Larger wheels vs ride

There are so many wise and learned wagon owners here, surely someone can provide some real world information on WHEELS. My '85 Olds Custom Cruiser still rides on the factory 15 x 7 wheels with wire hubcaps. I'm thinking about new wheels/tires for summer fun. We take the car on long drives towing a vintage popup camper (1960 Nimrod) and have a canoe on the roof. I'm thinking of two things to improve handling. First, new rubber bushings (factory bushings are 29 years old and 230,000 miles ...probably a tad worn). Second, I'd consider putting on modern wheels. It's the wheel size I find so vexing.

I'm thinking of going up to 17" x 7 (or so) all around. The issue becomes ride quality. Anyone have real experience with this? Going from 15" to 16" is an option too, but I generally think the 17" wheels look better. I'd like to keep the same tire height as original. Will I notice a lot of bumps at 17" or is there so much floating joy in these cars that the ride difference will be nominal?

Thanks!
85 Cruiser

 

I went from 15" wheels to 17" then to 19" wheels that I have now...so I have found the key to larger wheel size is to get the proper sized tires put on them. With the 19" wheels I started with 35 (like a freaking rubber band) series rubber and was happy with handling but could feel every crack and pebble in the road and a random pothole one day blew the tire and bent the wheel quite severly. I went from there to 40 series tires and the ride improved dramatically and potholes no longer pose any problem while still keeping good handling.

Where you're going to a 17" wheel and with the light towing you're going to do I think I would go with 50 series or possibly 60 series tires, which should give you the best of both worlds and 50 would give you slightly better handling.

 

I went from 14" to 17" on my wagon and I can't tell a difference in ride quality, but I sure can on the handling side - much better. I have 215/50 on the front and 275/40 on the rear. I like the look of the wider tires in the rear as well.

Now get ready for the grumpy old guys to tell you how you're messing up your ride by putting on anything other than the factory size tire/wheel.....

I also completely rebuilt my front and rear suspension when I put the new tires and wheels on; upper and lower control arms, polyurethane bushings, springs, shocks, ball joints, etc - all new and beefed up. I like to do a little cone-dodging in my wagon too.

 

to the forum.
I'm not grumpy, I'm practical!

 

Have you thought about this or are you just asking the opinion of others?

Why did stagecoaches have large wheels?
Why did the earliest cars have large wheels?
Why do dirt bikes have a larger front wheel?

Put a 4x4 in the road and run over it with a mini-cooper.
Then do it with a Ford truck.

Large wheels are all about bridging bumps, potholes, and road irregularities which in turn improves rideability.

 

A few thoughts. Your car should have, according to the placard, a 235/75R15, I think. That being the case, you will want to go to a 245/55R17 tire to keep roughly the same diameter. At a 55, your ride will be quite acceptable. However, there is a BIG proviso. Read the load rating on both the wheel and the tire. Too many forget that little step, and end up with tires that are at or over the weight rating at rest, unloaded! The last thing you need, loaded up and with a trailer behind you, is to find that the tires are not up to the job. They can blow or come off the rim if they are not rated properly, and that normally discovered in the middle of an emergency maneuver. Not the time to find out! Also, with the lower profile tires, there is a more limited range of rim widths to fit, so make sure you get the right rim width and offset.

 

One thing most forget when putting on larger wheels is bigger brakes.
You have a larger mass that should have brakes comparable to wheel size.
Not against larger wheels but the biggest I like is 17...........once you start putting 18,19,20 or bigger on classics, they just don't look right..........but that's my .02
everyone is entitled to there own thing.

 

I like lower profile tires, but 17" is the most I would go. I went from 15" Magnum 500s to 17" wheels on my '69 Cougar. There was still plenty of rubber, and ride quality did not seem to be affected. Like Mike said, definitely check the load rating, especially if you're pulling a trailer. I'll think you'll be happy with the ride and look.

 

The first wagon I built, I went 15, 18, then 20s. Loved the ride/handling of the 20s with 35s. Heard about the "harsh ride" thing, so I made sure that wouldn't be an issue. The suspension was rebuild(new coil spring cups are a must) also a GREAT-not good pair of shocks will greatly improve the ride. That along with rebuilt(new foam) seats and it will ride like a dream...mine did. Everyone that rode in it couldn't believe how smooth the ride was.

 

Are 35 series in a 20" a larger side wall then on a 19"? My 35 series on my land yacht looked like rubber bands. I ruined one on a rather nasty pothole but I did like the handling, the 40 series are good as well but the pothole issue is gone...Utah has sooooo many damn potholes.

 

Thanks!

I appreciate all of the input. So it looks like I'll go with the 17" inch wheels, but with maybe a 60 series tire or so. I had been checking the tire charts to maintain overall diameter of the stock tires and be sure not to go just too wide. Thanks again.

 

18"

I can't speak for ride quality , but I just picked up a set of 18" wheels for my
68 Country Sedan,10" rears 9" fronts, due to the pack spacing from the donor
Car, a mustang..I needed to use spacers 2" front and 1.5" rears.
As farad rubber I picked a set of used Nitto 295/45/18 for the back
And I am looking for a set of 265/40/18's for the front.
All the trial fittment and measuring it should work good .
I'll post some pictures as soon as possible.
The wheels are American a Muscle 5 spoke.polished outters and charcoal grey
Spokes.if I have clearance I'm gonna drop her 2-3 inches.
I picked up the wheels for $90. Because of some curb rash
And $100. For the rear tires with 60 percent tread left .
The Nittos are NT 555.i can't wait to get her rolling !!

 

No Dewey Satellite, they are the same size(height). Your overall tire/wheel would be a bit smaller from the 20s. I had the 20s on my wagon the longest, and I never had a problem with ride, handling, or pot holes. And as far as pot holes, haven't seen any worse than here in N.Y.

 

Ha ha ha yeah I suppose you're right, I have heard some stories about NY potholes being small caverns.

 

Hello, '85 Cruiser - I'm in the exact same situation as you with my '81 Pontiac Bonneville Safari. Same wheel size (15"), same bolt pattern (5x5).

If the fix was easy, I'd be riding on 16" or 17" wheels right now. From what I've gathered, I haven't found any GM factory alloy wheel that will bolt on our vehicles without a spacer/bolt pattern changer thingy. The only 17" wheel that will bolt on it the one that came on the Impala SS, '93-'96:


If you like the look, this is probably the easiest way to get better rolling rubber. Just be sure you select the 17" tires with the proper load rating for your box wagon. Also, don't worry about the 'Chevy' emblem on the center - very easy to change that out to an Olds emblem.

For me, I don't particularly want to put the Impala wheels on mine - I was hoping to find something that looked a bit more 'Pontiac-ish', but i haven't found it yet.

Also, just a heads-up: The 5x5 bolt pattern was only on the GM box wagons (and large displacement V8 sedans) during the '77-'90 model run. The 'regular' sedans and coupes had a 5x4.75 bolt pattern, so wheels will not interchange from a sedan to a wagon. All the GM big sedans and wagons from the '91-'96 model years had the 5x5 bolt pattern, so anything should fit. Hmmmm.... I wonder if the Caddy Fleetwood might have something in a 16" size that would work? (pic of the Fleetwood I'm talking about


Good luck on your search....

Marshall