in front now has Falken 245/45 on it, and I agree the sidewall looks a bit skinny. Before the falkens, there was a set of 255/45 Good years on there (those tires have a nice wide tread width).

[lilredgto]

Spoke with a Technician at Driverz Inc. and he felt that a 17"x9" with 5" backspacing with B Body spindles could pose a rubbing problem. I did further research and was wondering if anyone had thought about 245/45/17 up front which has a section width of 9.6" and has a height of 25.7" Out back I'll put 255/45/17 with a section width of 10" and height 26.1. Both tires state they can be mounted on 9" rim. That being said can anyone advise. Thanks

[smity]

I run 245/45/17 Front with a 255/50/17 rear with no problems on my 70 Chevelle, the car is lowred 2". I did just get my new wheels, F18x9.5 and R18x11. I will be running a 265/3518F with a 315/35/18R, it will require me to do alittle work on the rear wheel lip.

[Randy67]

A 17x9 wheel with 5" bs will fit B-body spindles, did the test fit on my 81 Camaro with those spindles. The only area that gets close is the tie rod to the inner edge of the rim, but it does fit.

[aronhk_md]

While 255's are going to look fine on the front, i think they will look somewhat skinny on the rear of a 71 GTO. Those wheels were test fitted by YO with 275's and I have seen people run 285's on the YO snowflakes without any issues.

[lilredgto]

I took my rear 17"x9.5" rims 5 1/2 BS with 275/40/17 and bolted them on the front of my 71 GTO and at full turn there would only be enough space to slide a piece of paper between rim and upper Hotchkis A-Arm. Didn't detect any scrub but I didn't drive the car this way as I didn't want to damage the torque thrusts rims. The rims I want to put on are 17"x9" rims with 5" BS. Here is what I'm thinking and I'm asking because I'm no expert. The difference between the two rims is 1/2" and the difference in BS is 1/2". I'm thinking that difference with the new wheel will be 3/4 of an inch clearance on the backside to the upper A-Arm? Is my math correct. I did bolt the new rim on without Tire as I can't return to year one if I have a tire mounted. I sent a email to tech support at Year One, and this is the reponse I received which I really didn't find very encouraging.

Hello



Thank you for purchasing from Year One.

The rear wheels you test fit on the front have 1/2 inch more backspace than the wheels with 5 inch backspace, so this doesn’t really tell you anything useful.

These wheels work on most stock cars which do not have chassis, suspension or sheet metal issues. When fitted with BFG G Force TA KDW tires most cars only scrub the tires at the extremes (again without the above issues). Note that some other models tires designated 275-40-17 are actually taller and/or wider than the KDW’s and will scrub more.

Since you have different spindles and aftermarket control arms we recommend you set a wheel in place on the car prior to mounting tires and installing lug nuts to check the fit.



Regards,

[SD455]

I took my rear 17"x9.5" rims 5 1/2 BS with 275/40/17 and bolted them on the front of my 71 GTO and at full turn there would only be enough space to slide a piece of paper between rim and upper Hotchkis A-Arm. Didn't detect any scrub but I didn't drive the car this way as I didn't want to damage the torque thrusts rims. The rims I want to put on are 17"x9" rims with 5" BS. Here is what I'm thinking and I'm asking because I'm no expert. The difference between the two rims is 1/2" and the difference in BS is 1/2". I'm thinking that difference with the new wheel will be 3/4 of an inch clearance on the backside to the upper A-Arm? Is my math correct. I did bolt the new rim on without Tire as I can't return to year one if I have a tire mounted. I sent a email to tech support at Year One, and this is the reponse I received which I really didn't find very encouraging.

Hello



Thank you for purchasing from Year One.

The rear wheels you test fit on the front have 1/2 inch more backspace than the wheels with 5 inch backspace, so this doesn’t really tell you anything useful.

These wheels work on most stock cars which do not have chassis, suspension or sheet metal issues. When fitted with BFG G Force TA KDW tires most cars only scrub the tires at the extremes (again without the above issues). Note that some other models tires designated 275-40-17 are actually taller and/or wider than the KDW’s and will scrub more.

Since you have different spindles and aftermarket control arms we recommend you set a wheel in place on the car prior to mounting tires and installing lug nuts to check the fit.



Regards,

I dont know what the story is with the tech people at Year One,I have sent several e mails regarding these wheels and a set I recently purchased from them. I would take my business elsewhere in a heartbeat, but they are the only ones that offer that wheel. I am in a similar perdicament in that I need some wheel dimensions and or a cross sectional view to verify whether or not they will fit my C5/C6 brake conversion.

On your car I would think that you could fit either of the tires you mention but youmay need to run a spacer up front to fit the 255. To be sure you will need to mount a tire and I would go with the taller of the two to get the desired look. FYI, I think the net effect of the b-body spindle is increased camber gain and about 1.5 inches lowering so it really shouldnt be that much of a challenge.