This is my 1st post on here and I'm a novice so please be gentle. I have a 76 Camaro RS that my mom bought brand new when I was 11. I have had her for quite a few years now and she is bone stock and rock solid dependable. I have some rust on the wheels and tires are needing replaced so here's where I need the help, remember I 'm a novice. I want to go back with the 70's muscle car look. I want to go with some slotted alluminum wheels to go with the bumpers and maybe a set of BFG Radial T/A's. What sizes do I need to go with on tires/wheels, front/rear? What do I need to change out suspensionwise to accomodate the oversize on the rear, Shocks? Springs? Any brand recomendations would also be greatly appreciated. ---Mike

Welcome to AF.
First of all, unlike many auto sites out there, this site is very good at beling gracious and accomodating to newbies. We all had to start somewhere.

It's great that you held onto a family vehicle for so long. Most of us would love to have the cars our parents car bought when we were kids.

First, what about sandblasting the original rims and getting them professionally repainted? Also, those rims had stainless trim rings, right? I think new ones may be available.

For aftermarket rims, I would suggest a 16" diameter rim. However, some retro-70's- look rims tend to look more authentic in a 15" size.

For width, 7 inch wide front and rear, with a P225/60R15 tire, front and rear. A P235/60R15 should fit, too.
If you use a 16 inch rim, try a slightly lower profile 50 series tire.

The 235 is about as big as you can go on front without rubbing, as I recall. If you want bigger, you may have to find a helpful tire shop that could trial-fit a wider tire and see if ti rubs.

I am not a huge fan of the '70's style extra-wide rears. But if you want that...... I had P285/50 R15 on 10 inch wide Cragars on my '77 Trans am (basically the same car as yours). They fit with no body mods, but it had longer spring shackles on the rear leaf springs to raise the rear about an inch or so, and rear fender flares.

I bought the car like that and frankly I did not like it. The wide rears did not help ride and handling at all and looked too ugly and tacky.

As MR said, welcome aboard! Even if it IS another Chevy... (Argh! Argh! Humor...) I think it's awesome you kept your mom's car. I remember a '59 Galaxie and a '55 210 I WISH they had kept for me...

The slotted "mags" you refer to are called by a couple of names. By '76 there were several companies making them, and I agree, they look GREAT on that F-body. U.S. "Indies" were the first aluminum ones I remember, circa 1969. Before that, Halibrand, but they were really magnesium, and not safe by today's standards. Ansen "Sprint" is another. Later , Appliance wheels (I forget the style "name") mimiced those already mentioned. You MAY be able to locate a nice set through E-bay or other "calssified" search.

As MR said, 16" wheels ar better by today's standards. However, those early versions weren't available in 16", as tires weren't available yet. 15 x 7 is probably the most common size. 14 x 7 was very popular as well, so make no assumptions. NOTE: Wheel "width" is measured from the INSIDE of the bead across the wheel to the OTHER "inside", not the outer edges.

If you can't locate what you're looking for (the true "old" ones), try Wheel Vintiques. They offer a huge selectiion of antique "style" wheels, in modern materials and sizes.

Jim

I like the "TransAm (the race series, not the Pontiac) look". Try to find some Minilite-style 8-spoke wheels. Panasport made some less expensive copies.

I'd also vote for the same wheel/tire sizes front and rear. That's what the suspension was designed for.

Hi guys, thanks for the good info. I found some corvette slotted rims that are 15x8 with a 5x4.75 bolt pattern. Will these be ok on the front or will I be pushing it? If Ok, What's beefyest BFG Radial T/A I can put on it?---Mike:confused:

Don't know about the fender clearance on a 2nd gen Camaro. I have 295/50x15 T/A's on 8 1/2 inch 200S Americans on the back of my flared '64 Corvette.

They look perhaps a bit TOO wide on the 8 1/2s and most likely would be too much for the 8 inch Corvette wheels. The next size down is 265/50 which would look great on your rims. Please turn the white letters to the inside unless you are trying for a '70s look.

265 is probably too much to clear in front but should work fine in the rear. Put 235/50s or 60s on the front and you'll have a bitchin' "big 'n' little" hot rod stance.