hey guys.....im struggling with what I want to do with my Malibu.....I just saw a 65 with 17" wheels. I thought it looked great. Was wondering what would be the best combo?

64 Malibu SS no mods, bone stock (For Now)

There is a much greater selection of 17" tires in many different widths and aspect ratios. 16" tires are kinda hurting in that regard.

Best combo in my opinion is 18's up front 20's out back... Close second are 17's up front 18's out back...
Check it out..
http://www.introwheels.com/showroom_chevy_cars.asp
Scroll through till the 65.. Has 18's and 20's
Steve

Hi Sean,if you like to get 17'for your Mal,let me know I've got a group purchase going on.Check out Colorado Custom rim GP thread.Good luck C-yaaa Vince

I think 17" is as large as you should go, anything bigger just doesn't look right IMO. My El Camino has 17"s and they look good without being overkill. Look at my signature.

Guys....I need to know what is the max size of 17" tires and rims that will fit under the stock wheel wells of my 64 Malibu,

I have 17X8 with 5" backspacing on all four wheels.

I have 1" clearance between the wheel lip and 3/4" on the inside for the rear combination of 255/45R17 tires and wheels with a stock 64-67 10 bolt axle. I cut half a coil off of the back springs that lowered the rear
1/2". I also have not rolled the wheel lip.

The front tires are 235/45R17 and I have minor rubbing. It only rubs when the tire is at full turn lock and is pushed up into the wheelhouse. It rubs on the bottom of the wheelhouse, so no damage occurs. I would make one change on the front, I would use 17X7 wheels with 4-1/2" bs to cure this rubbing issue. This would move the tire in 1/2" and not affect the inside clearance. The front suspension has been lowered 1" with the Hotchkiss springs. I also have installed 72 Chevelle power disk brakes, which move the wheel outward about 1/4" due to the thickness of the rotor.

You may be able to use a bigger tire on the rear such as a 275mm width. This would be about 3/4" wider than I have on the El Camino and would still allow at least 5/8" on the outside and 3/8" on the inside. You can gain even more clearance by rolling the wheel lip. This is all based on a stock 64-67 rear axle, a later model 68 and up is 1-1/4" wider and changes all my measurements.

I believe that the El Camino and Chevelle rear wheelhouses are slightly different and that the Chevelle wheelhouse is smaller. It's best if you measure your rear wheelhouse and wheel mounting surface position on your car. It's easy to do, remove the rear wheels and then support the car under the axle tube so the axle is in the normal loaded position. Then use a straight piece of angle iron to lay against the wheel mounting surface of the brake drum. This should extend into the upper wheelhouse so you can measure the distance from the mounting surface edge to the inner sidewall and the wheel lip. Measure at the front, middle, and rear points of the wheel lip to find the smallest clearance available. Then put this data onto a piece of graph paper showing the relationship of the mounting surface to the wheelhouse sides. Next decide what width wheel you want to use and draw a box that is centered between the sidewalls. Then draw the centerline of the wheel. Now you can measure the distance from the mounting surface line to the wheel centerline and determine the backspacing required for your car.

Thanks guys......I will take all this into consideration........I am going to leave the car stock height and it does have a stock 10 bolt.

I have a 65 that has 16" TT IIs. Fronts are 16 x 7 x 4-1/4" bs with 225 50', rears are 16 x 8 x 5" bs with 245 50's.

My car is fairly low also (4-1/4" clearance at the cross member) so I replaced the inner fenderwell bolts with button heads just to be safe.

As far as the rears go I wish I had gotten 5-1/4" bs, would have centered tire in wheelwell perfectly and could have gone up to 255's.

I've driven about 1000 miles so far this summer and haven't had any rubbing issues front or rear yet.

http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/Jeff65SS/65-side1.jpg


Hope this helps!

Jeff

Jeff,

Nyce pic of the '65... Good angle to show off the "meat". Any side views?? tongue.gif

Harleighguy, I've posted a couple of other photos in the Chevelle Showroom try there.

Jeff

Do you guys with 25 inch tires find you bottom out too much? My old 72 had 25.5 inch tires all around with only a 1 inch drop and I had to be real carefull about speedbumps and going into driveways with stock exhaust.