15" Wheels and Tires..
 

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Finally installed my 15" x 6.5" Drag Specialties DR-23 gun metal machined face aluminum wheels, which look very similar to the Old Ansen mag wheels of my youth in the 60's. The offset is +40mm, which places them just inside the fender lip. The BFG's are P215/60 R15 93S SL RWL (raised white letter) @ $125 each. The wheels cost $455 with tax for a set of four, and everything came from my local Discount Tire store. The ride is MUCH softer, with no loss of handling that I can feel. The use of 15" wheels did not increase the gap, as the tire diameter is the same as for the stock tires. Moving the wheel outboard seems to have actually reduced the visual gap. I'd also expect much longer tire life with these wide tires on such a light car. Mileage dropped from 33 to 31, but that could also be due to the 70,000 mile difference when checked? Nothing rubs by the way, and I don't intend to lower the car. If I ever did, it would only be to install the lower springs only on the front in order to give it a "California tilt". Lots more to come on this one. I leased it for 3 1/2 years and then purchased it, and at 77 I fully expect it to be my last car!

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Reminds me of a cross between Cragar SS and ET slots. The Harley center caps are cool, too.

still like the tires? i'm told need the original stock...

I still love these wheels and tires. Much smoother ride, and I never have to worry about a pothole bending a rim as often occurs with 16" and 17" custom wheels with their thin sidewall tires. Now there's a big cushion of air and rubber to protect my aluminum wheels. I also never worry about scraping the edge of my wheels against a curb, since they are much more deeply inset from the face of the tire.

Beyond all that, these fat tires will probably last forever on such a light car! A set of 15" (spare tire) steel wheels and regular black wall tires would probably cost little more than a set of the stock tires, if indeed that much, with tire cost savings from then on. You'd definitely have to check the offset of any 15" wheels that you wanted to use and the diameter of the 15" tires, though. I've still never experienced any clearance problems with my setup, but the car has also not been lowered and is using the stock springs.