I am almost at the point of getting my HRE 542 wheels, and it seems that everyone is going to a 18" wheel now. I was going to run 18x9 and 18x11, but i may run a 19x9 and 20x11. What do you guys think?
Tyler

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68-LT1-T56
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50/50
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Personally I'm not a big fan of the 19+ inch wheels, on a muscle car the sidewall of the tire is so low they dent if you hit a pothole, because the sidewall is so low, they actually handle worse in many cases, and to me it looks like the car is rolling on aluminum, not rubber. But it all comes down to personal taste when it comes to looks. -Dan

Agree it comes down to taste. Personally, I think anything over a 17 incher is too big for a Camaro.

Don't do it because everyone else is, do it because you think it will look good.

I'd say it depends on what you want to do with the car. If you're going to drive it hard at 'track day', 'silver state challenge' and such events like that, I'd probably go with the 18's. But if you just want to drive it hard sometimes, and really stand out at shows, I'd go with the 19's and 20's. If the car has the right stance I think the bigger wheels would look good. I even saw a 40 Willey's at GoodGuys indy that had 22's on the rear, and it look so natural on it because the car was slammed on the ground, I don't even realize they were 22's until someone pointed it out to me.

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68 468 700R4, and here it is;
mutert23 (http://home.earthlink.net/~mutert23/)

A lot of it has to do with the shape of the wheel also. (dont say, "im getting round ones" http://www.camaros.net/forum/tongue.gif ) I mean the pattern of the wheel is very important. Personally, I would only buy 18's, with some "dish" to it (like 5" of backspacing for your 11" rear wheels). I think this is almost more important than diameter of wheel. Different offsets of the same wheel can say, "Trans AM Series car" or "show car." HRE builds a set fully customized for the order, correct? But, despite all I say, dont let me influence you too much, becuase you are the one who spent all of the time on 50/50, and I think that with all of that work, you should definately do what you feel is perfect for your car. Do you think HRE would be willing to ship you several sample sets of wheels, since you are going to be throwing a large sum of money their way anyways? The reason im blabbing so much I guess is that Ive been following 50/50 for quite some time. It is really a 180 degree concept from what everyone else has done. So I guess Ill have to take it one step further after I get my degree . . . maybe Ill call it 60/60, hehe

Oh and if you are still doing the side exhaust, can you tell me where you located your mufflers, and how you bent the pipes? Wait im stupid, underneath your car is so different from mine. nevermind

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My Car Club www.geocities.com/capitolstrokers (http://www.geocities.com/capitolstrokers)
(Under construction.)

[This message has been edited by sik68 (edited 09-13-2002).]

the only real good reason to go with bigger wheels- at least from a performance stand point- is to clear the brakes. personally, i would use the smallest wheel that will clear the calipers. that way, you don't have a big gap in the middle of the wheel. i just hate it when people put big rims on a car with puny brakes- which i know your car doesn't have. 16" or 17" is what i dig at the moment.

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1971 Nova(looks like 69 camaro from underneath!)
355sb, vortec heads, HOT cam,T-10 tranny, 3.70 gears 16X8" IROC wheels. 12" Corvette brakes on the way.
see pics here http://community.webshots.com/user/novaderrik

Teetoe,

I have some color photos of mine with an 18/20 combination. If you are interested shoot me an email.

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The Red Beast http://www.geocities.com/casanoc

The bigger the wheels the more weight...

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David
Camaro - '68 327 Coupe (http://makoshark2.com/djunod/cars/68camaro.htm), '86 Z-28 IROC 305 TPI (http://makoshark2.com/djunod/cars/86iroc.htm)
Corvette - '73 Mako Shark II (http://makoshark2.com/djunod/), '82 Cross-fire (http://makoshark2.com/djunod/cars/82vette.htm), '01 Coupe (http://makoshark2.com/djunod/cars/01vette.htm)

IMO proyect 50/50 needs BIG wheels, it isn't the normal First Gen. http://www.camaros.net/forum/smile.gif If you (newbies) haven't seen it, do a search and look at the proposed end results. If I ever hit the LOTTO, I'm gonna ask Tyler to build a car for me. http://www.camaros.net/forum/biggrin.gif

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Our affair with Camaros is a live sentence without the possibility of parole. www.geocities.com/c68ss (http://www.geocities.com/c68ss) http://home.coqui.net/borench

Personally the 18 - 20 combo looks un-balanced. You could run 18's front and back and get dramatic results. Take a look at Cris' (CJ's) car. I went out on a limb with the 17's on mine but am happy with the results. Congrats on the mention in the CP write up by the way!!

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...Dennis
"The '69 (http://chevelles.com/showroom/ww.jpg), the '96 (http://www.camaroslimited.com/graphics/memcars/96ss.jpg) & the club (http://camaroslimited.com/)"

Teetoe,

I'm more for 50 series 17"s b/c of the bent rim thing and also the lack of sidewall rubber. I went with 225 and 255/45-17's on my car before I knew about the Nitto 50 series or I woulda bought them.

But please do whatever trip's your trigger, b/c it is your ride.. I'm sure it will be fine regardless. pdq67

edit:
I hit the submit button too early. Sorry.

[This message has been edited by Teetoe_Jones (edited 09-21-2002).]

Well, there are some good points here, and this is where i'm torn:
I am going to kick the living hell out of this car. I will drive it like it's the last day on earth, and i'm late for my own wedding. I'll be racing it in Silver State, and on Baer/Hotchkis track day, so an 18" wheel would be best for all around performance. I've decided on a 14" 6 piston Alcon caliper from Baer, and a set of upgraded pads with eradispeed rotors in the rear, so i can run a 16" rim with a drang radial if i go to the track and drag it. BUT-
I als want to roll up to places and have a brutal stance. If you haven't seen it as it sits now take a look at these shots: http://www.badassride.com/images/Scrapbook/friends/Tyler_50-50/?SHOWPIC=Photo0501.jpg&UPSIZE=0 http://www.badassride.com/images/Scrapbook/friends/Tyler_50-50/?SHOWPIC=Photo0499.jpg&UPSIZE=0 http://www.badassride.com/images/Scrapbook/friends/Tyler_50-50/?SHOWPIC=Photo0498.jpg&UPSIZE=0
Here's the whole page: http://www.badassride.com/images/Scrapbook/friends/Tyler_50-50/
The car is going to be 2-1/2" lower than it sits now. You'll notice that we have a rear tire that sits dead even with the 1/4 panel lip. With the correct offset, a slight message, and a fender roll job, the car will clear the tire, and be slammed on the ground (with 5" of ground clearence mind you).
So, a 20" rear rim would look wicked on it, but with a stock rear brake size, it would look out of place. The rim design is like this: http://www.hrewheels.com/Car/540Series/big542.htm
Here is a photo shop job of my car with 19" and 20" rims on it: http://www.lvfbody.com/whoismember_picture.asp?MemberID=66
I'm still stuggling with it...
Oh, and sik68-
I'm not running mufflers. I'm running a stainless header into a set of turbos, with 3" x pipe and striaght exhaust that runs through the trans tunnel. It will not hang below the rockers, and the underside of the car is flat. No frame, no exhaust, no oil pans to scrape. Just good areodynamics.
Tyler


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68-LT1-T56
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50/50
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Hey djd, great car, the '69. What's the wheel, back spacing and tire size? How did you lower the car? I'd like the same stance for my '69 RS/SS 396 car.

You've gone too far to stop at 18's.

I agree, the 18's look perfect, even though it is just a photoshoped pic. And thanks for the info about our exhaust.

Teetoe,

I don't believe I saw a '53 Chevy up in the air, now did I??? He, He!!! I went many a mile in a stock 2-door post '54 when I was in H/S!!!

Everything looks great... pdq67