Rims

[damgrandam]

Hey guys, im not sure but my dad was telling me that 17'' rims with low profile tires wouldnt fit on my 96 Grand Am Se Coupe because they would hit the fender well if i went over a bump or sumthing, if this is true then i will just get smaller rims and lower the car, but if its not then ill just buy 17'' and save me money

[3 DeeJay]

They'll fit.. I have a SE.. I have 18s.. They don't rub or hit the fender well.. Will I lower it.. Heck yeah.. Then will it rub.. Nope.. :)

[damgrandam]

ok so if i get 17s and not drop it, it will work fine?

if so, what do u think would look better, 17's and no drop or 16's and drop it down

[damgrandam]

do u think that it may make a differnacne on the year of the grand am also, cuz something could have changed within 7 years

[sc/t_smitty]

i owuld say go for the drop first, doing that always enhances the aggresiveness of the appearance of your car and really just brings out all the lower lines of the car that usually get missed. I would recommend a 2 in. drop and if you are satisfied then get some rims later. You can do both at the same time also if you want, I dont know much about your body style, but I dont think it would be a prob with 17's, and if they are too big just stick with 16's.

[jayhawk]

This is my car on 17 inch rims and the tire size is 215 45 17...plus the car is dropped 2 inches. See, what you do is get what is called "plus sizes". If your stock tires are lets say, 195 65 15's, then plus 1 size would be 205 55 16s, and what I have is plus 2 size. Do you see how that works? In my opinion though, larger rims without lowering the car looks goofy.

http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/attachment.php?s=&postid=277374

[gdep]

So you're saying that having bigger wheels without dropping the car would look bad? I was thinking about getting a set of wheels, either 17's or 18's, and I was just wondering how they would look on my car without having to lower it.

[sc/t_smitty]

it would look awful and very wierd. if you go bigger, you need a drop or else how much bigger you are going will raise your car that muchy more you know?

[damgrandam]

i think im gunna go with 16's and drop it down with an ebachi spring kit

[sc/t_smitty]

with the Eibach pro kit series, you will get about 1-1.3 in. of drop after they settle, if you go with Intrax you will average almost 2 in. its all about how low you want it, personally I highly recommend the Intrax before the eibach, but to each their own.

[Chain]

I went with 17" rims without a drop first. Its not to bad looking but am saving for the drop. It's kind of strange looking in the rear.

http://members.cox.net/cto-chain/rims/car.JPG

[damgrandam]

yeah i think 16's and an ebachi drop would look good

[BLACK99GT/ROB]

Go with 17's and Eibach........you won't have any problems and look great!

[TheGranDS]

How much do U think would a 1 1/2 drop cost?...cuz I got 18's on mine..check it out on my site..cuz I heard that if U lower your car U would have to replace more stuff than just the springs?...any ideas...cuz then I will save up for it...im just scared to bottoming out everywhere I go U know so I don't want to be super low

[Chain]

279.00 for my 97. If you do it your self. That is just the price of the springs.

[damgrandam]

yeah its like 231$ for my grand am, its not bad, does lowering the car make it handle better??

[Chain]

The 17's will with those wider tires. Then by lowering it, it just gets better. So to answer your question Yes.

[brianmf]

Hey jayhawk,
Which springs did you go with on your car? And how much did the ride change? I wouldn't mind dropping my car some (planning on getting 17s,) but I would like to stay away from the welded suspension type ride.

BTW, anyone know how much travel there is in the GA suspension? Is lowering it 2" removing 50% of the travel or what?

[whitegase]

i am thinking of 16" chrome pontiac rims and a air suspension drop... wudya think

[firefighter36]

18"s with 225/40/R18 tires work great on my car 18" to 17" makes a huge difference it looks like it fills in the wheel wells more even though it doesnt.

http://www.oznium.com/gallery/photos/full/2238/pontiac4evr_14-pontiac-grand-am

[whitegase]

would 19" rims n tires fit w/ just an intrax drop...(not an air ride)

[firefighter36]

Im not sure about 19"s when you get that high the tires are going to be so thin it would look stupid. unless you got a little larger tire so the OEM tire diameter is larger and have your computer reprogramed for it. then you also risk tire rub too.

[jayhawk]

Originally posted by brianmf
Hey jayhawk,
Which springs did you go with on your car? And how much did the ride change? I wouldn't mind dropping my car some (planning on getting 17s,) but I would like to stay away from the welded suspension type ride.

BTW, anyone know how much travel there is in the GA suspension? Is lowering it 2" removing 50% of the travel or what?

I had Intrax spring mated with Monroe Sensatrac struts and shocks. It dropped the car 2" in the front, and 1 3/4" in the rear to keep the car "raked" appearance. The ride was very firm, not harsh like coilover cranked down to their limit, but firm. The combination of Intrax/monroe did acheive excellent results in cornering, braking and accelarating.

[whitegase]

ok so stay away from 19"... reason i ask is b/c not many ppl have them

[saltystix]

Would 15" rims look stupid? I'm debating on whether to get a tire package of 17's or just get 15" rims and keep my tires that I have. I cant afford to get the 17"s and a drop, but I can get the 15's.

I was reading and people said it would look stupid with the 17's and no drop, but would it also look stupid with 15" rims?

I was thinking of one of these
http://www.barretire.com/SNIPER.htm
http://www.barretire.com/ESTRELLA.htm or
http://www.barretire.com/ARTOURING.htm

thx

[firefighter36]

15" rims would look so stupid expecialy if you dropped it. Get the 17"'s and save up your money even if it is way down the road you will be happy you did.

[jayhawk]

I guess the whole point for dropping for some is to fill the wheel well with more rim, less tire; though in the same breath, I think most cars with anything larger than 18's look atrocious.

[saltystix]

I didnt mean to drop it on 15"s. Only drop if I got the 17's package... I was just wondering if 15"s looked weird since they are small compared to like a 17 or 18

[firefighter36]

I think they would look weird considering the actually rims not steel wheel that comes on the GT is a 16"

[saltystix]

Guess I'll just have to save up for a 17" package and not worry about a drop till next summer. I'll use the 15"s I have now for winter (already have winter tires). O well thx though!

[firefighter36]

I just got my 18"s in May and i have to wait awhile to get a drop if i want it im still unsure since i live in the countryside.

[bbechtel16]

Originally posted by saltystix
Guess I'll just have to save up for a 17" package and not worry about a drop till next summer. I'll use the 15"s I have now for winter (already have winter tires). O well thx though!
You could get some factory 16"s off a Grand Am GT like mine. But if you rip them off my GT, I'll kill you; get them at the junkyard! That would give you some slightly bigger rims for very cheap.

[92CamaroRS]

Originally posted by firefighter36
15" rims would look so stupid expecialy if you dropped it. Get the 17"'s and save up your money even if it is way down the road you will be happy you did.


i think the 15" rims on this vehicle look awsome and no where near stupid

[saltystix]

If anything I'd go for the 15"s but as of now, I'm just going to get my suspension fixed in front (maybe back if its bad) and get my a/c clutch fixed. This will take up all the money that was going into the rims, if not more....

[EKling]

If you go with 17s or 18s you'll notice alot better handling.

When I went from my stock 15s to 17s it handled much better because there wasn't as much tire limiting the flexability

And yes my car needs a drop but I am just not sure weather I want to spend the money on it.

http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/2/web/254000-254999/254176_72_full.jpg

[bbechtel16]

Originally posted by saltystix
If anything I'd go for the 15"s but as of now, I'm just going to get my suspension fixed in front (maybe back if its bad) and get my a/c clutch fixed. This will take up all the money that was going into the rims, if not more....
Not if you do it yourself... :D I think you could handle the A/C Clutch, asuming that is a owner replacable part; I don't know. According to my Haynes manual taking the A/C compressor out is easy, if you have to do that to change the clutch.

[saltystix]

Think of it this way EKling you have an off roader now! Those rims look nice.

For my safty I'm going to get that a/c clutch fixed first. Im not sure if its just the clutch or if its the compressor. I hope just the clutch, just has those metal scrappings.

Anyway to stay on topic of the rims. Anyone know a really good place where to get good deals? I've looked at atleast two dozen places, just using the yahoo search heh. Rims make your car look alot better, but I first have to think of safty, Im to young to die!

[jordanGT]

Check out some local shops. That's where I got my 18s and tires for $1500, quite a steal.

[DJHolla]

I work for a firestone.. we put 19"s on a grand am before.. with out problem. I think the tire size was (fuzion) 215/35/19

the way that works is the first number is the width (215)
then the second number is the profile IN PERCENTAGE to the width (so 35 is 35% of the 215) so a 215/40/19 is about the same as a 225/35/19 -- catch the drift?

then the last is the diameter of the wheel 19

[yankee_fan71]

I'm looking to go from my stock 16" to an 18 x 8.5. Do I have to go with a 5 x 115 or can I use a 5 x 114.3?

[ragepsych0]

has anyone put 20's on a ga? because i wanna try , hehe

[ragepsych0]

i think 20's would look a lot like my avatar, no tires, and with my coilovers, i could drop it as much as i wanted. it'd be sweet.

[Rusgrandamit]

i have seventeens on my se and i have hella fender gap...put it on 17s and buy extrax lowering springs lowering it 1.6 inches and it will look clean as heck....

[MikeNice]

Originally posted by yankee_fan71
I'm looking to go from my stock 16" to an 18 x 8.5. Do I have to go with a 5 x 115 or can I use a 5 x 114.3?

Either will work. You may or may not need some hubcentric rings tho to make the 114.3's fit more snuggly. Some people need them, some don't for some reason. I took the safe bet and just got them just to make sure...

[BiH]

If you want stiffer ride and better handling going with larger size wheels will def. help. But you will achieve best results with some stiffer suspension and sway bars!
17" will rub on bumps if you buy the wheels with wrong offset!
www.wheelmax.com www.edgeracing.com www.tirerack.com and prolly ebay.com will have some good deals on wheels and tires!

When buying wheels for your ride you must know what kind of wheel you want! Do you want lighter wheels, bigger, what color and finish, and stuff like that! I like wheels with some dish to them, unforunetly I havent seen too many of those on Grand ams!
I've been looking for new wheels for my Jetta and I think I have settled with Keskin KT4's! Look good, strong, not too heavy, and have some dish! I might even get my car sponsored for them and some other stuff!

Good luck with your search, remember dont settle for the first one you find or the cheapest one, research first!
http://tmtuning.com/wheels/images/WH-104_1.gif

[97Base]

my next big thing im going to do to my GA is susspension for damn sure get rid of that damned body roll. i was thinking about some 17 X 7 enkies sitting on KYB struts and shock absorbers with INTRAX spring so i can get the actual drop... 1.5 in drop isnt enough. sound good to anyone?

[WHOOPhondaASS]

I have 18s without any lowering kit on toyo proxes tires, It looks awesome, but would look far better with a lowering kit and body kit.