Upgrading Rims and Wheels for a 1968 Dart GTS

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bonfiglioj

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I am searching for advise in upgrading from 14" rims and tires to something larger (e.g.. 15") rims and wanted to find someone with experience and knowledge on tire widths and if 15" rims would work for my 1968 GTS. Thank you for your help.

GTS Joe

68 GTS.JPG


GTS Back.JPG
 
I am searching for advise in upgrading from 14" rims and tires to something larger (e.g.. 15") rims and wanted to find someone with experience and knowledge on tire widths and if 15" rims would work for my 1968 GTS. Thank you for your help.

GTS Joe

View attachment 1715090978

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15X6 in the front and 15x7 in the rear. All SBP. 215/60s all the way around. Crager also sells a 15X6 SBP wheel.

68 Dart DS.jpg
 
Not on my car now, but I had 15"x7" Cragars with 4.25" back spacing, with 225/60R15 tires on all 4 corners of my '69 GTS. They will work and nothing will rub anywhere. Huge improvement over the stock sizes. (But there are a few people on here that will tell you that you must put 18" wheels on it. I'm sure him/they will be chiming in soon.)
 
And 15x7. They still make them with 5x4" bolt pattern, and they are available. Also check E-T Mags, ET Wheels by Team III Wheels They'll make you anything you need.
Thank you all for your input this is a great help. The Small Bolt Pattern is always a challenge, but I was considering 15" x 6 in the front as suggested, and then 15" x 7 in the rear with the wider tread in the rear for a little better traction. Thoughts???
GTS Joe
 
Thank you all for your input this is a great help. The Small Bolt Pattern is always a challenge, but I was considering 15" x 6 in the front as suggested, and then 15" x 7 in the rear with the wider tread in the rear for a little better traction. Thoughts???
GTS Joe
Vintage wheel available at summit racing. Real reasonable prices. They have 15" rims in the sbp. 5" to 8 and 10" wide. Don't go to 17's or 18's on such a nice car. You won't like the ride ,,,Imo.
 
Vintage wheel available at summit racing. Real reasonable prices. They have 15" rims in the sbp. 5" to 8 and 10" wide. Don't go to 17's or 18's on such a nice car. You won't like the ride ,,,Imo.

Thanks cuda620 I am uncertain if 10" wide will fit the rear, although that width might help and I assume no back spacing. Thanks for the compliment on my restoration I have been at it for three years. Cheers GTSJoe
 
I looked on the web site and don't see any 15 x 5 steel wheels. Could you direct me to where you saw the 15 x 5 steel wheels. Thanks

Frank
 
I think your junk looks really great just like it is.
 
Thanks cuda620 I am uncertain if 10" wide will fit the rear, although that width might help and I assume no back spacing. Thanks for the compliment on my restoration I have been at it for three years. Cheers GTSJoe
I ran 255/60-15 on a 76 Scamp rear... Same fender. Close but no rub and no air shocks.
 
Not on my car now, but I had 15"x7" Cragars with 4.25" back spacing, with 225/60R15 tires on all 4 corners of my '69 GTS. They will work and nothing will rub anywhere. Huge improvement over the stock sizes. (But there are a few people on here that will tell you that you must put 18" wheels on it. I'm sure him/they will be chiming in soon.)

I've never told ANYONE that they MUST put 18's on their car. I've told people it's the only way to get 275's on the front, and I've told people it's the best option for maximizing your tire compound selection, but I haven't told anyone, ever, they can't run 14's, or 15's, or whatever. If you want a car that can handle corners, you're at a serious disadvantage if you stick with anything smaller than 17's, but that takes more than tires anyway. Slapping 18's on a car with stock suspension would be almost as bad as slapping 15's with BFG T/A hockey pucks on a car with suspension set up for handling.

The OP's car looks very stock, and he didn't ask about going bigger than 15's or improving his suspsension, so, why would I say anything about 18's? Staying SBP pretty much eliminates that as an option anyway.

Thanks cuda620 I am uncertain if 10" wide will fit the rear, although that width might help and I assume no back spacing. Thanks for the compliment on my restoration I have been at it for three years. Cheers GTSJoe

Assuming that car is stock, a 10" wide rim probably won't even fit into the wheel well without a tire. Stock Darts only have about 11" from the springs to the quarter lips, and that's how wide a 10" wide rim is, outside to outside. The 10" width is where the tire seats, not the outside lip.

I ran 255/60-15 on a 76 Scamp rear... Same fender. Close but no rub and no air shocks.

The pre '70 cars tend to have a little less room than the '70+ cars. It's not a hard rule, but the measurements I've seen from the pre-70 cars tend to run on the narrow side of the body tolerance spectrum, while the '70 up cars tend to run toward having a little more room. Obviously there are exceptions, but I wouldn't recommend 255's for a '69 Dart unless the owner was willing to do some work on the quarter lips or run a 1/2" spring offset.
 
I've never told ANYONE that they MUST put 18's on their car. I've told people it's the only way to get 275's on the front, and I've told people it's the best option for maximizing your tire compound selection, but I haven't told anyone, ever, they can't run 14's, or 15's, or whatever. If you want a car that can handle corners, you're at a serious disadvantage if you stick with anything smaller than 17's, but that takes more than tires anyway. Slapping 18's on a car with stock suspension would be almost as bad as slapping 15's with BFG T/A hockey pucks on a car with suspension set up for handling.

The OP's car looks very stock, and he didn't ask about going bigger than 15's or improving his suspsension, so, why would I say anything about 18's? Staying SBP pretty much eliminates that as an option anyway.



Assuming that car is stock, a 10" wide rim probably won't even fit into the wheel well without a tire. Stock Darts only have about 11" from the springs to the quarter lips, and that's how wide a 10" wide rim is, outside to outside. The 10" width is where the tire seats, not the outside lip.



The pre '70 cars tend to have a little less room than the '70+ cars. It's not a hard rule, but the measurements I've seen from the pre-70 cars tend to run on the narrow side of the body tolerance spectrum, while the '70 up cars tend to run toward having a little more room. Obviously there are exceptions, but I wouldn't recommend 255's for a '69 Dart unless the owner was willing to do some work on the quarter lips or run a 1/2" spring offset.
In his opinion...you said they'd be chiming in...
 
I will be ordering the 15 x 6 for the front https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wvi-61-565404
That's how I'm upgrading to 15's. Kelsey Hayes manual 4 piston calipers work great. Even having Mosier narrow a Dana 60 for me and drill axles to sbp for me. They said no problem for well over 500 hp with sbp and good studs. Including handling or the fairy tale of breaking wheels off... Unless you run old rusty bad wheels... Lol!
 
Thank you all for your input this is a great help. The Small Bolt Pattern is always a challenge, but I was considering 15" x 6 in the front as suggested, and then 15" x 7 in the rear with the wider tread in the rear for a little better traction. Thoughts???
GTS Joe
I will be ordering the 15 x 6 for the front https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wvi-61-565404

These should work for you in the back. Wheel Vintiques 61 Series Chrysler Rallye Silver Wheels 61-5754044. They should work in the front too, and that's what I would recommend if you want to run 225/60/15's up front. They aren't totally necessary, a 225/60/15 BFG T/A will fit on a 15x6 but I think they work better with a 7" wide rim. However, some folks do need to adjust their bumper bracket to lower fender braces in order to run 225/60/15's. They don't clear every car without rubbing. SBP cars have a slight advantage there because of the narrower track width, so it's less likely than if you had the BBP brakes.

But unless you don't mind the possibility of rolling your quarter lips, I would suggest not going any wider than a 245/60/15 in the back. On some cars even those may cause some rubbing, it depends on the body tolerances of your car specifically, how stiff your suspension is, that sort of thing. You should measure your quarter lip to spring distances and see what they look like before you even go 245, and remember to do that on both sides as they aren't usually identical side to side.

There's really no point in going to 15x8's, because you can't really run enough tire to need them. I mean, you could run 15x8's with 245/60/15's, but, you don't have to, the 7's will work fine and are actually the "measuring rim" for 245/60/15's. The 8's also have a little less offset, so, they'd sit a little closer to the quarters, which is where you'd rather have more room anyway. Wheel Vintiques 61 Series Chrysler Rallye Silver Wheels 61-5854458

In his opinion...you said they'd be chiming in...

Show me the post then. I've got no problem with folks staying sbp, or running 14's or 15's. Yes, I repeatedly make it a point of mentioning that there are no good tread compounds for those wheel sizes in DOT legal street tires, and there aren't. BFG T/A's are hockey pucks, they're great for burnouts and not much else. But if you're not concerned with handling, it really isn't a big issue. And yes, I absolutely recommend 17 or 18" rims to anyone that wants to have better than 1970's miserable handling, because again, you can't get any worthwhile tires for 14's and 15's when it comes to street legal tires that handle well.

I do take issue with purists like 69_340_GTS belittling anyone that doesn't think like him, and for every single post on this board where I get colorful about how lousy the tire options are for 14 and 15" rims there are a dozen posts about some purist saying how stupid 18" rims look, or going after someone personally for wanting bigger rims.

I had no intention of posting in this thread at all until 69_340_GTS quite obviously called me out. I don't comment in most threads about 14 and 15" rims anymore unless I have something to add specifically about what will actually fit or not. So, don't listen to me if you want, that's fine. But I do have a really good idea about what size tires fit these cars, regardless of the diameter of the rim used.
 
The black round ones are my favorite. I have been on and off the fence with going with a 15” on the front. I have 325 50 15 on the rear and I would like to level the car out a bit. I think what I found for the 14” tire selection is somewhat limited on the front. If there is a decent radial tire around 27” tall, I would consider keeping the 14” if they looked ok to me, on my car. Btw.. good input above. Thanks Andrew
 
The black round ones are my favorite. I have been on and off the fence with going with a 15” on the front. I have 325 50 15 on the rear and I would like to level the car out a bit. I think what I found for the 14” tire selection is somewhat limited on the front. If there is a decent radial tire around 27” tall, I would consider keeping the 14” if they looked ok to me, on my car. Btw.. good input above. Thanks Andrew
Try a 235/70r14.
 
That's how I'm upgrading to 15's. Kelsey Hayes manual 4 piston calipers work great. Even having Mosier narrow a Dana 60 for me and drill axles to sbp for me. They said no problem for well over 500 hp with sbp and good studs. Including handling or the fairy tale of breaking wheels off... Unless you run old rusty bad wheels... Lol!
It's not the wheels that break off, it's those wimpy 50 year old 7/16 studs. If you're installing 1/2 in tho, they may not seat right in the 7/16 sockets.

I too have the KH 4-piston brakes and as a streeter, I've never needed more. I do however have 295s in the back, and the 10" brakes back there have zero proportioning.

BFG 295s are not hockey pucks! I can only spin them to 80/85 mph,lol.

Blu is right, BFGs are known to be slipery, hence why I have 295s. That's what it took to keep the back, in the back, for this streeter. I like kidney-bean aluminum slots. I had a pair of 15 x 10s so I made it work.
But 275s really sucked.
With a 360 and 3.55s, 245s were a joke no matter what the brand. She still went 12.9@106 with a 270 cam @3650pounds. I don't actually know when she stopped spinning, as the tach was on 7000 most of the way, and I only made the one run,lol; that was good enough for me. I think those were called RoadHuggers lol.
 
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I'll upgrade my 7/16 studs to better 7/16. Chevy uses them even on trucks. I'll stick to my 275/60R15's cause I got em. Nice to know 295's fit though since I have a 67 cuda notch. Thanks! Btw, like the car. I'd like to build a 383s clone using a 400/451.
 
I'd like to build a low compression SBM with staged turbos,and run hiway gears, and maybe overdrive,Just a nice 400hp, 24MPG USg combo. But I think I'd upgrade the rear some.I can't get 24 out of my current combo,lol.
 
No, not if its high at 80. I thought about that but with a tko 600 and a supercharger. Turbos take to much work to set up,,, imo. I've done a couple. My luck I'd be the one caught for speeding and they'd bury me under the jail.
 
No, not if its high at 80. I thought about that but with a tko 600 and a supercharger. Turbos take to much work to set up,,, imo. I've done a couple. My luck I'd be the one caught for speeding and they'd bury me under the jail.
Yeah that's about right, Iwanna stay outta jail too
 
Thought about the torque storm super chargers. Better mpg being smallblock and Bigblock power when necessary.
 
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