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68 vette wheel compatibility

brumbach

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 6, 2004
Messages
330
Location
Middleboro, KY
Corvette
1965 convertible
My son recently bought a 68 convert. Existing wheels and tires are too big for the car, i.e., rubs within the wheel well when he makes sharp turns. He's looking at a set of 15X8 ralley wheels from a 69 camaro. Should they work for his vette? They come with tires already mounted. Not sure of the tire spec.s. If the wheels are okay should any tire mounted on them also be okay? Thanks -- Bill
 
Original tires-F70/15
original wheel 15x7
1969 went to eight inch wide wheel
 
I'm not sure that the Camaro rally wheels have the same offset/backspacing as Corvette wheels. You could run into problems with interference on the calipers.
 
The 69 Camaro did not have a 15x8 wheel. Most were 14x7. Only the Z28 had a 15" wheel and it was 7" in width with a 4.5" backspace for the cars with the optional rear disk brakes (only 206 made).


If the wheels are 15x8 and came off a 69 Camaro then they are not original Kelsey Hayes Rallies (probably repos) and the offset won't work. The Corvette rallies have 4 inch offset. In an 8 inch wheel, a first gen Camaro needs 4.5 to 4.75 inch offset.

Also I have seen where Camaro owners have bought Vette wheels and had issues.. so it is possible that they are Vette wheels. Just check the backspacing on them. The backspacing is the measurment of the depth of the back of the wheel (the part that faces the brakes). It is measured by placing the wheel on the ground backside facing up and laying a straight edge across the top edge of the wheel and measure down to the mounting pad (the part that accually touchs the brake drum or rotor).

I suggest ask the guy your buying them from to try them out. Put them on your car crank your wheel hard left and right and see if there is any contact with ANY part of the car. Then take it for a drive, and go over bumps. If the contact is ok for you or there isnt any buy them, if not ask yourself if this is acceptable.

Also you can have the centers of the rallies moved in or out to meet the need (moved in, in this case). Stockton Wheel in CA will do it for about $75 a wheel...800-395-9433. I prefer this to repos. Though repos can be ordered with the correct offsets, they're not hub-centric and in my opinion, not as safe.
 

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