Do you like the look of 17s on front and 18s on the rear on an Abody?

I like the size on my 95 Impala wheels (255/50/17) nice width, and seems to have a decent wall height, how well would that size look on our oldies?

 

Sootie007,

What wheels/tires are you running and what's the backspace?

 

Chris,
It looked good prior to the drop, but after, it just screamed "BAD*SS"!!:TU: Nice ride!

 

Chris what size tires are they? I really like the look lowered!:TU:

Where can we see more pictures of the car in your avatar?

 

Thanks Ed and Shawn, I also think it really improved the look of the car once I lowered it. It also gets more attention at shows now, so I guess that validates it. Can't run long tube headers though!

Rims are 17x7 with standard offset, and tires are 225/45 in front and 245/45 in rear. Could have gone bigger if I got custom offset on the rims, but I was too impatient to wait for them to be made.

The 61 has 18x8's with 235/40's in front and 20x10's with 245/40's in the rear.

Most of the pics of the 61 are still on my computer, haven't gotten around to posting them yet. :laugh: Here is another one.

 

here it is

 

WOW!!!!!!:shock:

Chris that is one sweet ride. If you ever get tired of it let me know.

Did you buy that way or have it done?

I cant stop looking at it!!

How does it drive? Is it bagged? Details man!

 

You guys are nuts. Buicks dont need bling rims to look good. They just make it look like every other blingmobile around.:boring:

Max 16's, with enough rubber and white letters!:beer

Spend the money on horsepower, then you wont need oversized rims to "wow" the onlookers.:3gears:

Flame away:TU:

 

What if you have BOTH!:beer

520hp and 560TQ:bla:

 

Thanks Ed. I bought it that way, got it home last month. It has pretty much rained since I got it (at least on weekends when I would have a chance to drive it) so I have only taken it out once for about a 10 minute drive. It has air ride on all four corners. It was put together by a shop in Ohio that specializes in this "look". They typically buy nice late 50's early to mid 60's cars and put air ride, wheels, corvette disc brakes up front, etc. on the cars and then sell them. I passed on it two years ago when it was on eBay as it was too much money, but then that owner needed to sell it and I was able to buy it. Still need to do some tweaking on it to get it ready for summer though.

 

My 69 has both as well. Built 455, similar to Ed's, but probably not quite as much oomph.
I bought this car and put the running gear in my 69. :>)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8mty8suFsI

 

What a killer car! Looks wicked and classy all at the same time.

 

Thanks for the compliment Brad!

Here you go Ed, just want you need!

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=218977

 

Chris I already have chrome 17x7 Boyds for the front I am trying to decide on the the rears. I think I am going to go with the 18s in the rear.
225/50/17 front and 275 40/18 rear.

The 61 is keeping me up at night!

 

LOL!

In that case, you better take a whole bottle of Sleep eze after looking at these. :>)

 

Here you go Ed!

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/cto/2113566016.html

 

Yes, that '61 has me weak in the knees. I want one with that stance.
To get back to the original question, I think 17"/18" look great on an A-body. Consider this.......
I think many of us equate good looks with high performance. When you investigate "handling" as your performance criteria, wheel/tire diameter has a definite effect. The really large wheels (especially 20" and up) actually make handling (as well as braking) worse. Around 18" becomes the sweet spot for best performance. Car and Driver tested the same car with identical wheel/tire combos in varying diameters and verified this. As additional evidence of this, research many of the ultra-high performance summer only tires. There are not even offered in the larger diameters. Those 20" and 22" rims hinder performance, and in my mind, they correspondingly hinder the looks too! I've never owned a car with these big wheels, but I hear they don't ride well. So there is another reason to stop in the 18" range.
Also...........
The thickness of the sidewall is much of what we notice on a wheel/tire package. So stay with a tire in the 26" high range, and you will have a reasonable sidewall height with a 17" or 18" rim. I've seen local "regular" late model cars with really short tires. I guess they are trying to get the short sidewall look with out spending big bucks for those crazy big wheels and tires. This look seems to be put forth by drug dealers/hoodlum types on cars of very low value. I hate to see anyone replicate this look on a valuable muscle car.

On another note, our beloved A-bodies have pretty big wheel wells, and an inch or two of drop helps those aftermarket wheels and tires fill up those big wheel wells.

This is a fun topic, with many different opinions. No offense intended toward anyone.

Attached are some pics of my 17"/18" combo.