Custom Wheels and Tires

[LMS]

15" wheels all the way for me, hate the bigger shit.

[Psychoholic]

Great thread! Tons of good info.

[Uglybastard239]

See THAT'S the classic look I was hoping to get on mine. Nothing huge or flashy, just good ol' 70s and/or 80s aftermarket styling. Damned front wheel drive...sure it drives great and it goes like a scalded cat, but I'm stuck with factory rims. Guess that's my cross to bear.

Sorry to hear about your clear coat issues Paradox. Still, it looks pretty damned nice in the picture. Love the color combo. If I repaint mine I've been considering going burgundy with the black top. Then my center caps would match, but my dark blue interior would probably clash.

[Beladona_13]

Got good old 15 X 7" Keystone Klassics on my 58...
26032.jpg
yup, the ones I've heard called "suicide rims".

I'm running 235/75 R 15 - 6 ply tires on them too! Talk about an oxymoron...

[Paradox]

the top on mine has no clear coat left (the sides still have it though)

[Uglybastard239]

Well thank you Hotroddwayne for that link. I've looked at my rims two or three times and it never even occurred to me that there was a MAJOR difference in the rim design. Makes me wonder what else I've never noticed in my life. In my defense, I haven't owned a rwd since 1989, but it's not like I haven't changed both types of tires. Guess I'm stuck with my original brushed aluminum rims. I'll just have to find another set of center caps...who puts burgundy center caps on a Sapphire Blue hearse?

Speaking of burgundy. I love the high gloss burgundy top on your coach Paradox. Can't say I'm a fan of 18's myself, but I've always preferred classic cragars and/or the rally rims I had on my '79 Nova Custom...and I hate "rubber band" tires. Rubber Band tires, that's hilarious.

[hotroddwayne]

Also, I run 255/70 Cooper Cobras on the back of my 71 and have no clearance issues.

Of course not. I run 255's on the back of the '66 ambulance with no problems too. 1976 was the last year of the "big" Caddys. From 1977 up they are considered downsized & 255's are VERY close on the '80 S&S in the rear inner fenderwells.
Sorry about the tire description not being 100%.
I will say that a 225 & 255 may look similar on paper, but mounted up & sitting side-by-side or on a car the difference in proportion is huge to the eye.

[tonytheskin]

Ok you may have made a typing error in saying you have 14" rims on an '88 Fleetwood, they should be 15" unless you have a front-wheel-drive. As for your tire question, don't put 255/70 tires on the front, it will look like a 4 x 4 and will rub like crazy! 255 is the sidewall height, the higher the number the taller the tire. If you're worried about tire rotation & want all 4 the same, go with the 225 but be warned they'll look wimpy (small) on the coach & not fill out the tire openings like they should. Tire rub on the back with 255/70's & a heavy load? YES unless you trick your load leveling system to counteract the sag of the rear. Look at the pix of my 1980 S&S Victoria hearse, it has 255/70/R15 tires on the back & I "tricked" my load leveling system to keep the rear shocks pumped up higher than normal because the tires are so close to rubbing it's scary when the shocks are down... and things do tend to move around when cornering so why take the chance. I also like the "raked" stance so the rear is slightly higher than the front.
Here's how I look at your situation: If your coach is for pleasure & it's your "toy" you drive occasionally, who cares about being practical, put some new mags on it with "bigs & littles" tire combo. If it's a daily driver that you use for everything & needs to be practical, then keep it more driveable with all 4 tires the same size so you can rotate them. Hell I run Firestone Firehawk "Indy 500" series white letter tires & they're less than $460 for a set mounted & balanced for the bigs & littles combo, so if the fronts wear uneven they're only $106 apiece, rears are $12 more.
As for a spare, rely on a standard spare. You have no choice but to run it if you have a blowout. It may lean a little but it won't be on there very long. You oughta have a blowout on a pro-street sometime... man does it look like ASS & drive funny with a standard tire on one side & a giant/wide deep dish on the other! The 255's have a higher weight rating because they're a much larger tire than a 225. PM me if you still need some help with your decision.

Not to pop any bubbles but you got facts about tires wrong....the 255 or 225 is the tire width, in millimeters, and the second number is the % of the first number to relate how tall the tire is. a 225/70 IS 8.9" wide and a 255/70 is 10.04" wide....so the larger of the 2 is only an inch wider and fraction of that taller. Just my 2 pennies.



*edit* Also, I run 255/70 Cooper Cobras on the back of my 71 and have no clearance issues.

[Paradox]

no clue what you just said but mine came with 18s on it :P

[Morella]

how about some decent looking 18s?

Je m'en fous de tes 18's de merde ! That was how it all started...replace the 15's with the 18's, then 20's, then, 22's with little rubber bands for tires. How about some nice 15's?

-d

[Paradox]

how about some decent looking 18s?

1974 caddy superior hearse (Medium).JPG

[hotroddwayne]

I am really just freaking ecstatic to see people recommending some classy wheels, instead of those idiotic 22" barrio rims. Perhaps those things are finally going out of style!

-d

We can only hope Morella!

[Morella]

I am really just freaking ecstatic to see people recommending some classy wheels, instead of those idiotic 22" barrio rims. Perhaps those things are finally going out of style!

-d

[hotroddwayne]

Anyway, here's my question. Can I get the lug pattern changed to a 5x5? Seems like it ought to be a fairly easy switch, but I'm not sure if it's even possible...and if it is will it affect their ability to support the weight?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Glenn

It's not worth the trouble. You have a front-wheel-drive, which means there's a 90% chance the drive hubs have studs & the rotors slip over them... then you put your wheels on the studs. The BIG problem is what I mentioned earlier... with front wheel drive the offset you have to run is ALL wrong for what we consider "standard offset" wheels. If you went to all the trouble to change your wheel pattern... it would be NO benefit because standard offset wheels we RWD drive guys buy will hang out of the fenders BIG TIME on yours. Take off one of your wheels & you'll see... your lug pattern is almost FLUSH with the outside of your rim... nearly ALL the depth is on the inside & this was done for a reason, it's how FWD cars are set up. RWD rims are not made this way. I'm sorry to say that unfortunately your choices are limited because of it being FWD those are a whole other ball game there.
This will explain it better... click the link & you will see the difference in offsets, the one on the right is front-wheel-drive... http://www.rimsntires.com/rt_specs.jsp

[Uglybastard239]

Ok, I called Summit Racing a couple of weeks ago and talked to the salesperson. Turns out that as an added bonus Cadillac used a 5 x 115mm bolt pattern and they only used THAT pattern for a year or two. As you may have guessed this presents quite the problem for obtaining aftermarket rims. They only had 1 vendor that carried rims in that bolt pattern. They're Eagle Alloys. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/AEW-1929-5615/ and they've got 10 in stock. Unfortunately, I think they're ugly as a mud fence, pricey AND they've got a rather low weight limit...but they've got 10 of 'em. That should count for something I suppose.

Anyway, here's my question. Can I get the lug pattern changed to a 5x5? Seems like it ought to be a fairly easy switch, but I'm not sure if it's even possible...and if it is will it affect their ability to support the weight?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Glenn