Here is my current setup:

• 1985 Fiero
  
• LeBaron brake mod
  
• Coilovers in the rear with 12" springs; the perches are currently directly facing the tire sidewalls.
  
• ASA AR1 17x7 ET+48, 205/45R17
  
• ASA AR1 17x8 ET+35, 245/40R17 (currently a .763"+ clearance between the perch and tire)

I like the high front offset of my setup. However, I've managed to bust two front wheels in the past year. I guess the sidewall height just isn't enough for my driving/road quality. I've had these wheels since 2011.

The other day I went to Tirerack to buy my 2nd replacement front wheel (after looking at the website since initially bending the wheel in June). Discontinued. ASA/Tirerack discontinued the wheels without any sort of warning. No one-year notice to warn the customer of the product's end-of-life.

Even on digikey (low-dollar parts compared to wheels/tires), you can see notices on some component pages such as "Not recommended for new designs".

So now I am shopping for four new wheels. At least my tires are all bald, so now is a good time... I have narrowed down my choices to the following:

Enkei RSF5 http://www.1010tires.com/Wh...Painted/Hyper+Silver
16x7.0 ET+45, 195/55R16
17x7.5 ET+40, 235/45R17

Drag DR-31 http://www.1010tires.com/Wh...-31/Painted/Gunmetal
16x7.0 ET+40, 205/50R16
17x9.0 ET+38, 255/40R17

Reasons I prefer the Enkei setup:

• Fitment is pretty much guaranteed to work; I don't know if 17x9 will fit in the back
  
• Tire won't stick out too much (I find my current setup OK in this regard, so this is more sunken in)
  
• I prefer the bright silver paint to the gunmetal finish
  
• 5 hole lug pattern rather than the 10 hole cheapy looking dual lug pattern
  
• More front offset to reduce kickback from bumps (don't know if a 5 mm difference is significant)
  
• Narrow front tire should minimize tramlining (again, not sure how to quantify difference)
  
• More sidewall height for bump/pothole resistance

Reasons I prefer the Drag setup:

• Less abysmal sticky tire choice in the 205/50R16 size than the 195/55R16 size
  
• Tires are installed on rims close to the measuring rim width (no stretch/balloon)
  
• More rubber means the car will stick better to the road?
  
• Wide rear rubber looks cool
  
• Rear tire is smaller in diameter, so offers a shorter "final gear ratio"

Ideally, I would go for the SSR Professor 3-piece wheels, but $$$ Trying to find a staggered combo with off-the-self one-piece wheels is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I will try to figure the end-of-life schedules for each wheel; I don't want to be stuck with this same wheel replacement problem a few years down the road from now.

What do you think about fitting a 17x9 with 38 mm of offset?

Any thoughts?

Consider wheel weight. A move from stock 15" wheels to HP 18x8 and 9 along with tires resulted in a weight gain totaling 80 lbs for my car. 15 for each wheel and 5 for each tire. Don't sacrifice performance if you can avoid it.

What I have now is pretty heavy, so whatever I do will be a "lateral promotion".

At least the Enkei wheels have a weight listed. The Drag wheels do not have a weight listed. I think that if the weight is any good, the manufacturer would want to flaunt it.

I assume that no weight listed = heavy.

Nevertheless, 255/40R17 on a 17x9 ET+38 is appealing. I might just start by buying one rear wheel for test fitting purposes; if it doesn't work out, I will only have lost the value of one wheel. I do not own a coffee table; it could become an auto-themed coffee table with a round piece of glass sitting above.

I may try the following measures:

1. I use exclusively stick-on wheel balancing weights. I could move the balancing weight strip outboard by an inch or so to gain clearance with the knuckle.
   
2. I am willing to trim the upper part of the steel clamp on the strut that grips the knuckle. I could also trim the knuckle a bit.
   
3. Possibility to change to 10" springs instead of my current 12" springs. This would move the spring perch up 2". I would need to also buy longer sleeves though.

[This message has been edited by pmbrunelle (edited 09-21-2016).]

I have some VOXX Monzas (Not made anymore(Of Course!) that weigh in at approx' 14 lbs....When I went from the old 15 x 7 215/225-60s to the 16 x 7 205/225- 55s I took 6 lbs off the front and 3 lbs off the back....It was like a whole new car! If you can, it is well worth it to eliminate as many lbs as you can....Watch the tire weight also; My old tires (General G-max) were 3-4 lbs lighter than my new BFGs....I notice that difference, and although the BFGs out-perform the G-maxs I would now rather have the G-Maxs Because of the feel.

So I bought a single Drag DR-31 wheel:
17x9
38 mm offset

I test-fitted it on my 85 Fiero with KYB struts:


Seems to clear the knuckle:


I expect to trim the steel tabs slightly on the struts like so:

Trimming may not be strictly necessary, but more clearance is always nice!

The spring perch is 1-3/4" above the lip of the wheel.

Laterally, there is not much separation between the spring perch and the tire. Therefore, my perch-to-tire clearance will come from vertical separation. I will replace my 12" springs for 10" springs. I will need some longer threaded sleeves.

Measured from the lip (incorrectly, but whatever), I expect the 255/40R17 tire to have a 3-1/8" sidewall when measured that way.

So with a 10" spring, there would be 5/8" of vertical separation between the tire tread and the spring perch. Also, I kind of assumed that the tire has a square shoulder. In reality, the round shoulder will further increase clearance.

Moving the inner plane of balancing weights outboard by an inch or so is a given.

quote Originally posted by pmbrunelle: I expect to trim the steel tabs slightly on the struts like so: Trimming may not be strictly necessary, but more clearance is always nice!

Be careful with that... the top is the highest loaded part of the taco clamp... GM probably has those "may trim" tabs there to reduce the *stress intensity factor* on the material to prevent fatigue cracks from starting there.

[This message has been edited by Will (edited 12-01-2020).]

Yeah, that's why I considered those lips "may trim", due to the sketchiness of the affair, I wouldn't want to charge forward without thinking.

Looking at the wheel/strut assembly more closely now, I think it is reasonable to leave the "may trim" lips intact and not have to worry about it.

Speaking of taco shells, I'm having tacos for lunch, and they're flat-bottomed so they sit vertically on your plate. Old El Paso.

[This message has been edited by pmbrunelle (edited 12-02-2020).]

This is what I use on my V8 fiero. I like the tall side wall. It helps to close up the wheel well and I can stall the converter to 2800 rpm and dead hook it.

I went with 16 x 7 38 mm offset wheels with 205/55 and 225/55 tires....One nice thing about this setup is that those size tires were very popular so there are a lot of tire options....I run General G-Max AS-05 tires which are well rated all season tires....and actually a few lbs lighter than most tires.

I made a decision in the 90s that I would NEVER go below a FOUR INCH sidewall ever after a friend wrecked his Dodge Charger when he hit a 2 x 4 on a freeway ramp, stripped the tire off the wheel and slid of said ramp (Tires were 195/50 x 15)

[This message has been edited by cvxjet (edited 12-03-2020).]

quote Originally posted by FFIEROFRED: This is what I use on my V8 fiero. I like the tall side wall. It helps to close up the wheel well and I can stall the converter to 2800 rpm and dead hook it.

Drag discontinued the 17x9 I purchased in 2016 (pictured in the previous post), so I don't really like them as a company. They don't seem to offer stability in their product line, which is important if I ever damage a wheel and need to get a matching replacement.

My engine only makes good torque at 3000+ RPM.

For the few times I will go to the dragstrip, I guess I will try two ways of launching:
Maintain engine RPM at 3000 (or whatever), slip the clutch to make up the difference, while keeping the tires in a "dead hook" state.
Maintain engine RPM at 3000 (or whatever), but spin the tires somewhat (not sure I'll be able to) so I don't have to abuse the clutch with heat.

With the new tires, I guess I will find out what works on the dragstrip, but since I am building this Fiero as a general-purpose sports car, I don't think that my tire choice will be optimized for dragstrip launching.

quote Originally posted by cvxjet: I made a decision in the 90s that I would NEVER go below a FOUR INCH sidewall ever after a friend wrecked his Dodge Charger when he hit a 2 x 4 on a freeway ramp, stripped the tire off the wheel and slid of said ramp (Tires were 195/50 x 15)

Like you, 4 inches is pretty much the lowest I want to go; in fact I'll be right at that limit with the wheel/tire setup I'm converging on:

16x7 ET+48, 205/50R16
17x9 ET+40, 255/40R17

This wheel combo is offered by Enkei:
https://enkei.com/shop/wheels/racing/pf05/

Enkei looks good; for instance, their RPF1 wheel has been around 2002, and it doesn't look like they'll be stopping it anytime soon.

I prefer the higher offsets for the front to keep the steering kickback low. The RPF1 doesn't have a 16x7 with high offset (just 35 mm).

I would suggest going with a 205/55 instead.....The sidewall measured height is 4" with that tire...Remember the sidewall calculated measurement is from the ground to the BEAD, while the wheel actually extends another 1/2-3/4 inch below that. Also, I would not want a smaller diameter tire than my 205/55s (24.8") vs the 205/50 (24") which is smaller than the 215/60 x 14s that came stock...I like to try to fill up those big wheel wells. In my (Ancient) past the Trans Ams ran with 235/70 x 15s.....They were almost 28 inches in diameter!

I was considering 205/55R16, but it would result in taller sidewalls than the 255/40R17 tires I expect in the rear.

I think it would look wacky if the rear sidewalls were shorter than the front sidewalls. Besides the look, I think it will work better with similar tire characteristics front and back (i.e. both have similarly flexible sidewalls).

I drove for many years on 205/50R16 and never had problems. I only had wheel problems with 205/45R17.

Have you changed WHERE you drive...? (That may be a factor)

I wish they would make (Cheap) Magnesium wheels...I would like to get some lighter wheels...My VOXX Monzas are 14 lbs but I would really like to cut 4-5 lbs off each corner. They actually have a NON-flammable Magnesium alloy now. I was looking at magnesium wheels but the only ones I found were....$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and I don't have $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...In fact I don't have $$$$$$$.....

At 14 lbs you're pretty much at the low end for aluminium wheels in the 16x7 size.