Hey Guys,
I finally decided what wheels I'm going with for the car after rolling on my rallyes for a little over a year. I'm going to get a set of Halibrands this summer. Now, I know I wanna run a 15x8 in the back, and from 65Elcamino's calculations I'm gunna want 5 inches of backspace with that. What I was curious on though is this. The Halibrands are gunna be the wheels that stay on the car, no going back. I do like the look of bigger in the back and smaller up front. Currently I have 15x7's on the front of my car, I kinda want to go smaller than that. I was thinking 15x5 or 15x6. Problem is the car is drivin' nearly daily and my plan is for once I graduate college and am out in the working world is to go full globalwest. Course, that means I'll be building it to handle. What I'm curious on are the 5 inch wide wheels defeating my purpose with the new suspension, should I go with 6's? Or perhaps even wider? What would you go with? I guess I'm not expecting to get the full advantage from the global since Im going to be running a 15 inch wheel still, but still. I dont wanna buy the 5's now and then find my $$$$ wheels wanting to fold under once I got some kick arse suspension under the car.
Any Opinions on the subject?
Thanks.

------------------
Russ (or Steve)
1965 Malibu 283/PG/A/C (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/SteveD64SSside.jpg)
Now 350/TH350 with some goodies
My Homepage (Updated 5/31/2001) (http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/chevelle/)
Team Chevelle Member #71

I faced the same problem when I bought my rims and tires. I wanted to get 4 inch rims on the front of my 66. That is until I saw one up close and next to my car. I ended up getting the 6 inch w/185/70/15 tires. They look good not to wide and not to narrow. I have 15x8.5s in the rear with 275/60s. I would stay 6" or above for everyday driving on the front.

Mike

I went 5" in the front of mine, but I'm not really going for the handling. I wanted the skinny drag racing look. I have 186h or something like that tires (stock for a VW bug) and with the SB it was fine, but I need some more tire under it with the BB. I drive my car everyday on the freeway and in town and have had no major probs.

I cant wait to see pics of that thing when you get those wheels on there... halibrands are one of my favs

------------------
*Chris Mellow
*1970 Chevelle Malibu (http://www.geocities.com/cwmellow)
*402BB/TH350 Pearl Blue, Chrome Ralleys
*God Bless America

I have a 64 and have spent hours looking at cars, and researching, suspension, braking, rims, tires, and back spacing options. And after sifting through all of the information I decided to spend the money and improve overall handling, primarily to protect myself and the car. We spend hours on building big motors, installing bullet proof transmissions, and rearends, put thousands into paint, and then smash up our toys because someone can't tell how fast were going, and 3,000plus pound cars can't make an evasive turn on 185's up front. I'm putting a complete Global West front end literally everything they offer, including their unbelievable new upper and lower tubular control arms. One thing that you really need to consider is your long term objective to increase handling capabilities. To spend the money on Global West technology only to run 185's up front is sort of a waste. I wanted to do the same because I love that ProStreet thin/fat tire combo, but the overall handling is less than desireable, and lets face it, not all roads are straight.

The tire is going to make more difference than the width of the rim. If your building the car for handling then i'd go with a 15x7 rim, gives you room for a reasonably wide tire, but is not a huge rim.

I have 15x10's in the back, and 15x7's in the front and the front tires look plenty smaller than the back ones do.

------------------
Chris Dagenais
'71 Malibu with a home built 454! 12.7@107
For everything you do, this burnout's (http://www.71malibu.com/Burnout.wmv) for you.
The Green Monster (http://www.71malibu.com)

I run for looks. 15x8/15x7, and match the tire "buldge" to appear the same on each size rim. 255-60/235-60. I loose a little MPG but I do pick up some handling on the stock suspension due to better traction. I also plan on going with the "pro-touring" type of suspension upgrades, and plan on keeping the same tire/rim size.

Remember, I run for looks fist http://www.chevelles.com/forum/wink.gif


------------------
Tommy B.
71-72 Malibu (http://www.geocities.com/beldarr/Chevelle.htm)
"I'm high all right, but on the real stuff
High octane gasoline
A clean windshield
And a shoe shine"

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by k20mike:
I faced the same problem when I bought my rims and tires. I wanted to get 4 inch rims on the front of my 66. That is until I saw one up close and next to my car. I ended up getting the 6 inch w/185/70/15 tires. They look good not to wide and not to narrow. I have 15x8.5s in the rear with 275/60s. I would stay 6" or above for everyday driving on the front.

Mike<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey what backspace are those 15x8.5's? How do they fit with those tires. I am going to be ordering up some 17x8.5 with a 275/50/17 which is almost exactly the same size tire, wondering what backspace you have and how the clearance is on each side (its a 66 right?) Thanks

------------------
Thomas (AKA Hot66ss)
66 Super Sport (http://chevelles.com/showroom/myss.jpg) Now striped frame off Project
67 Malibu (http://chevelles.com/showroom/hot66ss4) Getting there.
69 El camino Beater FOR SALE (http://members.aol.com/chvellss/elco.htm) Mild 355, M20 4 speed (Daily Driver)
Video of me in the Elco smoking the tires (http://members.aol.com/chevelleparts/mvc-059w.mpg)
Aces Member 2380
Team Chevelle member #262

you mention 15x7 wheels up front but how wide a tire can you use? I put 225x70 in back but they rub in front. What do you guys recommend in front with 15 inch rally's and the 225x15 rears?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by kzgysr:
you mention 15x7 wheels up front but how wide a tire can you use? I put 225x70 in back but they rub in front. What do you guys recommend in front with 15 inch rally's and the 225x15 rears?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I have 215-60-15's on the front, even with the lowering that I did I have no rubbing problems. I have no clue the backspace on my wheels. Probably closer to 3.5(I believe 4" centers the wheels in the well if I'm remembering 65ElCaminos numbers correctly) though because this weekend when I was under my car putting my new rear suspension parts on I noticed my 255-60-15's had like an 1.5-2 inches of clearance on the frame while only maybe 1/2" on the outter lip.

BTW- what year are we talking here?



------------------
Russ (or Steve)
1965 Malibu 283/PG/A/C (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/SteveD64SSside.jpg)
Now 350/TH350 with some goodies
My Homepage **(Updated 5/16/2002)** (http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/chevelle/)
Team Chevelle Member #71

I am running 265/50-15 on 15X7 rims up front...

Mine is a 66 Chevelle, so maybe some difference...

IMO, I like the skinny front tires les and less... They seem to imply limited capabilities (straight line only), and a wider tire will not only be safer and perform better in the real world, it won't cost you much in ET's...


As for running the Halibrands (they are nice), but also make sure the type of wheel is correct for what you want... What I mean is make sure the Halibrands you want will support you desire for a "kick arse suspension"...

I knew a guy that put some Welds on his car, and the handling (cornering) suffered significantly... Even though they were wide, they weren't designed for cornering and I guess they were flexing under a cornering load...

I run 15x3.5 up front with Goodyear drag fronts and 15x10 with 7.5 inch backspacing. I have 29.5x13.5x15 m/t e/t streets. It has a 12 bolt from a camaro which is 1.5 inches longer on each side thus the 7.5 inch backspacing. The fenders are rolled and the car is mini tubbed.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>How small is too small for the front?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well Steve, I personally don't like anything smaller than a 'B' cup but its personal preference http://www.chevelles.com/forum/tongue.gif http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I have 15x7 with 215/65-15 on front, take a look at the pics on my site

------------------
WEBSITE UPDATED 03/18/02
Adam Layman
1971 Chevelle Malibu
My Webpage (http://www.nd.edu/~alayman/webpage/main.htm)