Help me decide which wheels would look best on my car.

[bcollie67]

Not many choices in a 225 40 17....more options in a 225 45 17 and it is closer to the stock size. You also prob would not need -1 camber to run this tire.

They have that size in the tire I am looking at but now after 68EFIVert's comment below I think maybe the 40 series may not have the thickness I'm looking for. I guess I'm just confused. At first I was looking at a 245/45 17 for the front and was told that it would prob be too big and look out of place when running a 275/35 18 on the rear. And now a 225/40 17 is way too small. How about a 235/45 17 for the front?

I to would look for the 45 series front tire in a tread you like. The 40 series may look a little to "tuner" for my preference. The sidewall starts getting pretty small. It would give you a nice raked look to the car though and shouldn't pose any clearance problems. You may want to consider dropping down to a 7" wheel if you go to a 225 tire. I did and it gave me a little more assurance I wasn't going to hit the fender. If you do then go to a 4 1/4" bs on the front wheels. I think I forgot to mention earlier that my 18*9 rear wheels have a 6" bs. There is plenty of room on the inside and outside with the 275/35/18 tires.

Yeah I wasn't sure if the profile would be too low or not. Would a 235/45 17 up front match well with a 275/35/ 18 in the rear and run the -1 camber?

Also, the rear wheels have a 5.94 backspacing and the fronts have 5.72 in which I know that I will have to use a 1 inch spacer.


You guys are awesome in trying to help me out with this tire and wheel issue. I can't thatnkyou enough.

 

[68EFIvert]

That would give you a very similiar look to my car. The 235/45 tire is .28" taller than a 225/45 I am using. If you are somewhat anal like me you will always be drawn to the fact the front sidewall is slightly taller than the rears. That is why I will go with 285's when I need new tires. It would give ME the perfect stance. If you aren't an anal person then I say go for it. The wheels sound like they should work out fine in the rear and equally as well with the front spacers. Your car will look great no matter what tire you put on it.

Do you have your heart set on the NT555's? If not look around at some other brands and you get the exact sizes you are looking for.

 

[bcollie67]

That would give you a very similiar look to my car. The 235/45 tire is .28" taller than a 225/45 I am using. If you are somewhat anal like me you will always be drawn to the fact the front sidewall is slightly taller than the rears. That is why I will go with 285's when I need new tires. It would give ME the perfect stance. If you aren't an anal person then I say go for it. The wheels sound like they should work out fine in the rear and equally as well with the front spacers. Your car will look great no matter what tire you put on it.

Do you have your heart set on the NT555's? If not look around at some other brands and you get the exact sizes you are looking for.

Yeah I am pretty anal about my cars so I want to make sure it's right. I have 18x9's with the same backspacing on my 2002 GT with 285/35 18's that when I get my 67 back from the tranny shop I want to mount to the rear to see if the 285's will work. If so I will probably get them instead of the 275's.

No, I;m not set on the 555's. I just think that they are resonably priced and I really like the look and tread pattern. Do you know of any tires that are similar in price that seem to be a better tire.

 

[68EFIvert]

When reviewing tires I usually go to tirerack.com or discounttire.com to read the reviews and look at the options. I would search for 285/35 18's for available options because most will carry a 225/45 17 tire for the front. Here are a couple links that will help you review the tires. I have owned Kuhmo tires in the past and would not buy them again because they always seemed to be out of round. I use Pirelli PZero's on my DD and they are great tires. I have owned Yokohama tires and they were pretty good tires for traction. They didn't last very long but were a good bang for the buck.Keep me posted on how the 285's fit. I would love to hear your response so I know wether to do it or not.

Compare Tire Search Results


Tire Products By Vehicle - Discount Tire Co.

 

[Grabber70Mach]

I've always liked using this for tire size calculations............

Tire size calculator

 

[SNAKEPILOT]

I've always liked using this for tire size calculations............

Tire size calculator

That's good for a start but there is easily a .25 difference in height and/or section width between some manufacture's tires.

Darreld is right, Tirerack.com makes it very easy to compare tire specs.

 

[guybored]

I hope I don't offend or get any one mad. Why do you say that nittos 555 are bad? I have had those for over 3 years on my dd and I haven't had any problems with them , yet. the first time I bought them they where on my car for about a year and a half and I got 2 warrentyed because I drove them flat. after that I got new ones and still have them no problems. I don't race or do any thing with them, besides drive 50 miles a day to and from work usually at 80 mph.
bcollie67 let me go take a pic of the tire hopefully there will be enough light.

 

[68EFIvert]

I don't know if they are good tires or not. I've never had them before. I just think the size selection is not what some of the other brands have. Have you ever seen the pictures of Nick's car that was in the accident? I don't know the cause but from his response he must blame the tires.

 

[bcollie67]

I have also had two sets of the 555's on my 2002 GT, and I have not had any problems with them at all. They hook good and seem to wear well. The only problem that I have with them is that they absolutely suck in the rain, but since I am hopefully not going to be driving my car in the rain unless I just get caught in it, I don't see that being a problem. Like I said before, I know they aren't the best tire but for the looks and the price I really like them.

However, I do agree with you 68EFIVert, they do not have a very good size selection. For instance I would optimaly want to go with a 225/45 17 for the front of my 67 like you suggested but the 555's don't come in that size, so I am comtimplating using their 235/45 17 instead. But Nitto's usually aren't as wide as other tires are for some reason so this might work out to my advantage.

 

[dodgestang]

I said this:

As for tires themselves. I will never ever buy Nitto 555s again. Not nearly the tire they claim to be. I had these on my mustang when I put it under the tractor trailer a couple years ago.

Because in my experience the Nitto tires routinely broke lose for me in moderate acceleration when doing a 3 to 2 downshift. They also did not perform well in wet conditions since taking a sweeping right hand curve on 95 ended up with me 2 lanes over and sticking out sideways of an 18 wheeler (might have been black ice might not have been, but considering I was running a steady speed and not driving aggressively at the time it was a little disappointing). I run BFG KDWr now and they do not break lose under the same moderate acceleration doing a 3-2 downshift (and I have more power to the tires now). I run enough power that I can break any tire lose, but under moderate driving conditions the Nitto was a significantly poorer performer. It might have been different with less power I understand the allure of a cheap performance tire and that is why I bought them. They didn't work for me. Just conveying that experience while others are simply conveying their own experience with the tires.

 

[bcollie67]

Wow, Dodgestang, that is really horrible what happened to your car. I am assuming that it is all fixed now. I will definetly take that into consideration.

Back to the reason the thread was started. The wheel poll is very surprisingly close. I think both wheels would look good on the car. The dark gray wheels would stand out more and be more of a focal point, but I am still leaning towards the black. I just think it will look more sinister and flow well with the car. Thanks for everyone voting, it is good to see everyone elses opinions.

That being said I think I am now set on going with this wheel/tire/spacer set-up:
(please anyone correct me if they see a problem occuring)

Front:

-Wheels- Black 17x8 Bullitts with a 5.72 backspace.

-Spacer- 1 inch

-Camber- (-1)

-Tire- Nitto 555 (235/45ZR 17)


Rear:

-Wheels- Black Bullitts 18x9 with a 5.94 backspace.

-Spacer- Hopefully none

-Tire- Nitto 555 (285/35ZR 18)




I'll will probably be ordering this set-up with the next two weeks and will post pics once they are on.

 

[68EFIvert]

Looks good to me but you should put the wheels you already have on and drive it a little to make sure the 285's don't rub. Let me know what you find out. When I ran into clearance problems with 285/40's it was the rear portion of the wheel wells (2 o'clock). It rippled my fender lip. That is mainly because I am run a trangulated 4 link (TCP G-bar) and the axle has more articulation than with the 5 leafs I had before that. You should be good but better safe than sorry.

 

[bcollie67]

Looks good to me but you should put the wheels you already have on and drive it a little to make sure the 285's don't rub. Let me know what you find out. When I ran into clearance problems with 285/40's it was the rear portion of the wheel wells (2 o'clock). It rippled my fender lip. That is mainly because I am run a trangulated 4 link (TCP G-bar) and the axle has more articulation than with the 5 leafs I had before that. You should be good but better safe than sorry.

Yeah, I am going to put them on and try em out hopefully this weekend. My car is supposed to be done at the tranny shop tommorrow so I will have it back home to test it out. So i will definetly let you know once after I do. I will try and take some pictures as well.

Thanks again for all your insight. I know I might be getting on everyones nerves asking a ton of questions but it's members like you that truely are here to help others out.

 

[68EFIvert]

I know very little about a few things but I am glad my little knowledge was able to help you. Keep the pictures coming of that beautiful car!

 

[Edster]

I'm partial to the Cragars and would paint the centers black. Of course I'm thinking because I'm on a budget since a career change and move made a big change in my pay. If money were no object I would go for the black but no larger than 15 inch. I'm not crazy about the big wheels on the classics, it looks good but out of place on a classic.