Periodic wheel/rim buyer's thread

Hello all,

I'm looking for a new set of rims for my 1971 Road Runner. This car is almost all stock, and I like to keep it looking that way, but the scarcity of good 15" tires has forced me to upgrade to 17" wheels for now.

I'm looking at the repro 17" rallyes in aluminum, but the ones I've found weigh 30 pounds each, which seems a little high for an aluminum rim (perhaps I'm wrong - anyone who knows better please chime in). The 15" steel rallyes I have are very heavy and I'd like a lighter wheel.

Any suggestions, anyone? If I was in charge of the world I'd have American Racing bring back the Hurricane II's in 17", but I'm not king of the world.

Thank you!

Feeling your pain on this one. When my charger was sold, it was $1100 for 4 new tires, which I had always got them for around 4-500, installed. Long gone are those days. I had an irreparable tire on my wife car. Shopped around and found the cheapest replacement-$225. For one 18" non performance tire. The 20" continental I replaced on my jeep were only $45 more a piece? [censored]? 30 lbs a wheel is not horrible for a street car wheel (wider size im assuming? )

I just put a set of Michelin Pilot Sport AS4's, P245/45-18, on my brand X car. $1200+ out the door.

Tires are not cheap and had I gone with the original type run flats it would have been about another $500. For the record, run flats are horrible. They have one minor benefit, the ability to run without air for 50 miles at 50mph. If you do that you will be buying a new tire and even if you don't it is hit or miss as to whether the shop will repair it and if not you will be buying a new tire anyway. I did have to buy a spare, jack, tire iron, etc from Modern Spare, but that cost me just about the difference between the Michelins I bought and a set of new run flats. Anyway, due to the stiff sidewalls of the run flats they are less compliant to surface irregularities and tend to upset the car as a result.

JF -- Those 17" Year One Rally wheels are, in my opinion, really nice... forget the 8"... just get the 9"... and the backspacing is correct for all of our Mopars. BUT the problem is 17" selection of tire sizes.. progressively getting less desirable.

IF you stay with the factory steel/heavy 15x7... or aftermarket 8"... or 10"... you can run some big 275-60 15 in the rear... limited tires... BFG, Cooper and a few others ... just make certain you get the correct back spacing... both front and rear to fit inside the wheel wells. I have a set of 15x8 mini-lites running 255-60 front, 275-60 rear... for my street/hwy cruising.. BFG T/As... not performance tires, but just fine and comfortable for cruising.

Then, for competition events (pylon AX, HPDE/HSAX)... I run ET-III Mini-lites... size 18x11 F/R with Yokohama AO52 (200 TW) size 295-30-18.F/R... awesome appearance keeping a Vintage heritage.

Prices have increased for everything, so, decide how you can afford and be happy.

Good luck in your decision!

Thank you! I run a 17x9 on my 71 Satellite and find that to be a good size. Right now I have 255/45s all around in a fairly sticky street tire. I don't think I want to go 18" or higher due to the low profile ride quality and the aesthetics of those wheels on the older cars.

Not sure wh there is a shortae of 15in tires we found cooper cobra's for $150 average cost and most places had them in stock. Finding 17's won't be a problem, but would there be more wheel/rim choices if you went up to 18"s?

This is the handling forum

Cooper Cobra's aren't handling tires. You can get decent handling tires in P225/50R15's or P205/50R15's and that's about it,

The Handling forum?
I thought so too but someone posted about leaf springs for a 1971 RV in this very forum.
The moderators are asleep at the wheel here!

And he got redirected to the truck forum by Cab

Self moderating in action

There are only a few speed rated 15" tires, Mickey Thompson SRs, Maxxis Maurader MA-S1, and I think one Hankook model. Their UTQG ratings are all over the place so the grip among the group is variable. Of course Hoosier makes a variety of DOT race tires that you might be able to use if you don't have safety inspections in your state.

17" tires are disappearing. Best bet in this diameter is to pick sizes that were used by the OEMs. Viper, Vette, Cobra, Z28 factory sizes are still out there but getting more expensive as demand drops.

18" are at the end of their sweet spot. Still a range of sizes and performance levels available at fair prices, but the selections are shrinking.

20' seems to be the current inexpensive, UHP tire repository. I'm sure over time this will change too.

Yeah this is going to be a problem going forward. Eventually we'll be in the same problem as the guys with their Model A's and Model T's. They complain all the time about how hard it is to find original tires and how that the original buggy wheels don't handle very well but if they swap to modern wheels they have to change the brakes and then the car looks different and so on.

I switched my Coronet over to 17 inch wheels 30 years ago and I was in the sweet spot of the market for many, many years. Now I'm getting to the end of that sweet spot. I can still find the size that fits my car but I'm not sure about 10 years from now. I had custom 17 inch wheels built for my car 30 years ago and they still look great but they are unaffordable these days.

Tires tires tires

I don't see any high performance 15" tires there, lol.

For the typical P255/60R15's they have exactly one that is rated above 118mph and it's a no name I wouldn't trust without a lot of checking into first and even then

Not counting the drag radial listings, For the typical P275/60R15's they have exactly two that are rated above 118mph and both a no name I wouldn't trust without a lot of checking into first and even then.

I picked those two sizes for a quick check because that's what you find on a typical B body.

as my understanding from a long, long time ago, the tire speed rating is for a constant speed for a given time.
now with that said, going [way ?] over that for a short burst, such as in drag racing, the tire will be ok.
this is just my personal experience using VW tires on drag cars of all classes, sizes, and weights, a long time ago before speed ratings and weight classifications were thought of. in other words, if it held air and looked good, it was good to go. i know better than that now.
your mileage will vary.

To answer the OP's question, cast aluminum wheels are a lot heavier than spun or stamped aluminum.
Personally, I don't corner my Road Runners hard enough to worry about max grip - I have another car for that - but I don't know how you use your car.
I remember a red '71 or '72 Road Runner or GTX that Pure Vision (Steve Strope) did many years ago; he put white Minilites on it and I thought it looked great and unique.
But if you want a more original appearance, those cast 17" Rallyes look good.
Problem I see with 17" tires is finding the right sidewall height for older cars; SUV sizes help, if you find a tread design that looks proper.

So final decision - I bought a set of the 17" Rallye wheels. I'm more optimistic on the availability of 17" tires for the next 20 years or so. I hope, anyway.

I'm still in the market to upgrade the wheels on my 71 Satellite. I currently have a decent set of aluminum 5 spoke wheels which are ok, but not my personal taste. I had to buy them in a hurry when someone vandalized my American Racing 15's. I really love that turbine/concave spoke look. There just doesn't seem to be anything like that out there now.

Thanks all.

I think this is about as close as you're going to get to Turbines
https://www.americanracing.com/american-racing-vintage-vector

Oh yeah, I like those, but I need them in a 17" or higher. I prefer the Vector/Hurricane II's over the I's, but I'll take anything. I currently own a set of the 15" Vector IIs. Great wheels.