# Wheels for my 68 lemans???



## poncho power (Nov 28, 2012)

Hey guys....... I believe I'm going to be purchasing a 68 lemans convert this weekend, but I just hate the aluminum mag wheels the guy had on it..... I really love the Pontiac rally II wheels, but I'm not sure how to go about getting some? Does a guy find them at auto salvage yard, blast and paint them, or do you go buy some new aftermarket rally II wheels? Did they come factory all the same width, like 8" wide all the way around? Or did they have 9" on the back, and 8" on the fronts?
another question I have is, tire size...... I like a little bit wider stance tire. Does a guy go with 60's on the rear and 70's on the front? or just go 60's all the way around? 

Anybody have any examples on what they did to their cars? 

Thanks in advance.........


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

They were the same width all around the car. 6" in the '60's, and in the '70's some were 7' wide. The 7x14 's on my '67 GTO pictured came off a junkyard '71 Firebird in 1988 for $20 apiece and were bolted right on. Only now do they show signs of needing to be repainted. I'm running 225/70/14's all the way around, and have been for years. Wider than stock, they fill the wells and look, ride, and handle well. They are also the same diameter as stock spec tires, so the speedometer stays calibrated. If you go the used rim route, be sure to check the center lug holes to make sure they are not wallowed out oversize. You can also mix and match widths, diameters, anything you want....14" tires are harder to find these days, so some 15" rally 2's from the 1970's might serve you better than the originals. These wheels are very common and not very pricey. Repainting them is labor intensive, though.


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## poncho power (Nov 28, 2012)

geeteeohguy said:


> They were the same width all around the car. 6" in the '60's, and in the '70's some were 7' wide. The 7x14 's on my '67 GTO pictured came off a junkyard '71 Firebird in 1988 for $20 apiece and were bolted right on. Only now do they show signs of needing to be repainted. I'm running 225/70/14's all the way around, and have been for years. Wider than stock, they fill the wells and look, ride, and handle well. They are also the same diameter as stock spec tires, so the speedometer stays calibrated. If you go the used rim route, be sure to check the center lug holes to make sure they are not wallowed out oversize. You can also mix and match widths, diameters, anything you want....14" tires are harder to find these days, so some 15" rally 2's from the 1970's might serve you better than the originals. These wheels are very common and not very pricey. Repainting them is labor intensive, though.


Thank you much for the info, very informative! I like the 15" idea. Would you use the same tire size then for height & width ( 225/70/15 ) ?


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## gjones (Oct 8, 2012)

*tires*

I'm running 15/7 Rally II rims on my '66. 245 60 r15 all the way around.(Drum brakes on all 4's, though).No problems. Painted the rims myself with Rally II stencil kit. No two ways about it--- THEY LOOK HOT!!!!! (the 245's are wide, but I don't think you could go much taller without losing some width, though-when we got new tires, the shop actually had a tire chart of what would fit, though we had already decided on what we wanted). P.S. got the rims on e-bay, all told, cost around $225-WITH SHIPPING!! (course, it took ALOT of looking to get that deal, but well worth it!)


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

I'm running aftermarket (from Vintage Wheel - _not_ Wheel Vintiques) Rallye II's on my car. 15X7 (4.25" back space) with 235-60/15 BFG's on the front, 15X8 (4.5" back space) with 275-60/15 Nitto drag radials on the rear.

I just looked for the Vintage Wheels site and coudn't find it, but it appears that Coker Tire is now offering the same/similar wheels:
Pontiac Rallye II - Rallye Wheels - Wheels

Here's a few photos of my car wearing them, for reference:

























Bear


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## ljsflash (Nov 30, 2012)

Bear that looks great! Excuse my ignorance, but the the spacer just move the wheel out from the hub? 

How do post pics that size? The few I've tried are small until you click on them.

LJ


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Took me awhile to figure out what you meant by "spacer" ---- When I said my front wheels have 4.25" backspacing and my rears have 4.5" backspacing, I was referring to how the wheels are made. There's 4.25 inches from the back side of the mounting flange (the part that touches the axle hub) to the edge of the wheel where the tire bead seats. In some circles this is also referred to as wheel "offset".

To include images like that in posts, you have to first have them hosted on a web site somewhere so that anyone can display them in a web browser by typing in the URL's of the photos. I use my own web server because I have one, but lots of folks use picture sharing sites like photobucket for this.
Then to include a photo in a post, you have to put in the "secret code" that looks like this:
[







]
I had to "double" the square bracket characters so you could see them, but in actual practice you just type them once.

Bear


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## poncho power (Nov 28, 2012)

So, does it matter if I still have drum brakes on the car? Will the same 15" rally II wheels fit on a drum or rotor setup?


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## FlambeauHO (Nov 24, 2011)

Does not matter, clearance issues can arise with 14" rallye's and disc brake kits. 15's work fine with drums. Mine had drums and now has 4 wheel discs from rightstuff. Here's my car wearing 15" rallye II's:


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## poncho power (Nov 28, 2012)

Thanks Flambeau, that's exactly what I needed to know.....

This site is great..... Alot of knowledge here to learn...


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## jmt455 (Mar 26, 2012)

Just for comparison, here is my previous 68 on the original 14 X 6 Rally II wheels with G70-14 redlines:


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## poncho power (Nov 28, 2012)

I found a set of 4 for $100, they are 15 x 7. They have a little surface rust on them, but with a good sand blasting, I think they should clean up nicely....


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## FlambeauHO (Nov 24, 2011)

Good deal! I like the way the 15's look. Lots of good tutorials on painting Rallye's on here also. Some good pics on my thread back a ways with paint codes. Good luck!


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

:agree Roger that. When you get ready to repaint them after blasting, I've got some paint codes that I think looked good on mine. Also, it's up to you but I don't recommend the "masking kits" for repainting them. I did mine with fine line vinyl tape around the edges of the spokes, then filled in behind that with regular bodyshop quality masking tape. It worked fine.

Bear


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## poncho power (Nov 28, 2012)

FlambeauHO said:


> Good deal! I like the way the 15's look. Lots of good tutorials on painting Rallye's on here also. Some good pics on my thread back a ways with paint codes. Good luck!


Flambeau....

I'm having trouble locating that thread, do you remember the name of the thread? Thanks

From alot of pictures I have seen of Rally II's, I really like it when the charcoal gray part of the wheel is almost black, I like that part darker than usual. So ya, if you guys have any pic's with paint codes, that would be awesome!


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Here's a set I did:










I used Nason (Dupont) single stage urethane.

The silver is 1969 GM Argent Silver - 9692-IB
The charcoal is 1982 Chrysler Charcoal Metallic- code AA9 - B8270 IB
The gray (back side of the wheels) is 1976 Ford Gray - code 1N - 44172-IB

What I went to the paint jobber store with were these Ditzler paint codes:
Silver: Ditzler #DDL-8568
Charcoal: Ditzler #DDL-32947
Gray: Ditzler 1977 Ford Dove Gray #2847 

They took those codes and crossed them to the corresponding colors in the Nason (Dupont's "value") line. I'd assume that jobbers for other brands would be able to cross them into whatever brands they carry.

Bear


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## poncho power (Nov 28, 2012)

Thanks Bear, those look really nice!

what is the deal with trim rings on wheels? was that an option, with or without? I notice some cars have them and some don't. Was it just a personnel preference?


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Well, in 69 all GTO's came with them except for the Judge which was 'bare' with no rings. I can't say for sure about other years.

As far as "now", it depends on the car and what the owner likes. I like the looks of mine bare so that's the way I run them. I've had a few folks at shows ask me about running rings (and probably there were some who thought I "should" run them) but that's ok. I sort of like the understated 'sinister' look this car has as it is. I've been thinking about adding a pin-stripe along the fender edge body line, maybe, and back before I was forced to swap heads I considered adding a set of black "Ram Air IV" decals to the hood scoops thinking that if they were flat black that might add to the stealth factor. 

It's your money, your car --- do what YOU think looks good.

Bear


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## jmt455 (Mar 26, 2012)

poncho power, before you spend a lot of time making those wheels beautiful, make sure your 15" Rally wheels have the correct bolt circle (4.75") for your car. 

There were also 15" Rally II wheels for the full-size Pontiacs; they had a 5" bolt circle. I think the 15" wheels might have been narrower than 7", but I'm not certain.


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## mbergin (Jun 19, 2012)

Informative thread. One question....I have 15x7's all around with 4.25" backspacing. 235/60/15's on the front, can I put 275/60/15's in the rear without sacrificing handling? One shop told me the rim was too narrow for that size and I could only do 255/60/15 and smaller. Any thoughts?


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## FlambeauHO (Nov 24, 2011)

I say regardless of opinions, a 275 is too wide for a 7 inch rim. And yes, that much sidewall will adversely affect handling. If you're hellbent on 275's get 15x8's, just my .002


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## mbergin (Jun 19, 2012)

Thanks Flambeau. Do you think 255's will be ok?


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## FlambeauHO (Nov 24, 2011)

Yes I have them on the rear of my car. They fit great, check out my build thread for some pics!


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## poncho power (Nov 28, 2012)

jmt455 said:


> poncho power, before you spend a lot of time making those wheels beautiful, make sure your 15" Rally wheels have the correct bolt circle (4.75") for your car.
> 
> There were also 15" Rally II wheels for the full-size Pontiacs; they had a 5" bolt circle. I think the 15" wheels might have been narrower than 7", but I'm not certain.


Thanks for the heads up...... I will find out before I go look at them...


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## poncho power (Nov 28, 2012)

and just to be clear, do you measure the bolt circle, center to center of wheel stud hole?


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## 68greengoat (Sep 15, 2005)

Here's a visual:

MRW - How to measure bolt pattern


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## poncho power (Nov 28, 2012)

Thank you much!


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