Here is my car with 15x7 series 62 on the rear (235/60R15 M&H drag radial), and 14x5 series 64 up front.
Fronts are stock backspace (straight out of the catalog) and rear are 15x7 custom 5" backspace (which is probably too deep for the front of a Chevelle).
I needed a wheel with a lot of backspace to clear the quarters on the 62-65 Nova. 5" is bit too much, as I am using a mid-80s IROC factory 1/8" wheel spacer to get a bit more clearance between the spring and tire. 4.875" would have been ideal, and 4.75 would have got the tire too close to the quarter.
These M&H tires are wide for their size, Chevy II wheel wells are tiny, and wheel BS only comes in 1/4" increments, so you do what ya gotta do.
I've got a pair of 15 x 8's painted (not in the pictures below) and waiting to have cheater slicks mounted on them. You can see how it compares to a factory 15 X 7" wheel.
Here's my '66, stock '66 rearend. The rears are 15X8 with the "standard" backspacing (4.25") as purchased from Summit... 275/60-15 Nitto Drag radials with "redlines" from Diamond Back Classics...
Its a little tight at the outer lip, but plenty of clearance on the inside... Thinking about ordering a custom offset for the rears, just to avoid scarring the sidewalls...
The rims were powdercoated, and eventually will be painted "Marina Blue"...
The front are 15X7, standard BS ( 4.25"), with 215/70-15 (I forget?) BFG Radial T/A, also with redlines from Diamond Back Classics...
Thought I had another picture with the stock dog dish caps on it, but couldn't find it...
They are powdercoated. For the white ones on the back of my car (pictured above), I just scuffed the powdercoat and shot them with an ermine white rattle can and clearcoat ordered from automotivetouchup.com. They mix rattle can paints in factory colors, but I think many local paint shops can do this too.
I didn't want the expense of "real" paint, but I wanted to be sure the shade of white matched the 1965 ermine white on the car. It worked out OK.
I'm going the same route as Alan.. I'm getting the wheels painted tomorrow. I'll use a set of Baby Moons for now until I run across some hub caps like Alan has..
Has anyone seen pics of these in 17" with factory dog dish hubcaps? Does it look good or out of proportion?
I was considering these in 17x9 5 1/4" backspace with 275/40/17 and dog dish caps all the way around on my 66. It will probably be either these or rallys in the same size.
Good looking car there. Looks like a twin to my 68 when I bought it, kinda wish I woulda left it alone instead of painting it. What size tires are you running?
If you're spending the $ on a billet set, then you can change the design to have more profile in the actual rim area and not add all of the extra 2" in the hub area, that's what throws the proportion off on these.
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