[turbomangt]

I'm going to just invoke my free speech rite on this, no one has to agree with me. Since i'm in the older generation of baby boomers and grew up in the muscle car era, back then when I had nothing to do on the weekends but hang out at Skips drive in and park my 69 Chevelle in a sacred parking spot and watch for hours as all the muscle cars drove through Skips all night long, most of these cars had 15 or 16" wheels, when wheels went to 18" that was HUGE, now our cars come standard with 20 many are putting on 22's. if you want your car to truly be "retro" doesn't it make sense to have smaller wheels thus more meaty rubber, I like the rubber to bulge out like the old days, heck you barely see any rubber on these cars with these wheels now. I guess now that I'm looking at my car with my 18" wheels with snow tires, I see the difference and kind of like the less wheel more tire idea. sorry for the long rant. I'll go back to sleep

 

[cdahl383]

My Nova has 15" rims on it and some big tires in the back, looks great. I would never put 18" or 20" rims on that car, just doesn't look right. On these newer cars I think they look great either way.

 

[JoezSRT8]

You should probably go back to drum brakes too because that would be retro. These cars are a modern interpretation of an old car so it should have modern tech

 

[MommaBetty]

I really love my 20" wheels, but reflecting back, I am not so sure I wouldn't prefer the 18" wheels. I am siding with turbo on this a little. Being that I belong to that same generation, I would like my car to keep that retro look.

 

[vin57]

the 70's Challenger is alot smaller than this gen. of challenger. Putting 18's or 20"s on the 70's gen wouldn't look right, it would look silly. We can get away with it because our cars are bigger and it looks good ( in my opinion ) ...just for comparison:

 

[MommaBetty]

That is an excellent comparison Rob. Thanks for illustrating that so well. I feel much better now!:smiley_thumbs_up:

 

[vin57]

That is an excellent comparison Rob. Thanks for illustrating that so well. I feel much better now!:smiley_thumbs_up:

You're welcome Betty ....interesting to see that the hoods are pretty much at the same height when they are open, despite the difference in the size of the cars and the hoods.

 

[Implumcrazy]

You're welcome Betty ....interesting to see that the hoods are pretty much at the same height when they are open, despite the difference in the size of the cars and the hoods.

Bigger engine bays back then

 

[HemiMetal]

I would not go beyond the 20" wheels my care came with, and I have seen way too many 300C's and Magnums that look absolutely silly with oversized wheels. At least the Challenger can handle 22" wheels without looking like a stagecoach! :smileup:

 

[bones007]

I like the looks of the 20's on the cars, my complaint and I'm sure others as well is, the life you get from the low profile tire and the fact you have to be a little more vigilant when it comes to pot holes...but I deal with it.

 

[Frank Rizzo]

My 1500 Ram R/T came with 22" forged wheels. While they look good on the truck...man do they ride like [email protected]! I am so fed up with the ride. No good on a daily driver. Plus - the (relatively) puny brake rotors look kinda dumb if you ask me...

I even have a post in the wanted section on ramforumz wanting to buy some 20" Sport take offs.

 

[coolbreeze]

I definitely like the smaller rims and more rubber on the older cars....just looks natural to me. On my '55 Chevy for example, I've got BF Goodrich, radial TA s on 15 inch rims. I've seen '55 - '57 Chevys with 18 and 20 inch rims and personally don't care for it.
But fast forward to our new Challengers, or even Mustangs, and Camaros, I think they look natural with the bigger rims but for me no bigger than 20. That's my personal opinion of course.

 

[TikiMan]

I hear what your saying, the old Keystone rims with RWL tires were an awesome look for the old Mopars of the 1970's. However, I wouldnt go lower than the 20's I have on the modern Challenger.

 

[Back2BackRTs]

I've had 3 Challengers now in the past few years with 20s on all of them. All in all I still like an 18 inch size better on this car. I have used 18 snows (which are in my garage) and I think I like that look with more rubber better. But then again, I am old!

 

[Bubba J]

I won't get into looks, because that is a matter of personal taste, but from a strictly mechanical point of view, I prefer the 20" wheels. more sidewall equals more roll and plow in corners. Our cars are already derided daily for not handling, put some 75 series 15" tires and wheels on there and see what you get. I think the knock on handling is much ado about nothing in the real world, who cares if our car is 1.5 seconds slower around a track in a pro's hands. most of us like to think we can drive like a pro, but I don't think in our hands there is much of a discernible difference. Also, in the real world, there is not much side by side circuit type racing going on where it makes a difference, and if you are really racing it, you would upgrade the suspension anyway.But just imagine what they would say if we went flopping around corners on 15's. Not to mention load capacity. at 4000 lbs, a smaller tire just couldn't support the load of the car. I said I wouldn't comment on looks, but I like the looks of the new car vs the classic in the pics in the post above. Just my 2 cents.

 

[TexasRT]

I can see your point, take a trip to the strip and look at how mean they look with all the rubber for drag tires. For me though, since my car came with 18"s and I went to 20"s... I prefer the bigger wheel.

I will say, hated the fender gap as well...the first comparison is after just wheels. The second is after I dropped it 1.7"

 

[cdahl383]

I have to agree with the point about the newer cars being bigger and looking good with bigger wheels vs the older cars. I've seen some old muscle cars with 18" or 20" wheels and while they were sharp looking, that look just isn't for me.

I always thought the 20" wheels that came on these cars fit the car really well.

But like Elton said above, these low profile tires sure suck when it comes to tire life and dealing with rough roads/potholes, etc. But that's a problem I'll gladly accept to drive around in an awesome looking car!

 

[dodge man2]

Like the OP, I'm not a huge fan of 20" rims, but the car was designed for it and I wouldn't go backwards. On older cars, I hate the look when they put big rims on them. It seems to be very popular these days and it seems like on these TV shows where they fix up an older car they almost always go with the big rims.

 

[Gunrunner]

I personally like the 20 inch wheels (stock or not) on these cars. Fits the car quite well and if it's not lowered you can get a fairly tall side wall tire to close up the fender gap.

The trend toward resto modding old muscle cars usually includes modern brakes with rotor diameters that are not compatible with the 14, 15 inch wheels the cars came with.
So long as this is the case I don't mind bigger wheels on the old cars either.

 

[MarcPhrey]

Frank that truck looks great with those wheels, but you said you hate the ride, I have a Yukon XL wish at one point had 22" wheel on there it rode great to me but to each it own. I like the big wheels are cars come with the car was designed for it and going to a smaller wheel with look crazy.