Got a wheel on

[GnatGoSplat]

I finally found time today to get a tire mounted on a wheel to try on my car. What do you think of this amount of sidewall? These are 245/45R18 tires. I could go to a 245/40 tire, but I'm not sure if I want to or not. Right now I like how these fill out the wheel well not just at the top, but also the sides. If I go to 245/40 the gap will increase 1/2", although the car will also end up being 1/2" lower. Curbs and potholes will also become a little more of a threat. I only had the 1 tire mounted because I wanted to see if it would rub (if it did, I would be forced to go to 245/40). It doesn't seem to rub at all so I think this tire size will work for me. But, I can't decide to stay with this size or not. Opinions?

I'm not looking for negative comments on the wheel style. I know some people may think it's plain and boring looking, but that's exactly my style.

 

Before:

 

After:

[GutlessSupreme]

I love the wheels. Those rotors look AWFULLY small behind them though

 

god I hate our brakes

[sl3196]

Looks nice man! Rotors do look small though.

[GnatGoSplat]

HA!!! Those are even the bigger brakes off a 96 Monte Z34!

The wheels wouldn't fit with the smaller brakes (caliper bracket too close to the center part of the wheel).

[sl3196]

It looks like they match the trim pretty well too!

[Guest TurboSedan]

looks really good, i would stay with 45s if they aren't going to rub anywhere.

[Euro]

how could anyone not like those rims?? they are sweet man! it looks like a perfect tire/wheel combo!

[EurosportZ34]

Ohhhh....very sexy!

[runt]

Stay with the 45's. And if you find them gone one day, it wasn't me! Thats the type of wheel I'd want on my cutty.

[digitaloutsider]

Seeeeeeeeeeeeksay.

[kfahn]

That looks perfect. I think that the smaller ones would look too small, but good purchase on those rims!

[99RegalGS]

They look really good.

[GnatGoSplat]

Thanks for the compliments, guys!

 

As far as I could tell, there's no rubbing, but I'll need to go over some bumps to see if the tire could make contact with the silver wheel well trim. It's possible that it might. I also noticed a wee bit of rubbing on the plastic splash shield, but the shield is actually kind of warped and sticking out so the 225/60R16's I had on there before probably rubbed too.

As long as there's no rubbing on anything that matters, I think I'll stay with the 45's. I think I'll need to get it aligned to know for sure if I'm in the clear.

[scorpion_x9]

That looks sweet! I like the nice shiny rotors, but the are kinda small looking, I say retrofit some vette brakes on! (j/k about the vette brakes)

[DiscoStudd]

I totally dig 'em. I say they look perfect the way they're sitting right now. What brand and model are the rims, and where did you get them? I think I'm gonna add that style rim to my wish list!

[THe_DeTAiL3R]

match the car really good

[Dannymik]

here's one for a good response. I like the wheels...how much for the whole setup? I always throw around different ideas with my Cutlass and different wheels is one of them! Nice

[GnatGoSplat]

They are CSA Gladiators (Aussie wheels). I couldn't find a US distributor, so I had to have them shipped here from National Tire in Canada. They are basically clones of the Mille Miglia Evo 5, but without the fake bolts. I prefer the clean look so I like the CSA's better than the Evo 5. I think they cost less than $600 shipped, but I honestly don't remember since I bought them a long time ago but it's taken me this long to do all the work to get them to fit.

 

They do NOT clear the calipers since they are concave and have a +42mm offset (notice all W-body wheels that fit are convex). I had to upgrade to 96 Monte front knuckles in order to move the caliper bracket out more. After that, I had to cut off almost 1/4" of material off the caliper support bracket. Even after that, they still didn't fit, so I needed to get a 5mm spacer. As you can tell, I was really determined to get 'em on and I really like the style. The pic doesn't do 'em justice, they really look a hundred times better in person.

 

The tires are Michelin Pilot Sport Z-speed rated. They were $240 shipped from Ebay for all 4. I think I did good on the tires because the worst one has 7/32" tread while the best one is 9/32" tread, brand new tires have 10/32" tread so these weren't used much (Ebay seller said 5000 miles only). I just recently paid more to have a Pep Boys Futura el-cheapo 225/60R16's put on the convertible.

 

I can't wait to get the rest of them on, Penny says it actually looks a lot better than she had even imagined even though she could tell they would look good. Now she definitely wants 18" on her car too, although since the convertible is black, I'm going to spring for chrome on that one.

[90TGP]

That's a lot of work to get a set of wheels on! :shock:

 

My aftermarket set have a 43mm offset. All I need was a 9/16" spacer from PepBoys to clear the calipers. Then again, my calipers clear by 2mm AT MOST. :shock:

[GnatGoSplat]

9/16" spacer probably would have worked without me doing all that, but the Cutlass needs a higher offset otherwise the wheels would stick out too much. My 5mm spacer puts the wheel at a +37mm offset which is just right. 9/16" is pretty fat for a spacer, did you need longer studs?

[90TGP]

I wrote down the wrong measurement :oops: It's 5/16", not 9/16".

 

5/16" is the thickest spacer you can use without longer studs.

[topless94style]

Those rims look awesome, looks like the long hard work paid off. I will be staring at that pic for a while now.