# Ideas for wheels..........



## johnebgoode (Oct 4, 2005)

I need some suggestions from you younger people on wheels and tires. Do I stay with 17's or go with the 18's. What tires would ya suggest and what wheels do ya think would help wake up the appearance of the car. No plans on racing,so sticky DOT's are not needed. Does anyone know specs on wheels as far as bolt circle and rear spacing and width......?
Can anyone help this ol' man out?


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## danrieke (Oct 12, 2005)

Here's my two cents.

1. You can't run snow chains due to clearance. Put your hand under that back wheel well and you'll see why. An eighteen inch wheel isn't going to help that clearance, and a good bump will put a nice slice around your rubber. If you're gonna run 18's and your gonna drive on lots of roads, consider rear suspension upgrades, too.

2. On a car that is so pleasant to drive long runs, why make the ride even rougher? The stock 17's make the ride slighter milder than the 18's would. My stock 17's corner just fine... better than the BMW 745i. And they look plenty sweet enough.

3. Why raise the car's center of gravity? It's already high enough thanks to that gas tank placement.

The stock 17's are a better technical and ergonomic fit, in my opinion, than the 18's which are primarily show and may have no other redeeming value.

From a collector's viewpoint, the factory 18's will be much sought after in the long run, so buying a second-hand set in a year or two is probably prudent if that's your ultimate game.


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## slonlo_350 (Sep 22, 2005)

Well if you don't have to worry about all that crazy snow mess, there are plenty of sweet wheels out there. Many people like the ROH line of wheels, mainly the "Drift" wheels. They are very cool, and are apparently made by the same folks who make wheels for the Monaro, but the Drifts look too much like '95 Cobra R's to me. AZA has some nice wheels. Check out LS1GTO.com's wheels and tire section. Some awesome ideas in there, and plenty of pictures of wheels on cars. If you have to deal with that dumb slushy stuff that you northern folk call "snow" then keep the stockers and just use the new wheels in the summer.

I just got some BFG G-force KDW's for my truck and they are great tires! I'm sure they are even sweeter on the lighter and just plain better-cause-its-a-car GTO. They have a treadwear rating of 300 though, so if you just want something that will last a long time, you can probably get some Kuhmos cheap that will last a good while.


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## soonergto (Oct 5, 2005)

Well, everything everyone else said is true. 18's will make the ride a little rougher, but will look soo much better. Stock tires are 245/45/17, if you go with 18's and got 245/40/18 then the size will be .1 inches larger than stock. There are a few good things about this. 1 Your odometer/spedometer will only be .2% off, so if your going 60 on the spedometer than you will actually be going 60.1, not a big difference especially nice if your under warranty because 36k comes fast. 2 You will keep a similar height to stock while appearing to fill the wheel well a little more. 3 you wont have to roll the fenders. Here is a great tire calculator if you are looking at changing wheel or tire size this will show you the comparison. 
http://www.rims-n-tires.com/info_sp...Title=Wheel / Tire Size Calculator / Comparer


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## RedRacer (Sep 12, 2004)

soonergto said:


> Well, everything everyone else said is true. 18's will make the ride a little rougher, but will look soo much better. Stock tires are 245/45/17, if you go with 18's and got 245/40/18 then the size will be .1 inches larger than stock...


Well, not quite... I ran the calculation by hand and got 0.04" difference. And then I tried out your link to verify. Your link had the differnce in height as 1 mm and the same 25.7". (1 mm = 0.039") BTW, nice link!



danrieke said:


> 3. Why raise the car's center of gravity?


I wouldn't worry about raising the center of gravity. You'd only be raising it 0.04"! Plus sizing the wheels means that you'll be going with a smaller aspect ratio and therefore will not change anything of significance in most circumstances.


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## 05GOAT (Nov 11, 2004)

Here's some info for you. I have the ROH Drift R wheels and I love them. You can see the wheels on my car by clicking on my goat above the signature picture.

Factory wheels & tires:
17x8 w/ 245/45/17
55lbs each (wheel & tire)
5x120mm stud pattern
48mm backspacing

17's
Front: 
245/45/17 is still the best fit
255/40/17 fit but had to use a 8.5" wide wheel, the required backspacing hadthe wheels/tire sticking out too from the body line
275/40/17 didn't fit, using a 9" wide wheel, the tire was rubbibg the strut. Again using a different backspacing would have the set sticking out too far

ROH Drift R 17x8 w/ 245/45/17 - 47lbs
ROH Drift R 17x9 w/275/40/17 - 49lbs

Rear:
275/40/17 fit no problems on a 17x9" wheel
These stick out just a little more than the factory tires, but I think they still look great!

Recommendation for 17" wheels: Use your factory tires and and put them on 17x8" custom wheels or 17x8" wheel front w/ 245/45/17 tires and 17x9" wheel rear w/ 275/40/17 tires

Personally I would just reuse the factory tires and put 17x8" wheels at all four corners. This will be cheaper to do and looks good.

18's
By far the best way to go!!

Front:
18x8 w/ a 245/40/18 tire - fit is perfect
18x8.5 w/ 255/40/18 - again sticks out too far

Rear:
18x9 w/ a 275/35/18 tire - fit is perfect

Recommendation for 18" wheels: Without a doubt the best set is 18x8 up front with 245/45/18 matched with 18x9 out back w/ 275/35/18. This set looks great, fits porportionally and lets you pick up some width out back. The ride quality is also great. Or use 18x8 and 245/40/18 at all four corners.

ROH Drift R 18x8 w/ a 245/40/18 tire - 49lbs
ROH Drift R 18x9 w/ a 275/35/18 tire - 51lbs

19's

Front
245/35/19 on a 19x8" wheel

Rear
275/30/19 on a 19x9" wheel

Recommendation for 19" wheels: GO BACK TO 18"!! While the look great on the car the ride quality is horrible. If you could care less about feeling every bump in the road and want all the look, these are for you. If you just gotta have them then use 19x8 w/ 245/35/19 front and 19x9 w/ 275/35/19 rear or the 19x9 w/ 245/35/19 all the way around.

I have some pics from the fitting I just need to get them off of my disc. I'll get some pics of my Goat with the set up I'm going with and personally recommend,
18x8 w/ 245/4018 front and 18x9 w/ 275/35/18 rear. If I'd been working at Pontiac this is what I would have sold the car with!!

By the way, anyone interested in ROH or other custom wheels contact me I now have pricing and availability info!!

18X8 on front with 245/40's 18X9 on the rear with 275/35 Michelin Pilot Sport AS's
Unfortunately Boyd put a +48 offset on the rears and they rubbed, so I rolled the fenders. Boyd was willing to make another pair but I was tired of waiting. It's been


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## b_a_betterperson (Feb 16, 2005)

You are right -- the factory wheels, both the 17s and 18s, are kind of dull. You will be surprised at just how much better your car will look with a wheel that has some surface depth and detail to it. Brings out the subtle lines of the car's design.

The ride difference between the 17s and 18s is negligible. In fact, I really don't think it makes any difference in the ride at all. 19s might be a little risky -- but Holden bolts 19s on some of their cars from the factory. Just so you know -- the GTOs ride has been softened up by GM over the Holden Monaro -- so a bumpy ride really shouldn't be a concern.

Regarding wheel and tire selection, your best bet is to simply look at what others have done to their GTOs and talk to them. Check out as many photos on this forum as possible and see what you like. You can also go to http://www.ls1gto.com or http://www.cardomain.com/member_pag...start_year=2003&end_year=2006&go.x=37&go.y=13

The beauty to the this approach is that a lot of the R&D has already been done for you. The bolt patterns work. The sizing works. No wasting of time looking at designs that won't fit your car. If you really want to get aggressive, then you can learn about getting fenders rolled -- and who does a good job of it. Custom wheels are an option, too. I had Boyd Coddington make a set.

One other suggestion: Holden makes an absolutely dynamite 19" wheel for their HSV Series GTO Monaro. Check them out at http://www.hsv.com.au/cars/vz/main.asp?link=main/gto.html Click on the "exterior" link. The argent finish will accent your silver paint and look fantastic. Might be pricey with shipping -- but you'll have the hottest looking GTO around. And you could simply order the Pirellis that are specified from the factory.

Good luck.


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## MaximumPwr (Oct 13, 2005)

What Offsets do you recommend for the 18x8 front rims and especially what is a no rubbing, no sticking out, working offset for an 18x9 rear rims??????


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## MaximumPwr (Oct 13, 2005)

Anybody????


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## slonlo_350 (Sep 22, 2005)

I read that M3 wheels (or just BMW wheels period) work amazingly well on GTO's. The fronts are 18x8.5 and 18x9.5 IIRC with a 40mm offset. Now what I want now (aside from the HP Evo's) is the M3 CSL wheels. Originals are on the order of $4000!!! BUT I found some replicas for $800 with no tires... just a little better! I actually got the idea while playing Gran Turismo 4 and I was driving my M3 GTR on there lol. I saw them and realized I needed those on MY car!!! They have excellent dimension to the rears, but no big lip. Also they can be had in 18's and 19's. So I was thinking maybe some 18x8's and 19x9's.


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## Pennsylvania Goat (Jul 22, 2005)

*Sweeeeet.........but offset....*

Those are sweet, but is that 40mm offset enough? From what I've heard it's not. :willy: 

Photoshop anyone?


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## slonlo_350 (Sep 22, 2005)

This is the thread I believe.

I didn't read it all, but it has plenty of info. They say any new M3 wheels will work.

They are $699 from Velocitywheels.com for the 18's and $899 for the 19's. So for $799 18's and 19's :cool. Not a bad deal, but some 275/30/19 tires won't be cheap.


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## johnebgoode (Oct 4, 2005)

Thanks for all the input people............much appreciated. Now all I have to do is decide


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## Groucho (Sep 11, 2004)

The OEM P-P-Pontiac wheels suck much in the way of as$. Fact.

MOMO Tune-Rs, 18"

Love 'em...unique and stuff.


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## Radartek (Sep 10, 2005)

danrieke said:


> Here's my two cents.
> 
> 1. You can't run snow chains due to clearance. Put your hand under that back wheel well and you'll see why. An eighteen inch wheel isn't going to help that clearance, and a good bump will put a nice slice around your rubber. If you're gonna run 18's and your gonna drive on lots of roads, consider rear suspension upgrades, too.
> 
> ...


That's funny, cause I have the optional 18" wheels from Pontiac and the low profile tires that go with it. Don't understand the comment about the higher center of gravity cause when you go with larger diameter wheels (upsize) you usually go with lower profile tires to keep the overdiameter of the assembled whee/tire the same.


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