70 Chevelle on 18" Wheels - Thougts?

[RobLinke]

Hey all,

Tried to do a poor-man's manual photoshop for my '70 Chevelle build. Car is completely apart now, so I "borrowed" a photo from Google of another Shadow Gray '70 Chevelle, printed it out with a picture of the Jarvis '68 Chevelle as close to scale as possible, and cut & pasted the wheel setup onto the '70 stocker photo.

What do you think? I know the front wheel scale is a hair off (smaller than real life), but I think we have a winner - now if only I can find out from Team III if the wheels will clear my 14" Baer Pro-Plus brakes that are soon to arrive.

Stock


Jarvis' 68 with 18X11 305/35 & 18X9.5 275/35


My proposal:


I know the image quality is crappy, but I don't have photoshop or the skills to clip the wheels & alter the stance of the car digitally (any image experts care to take a stab at this one?).



Think these will work? In reality, I was thinking that I'll probably step back to a 18X10 305/40 on the rear (18X11 in a stock wheel house might be pushing it & I like a little more sidewall on my tire...)

[brans72]

It will work there are more then a few here running 305/35/18's in rear if you wanna be saf side roll the lips so they do not touch side walls.

[aronhk_md]

That will really give the car an aggressive look, not to mention improved handling, braking, etc. I like! Assuming you've got the BS figured out already?

[RobLinke]

Although I'd love to go 18X11, I wonder if that would be too much width for the stock wheelhouse, even with the lips rolled (which will definitely happen - new quarters going on the car this month). So, I'll probably go 18X10 - seems like 5.75 or 6" of BS is what most folks are using on an 18X10. For the front, if I can't get 18X11 in the rear, I think I might have to step down to an 18X8 with 4.5" BS, just to make things look right (don't know how good it would look with 18X10 rear and 18X9.5 front; Team III doesn't make a 18X9 in the Classic V's).

Now if I can just get a return phone call/email from Team III on the Baer Brakes clearance question, I can get closer to making a decision.

Rob

[green 69]

I'm running 18 X 8 in the front and 18 X 9.5 in the rear on mine. It has Hotchkis Suspension and Baer 4-Wheel Disk Brakes. I believe the front backspacing was 4.5" and the rear was 5.5". The wheel wells are stock with no modifications.

Brian

[TwinCessna]

What brand and style are these wheels? These are exactly what I am looking for for my 70SS.

[0065]

I'm running 18 X 8 in the front and 18 X 9.5 in the rear on mine. It has Hotchkis Suspension and Baer 4-Wheel Disk Brakes. I believe the front backspacing was 4.5" and the rear was 5.5". The wheel wells are stock with no modifications.

Brian

Damn!! That is one beautiful chevelle.

[911mike]

Where do you find those wheels and what size tires?

[USAZR1]

Where do you find those wheels and what size tires?

Tell us a little more about your car.

[Pro-396]

I'm running 18 X 8 in the front and 18 X 9.5 in the rear on mine. It has Hotchkis Suspension and Baer 4-Wheel Disk Brakes. I believe the front backspacing was 4.5" and the rear was 5.5". The wheel wells are stock with no modifications.

Brian

Could you please tell me what brand 18 in Chevelle SS wheels you bought? I can’t find those 18 in wheels anywhere. Your Car looks great with them

[Pro-396]

Could you please tell me what brand 18 in Chevelle SS wheels you bought. They look great. Can’t find them anywhere thank you

[wickedmotorhead]

I'm running 18 X 8 in the front and 18 X 9.5 in the rear on mine. It has Hotchkis Suspension and Baer 4-Wheel Disk Brakes. I believe the front backspacing was 4.5" and the rear was 5.5". The wheel wells are stock with no modifications.

Brian

What brand of wheels are those? I cant find replica ss wheels in 18s anywhere..looks killer!

[PRO*DD*70]

I'm running 18 X 8 in the front and 18 X 9.5 in the rear on mine. It has Hotchkis Suspension and Baer 4-Wheel Disk Brakes. I believe the front backspacing was 4.5" and the rear was 5.5". The wheel wells are stock with no modifications.

Brian

I know this is an old post... but I'm in the what wheels for a 70 & mine has Hotchkis also... what tire sizes were on the Chevelle with these 18x8 & 18x9.5 wheels??

[Tiger]

You have a winner for sure, I love them wheels myself.
18x11" should fit in the rear without problems if the 1970 have the same wheelwells, I have 13 1/2" of wheelhouse on my 1968 Chevelle

[chops101]

11" hoops costs considerably more than 10".

That in itself was enough for me to choose 10's, as the extra cost just was not worth it.

[RobLinke]

Well, today I went and picked up the car from media blasting and it looks like WIDER wheels are definitely feasible, as the inner wheel houses turned out to be swiss cheese, along with the 1" of trunk floorpan nearest the wheelhouses (will post pics of the cancer when I download the pics). So my thought is this: install the new stock inner wheel houses inward 1-1.5" of their stock location (over the top of the frame at this point) and then weld in a strip between the inner & outer wheelhouses to give me some extra room. I've got a good bodyman/welder who said it would be no sweat to do this, as the inner wheelhouses need replacement anyway. 18X11 rims should fit with minimal issues then, right? Any idea on backspacing? I've read that 6.5" will cause the inside of the wheel/tire to hit the frame, and 5.5" BS seems to be recommended for 10" wide wheels, so will 18X11 with 6.0" BS be best in the rear? Tires - is a 305/40 or 315/35 best for a lightly lowered chevelle PT car?

As for the fronts, it looks like I should go 18X9.5, 5.5" BS with a 275/35 or 275/40 tire (I like a little more sidewall, but I realize it has to fit in with the size/sidewall ratio of the rear wheels, too.

What do you all think?

Rob

[Hotchkis]

Hey all,

Tried to do a poor-man's manual photoshop for my '70 Chevelle build. Car is completely apart now, so I "borrowed" a photo from Google of another Shadow Gray '70 Chevelle, printed it out with a picture of the Jarvis '68 Chevelle as close to scale as possible, and cut & pasted the wheel setup onto the '70 stocker photo.

What do you think? I know the front wheel scale is a hair off (smaller than real life), but I think we have a winner - now if only I can find out from Team III if the wheels will clear my 14" Baer Pro-Plus brakes that are soon to arrive.

My proposal:


I know the image quality is crappy, but I don't have photoshop or the skills to clip the wheels & alter the stance of the car digitally (any image experts care to take a stab at this one?).

Think these will work? In reality, I was thinking that I'll probably step back to a 18X10 305/40 on the rear (18X11 in a stock wheel house might be pushing it & I like a little more sidewall on my tire...)

RobLinke,

The photochop looks awesome, but be careful about lowering too much. You can run into a lot of ground clearance problems for real-world driving.


Brian,

You Chevelle looks and sits great! It looks like a car you can drive anywhere in style.

[Scarelane]

I think it looks cool. As long as it's all measured and fitted properly, it will look good. I thought my builder was nuts when he said he wanted to put 18's on my Fairlane. But I was wrong. Looks awesome! Are you gonna do big brakes too? That makes a big difference. I have Wilwood 6-piston 13" on front and 4-piston 12" on the back.

[RobLinke]

Well, I had a few conversations with Scott over at Team III wheels. Turns out the big 'ol 14" 6 piston Baer brakes I will be running on my ATS AFX spindles WON'T clear the ET Classic V wheels (brake caliper sticks out 0.95" from hub face and the Classic Vs only have 0.75-0.78" clearance). Looks like I either have to use a 1/4" billet spacer or go to a custom wheel where they can adjust the mounting face depth to fit these large calipers. My backup option is the NewGEN Five Hundred in 18X9 and 18X10/11 painted to look like the original SS wheels, complete with billet SS caps. My only concerns are the overall cost ($4K+ with tires) and the fact that no one has an example with which to compare. I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I want to be the first one to get these wheels in this configuration and that I'll be happy.

Decisions, decisions...

[DriverzInc]

Well, I had a few conversations with Scott over at Team III wheels. Turns out the big 'ol 14" 6 piston Baer brakes I will be running on my ATS AFX spindles WON'T clear the ET Classic V wheels (brake caliper sticks out 0.95" from hub face and the Classic Vs only have 0.75-0.78" clearance). Looks like I either have to use a 1/4" billet spacer or go to a custom wheel where they can adjust the mounting face depth to fit these large calipers. My backup option is the NewGEN Five Hundred in 18X9 and 18X10/11 painted to look like the original SS wheels, complete with billet SS caps. My only concerns are the overall cost ($4K+ with tires) and the fact that no one has an example with which to compare. I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I want to be the first one to get these wheels in this configuration and that I'll be happy.

Decisions, decisions...

Funny you should say that. We LITERALLY have a set of 18" NewGen 500's in the shop, right now, that we're about to send to paint. They are going to be finished charcoal grey/polished, but you'll get the idea. If you can hold on for about a week, we'll have something to show you in 18" painted similiarly to what you want! Call me to discuss if you like: 1-866-694-5940. Also, we set up John's car above, as well as many of the 68-72's here and on Chevelles.com with the Nitto 275 and 305 combination as we figured out the ideal backspace for this set up. As always, happy to help.