Relax wheel restrictions

[Dave Ebersole]

Well, I would ertainly vote "NO" for this, purely from self-interest of course. I don't think I could fit 7's on the rear of my '02, and certainly don't have the fender clearance to take advantage of wider rubber, but others in my class probably could, and the discussion of moving certain A cars to B in conjunction with such a change would throw off the cometitive balance that currently exists in B..... unless you want to allow certain cars to add flares also..... or rename us Prod Lite.

[Bill Miller]

5x100 is the same bolt pattern as the Dodge Neon and several smaller GM vehicles. There are tons of used OEM 14x6 and 15x6 alloy wheels out there. These wheels should have similar offset to the Fiero. Check out www.neons.org/forums used wheels pop up for sale nearly every day on there.

New aftermarket 14" wheels in that bolt pattern are becoming increasingly difficult to find. There's a bunch of aftermarket options available in 15", but almost all of them are at least 6.5" wide.
[/b]

Greg,

Most of the examples I have seen (haven't looked at the specific cars in question, but more of a general observation) you have significantly different offsets between FWD and RWD cars. The one that I'm pretty familiar with are BBS wheels for a VW vs the ones for a BMW. 13x6xet33 for the VW and 13x6xet13 for the BMW. That's a 2cm difference in offset.

[Ron]

Please don't think I was complaining about the board, I think they have a very hard job and the I don't want it. I was just pointing how the rules we very consistent for IT for years. I just liked the fact that you could pick a car develop it and feel safe that the rules would be the same thats all. Back to rims ,I think that spinwerkes can do almost any offset

[Andy Bettencourt]

Greg,

Most of the examples I have seen (haven't looked at the specific cars in question, but more of a general observation) you have significantly different offsets between FWD and RWD cars. The one that I'm pretty familiar with are BBS wheels for a VW vs the ones for a BMW. 13x6xet33 for the VW and 13x6xet13 for the BMW. That's a 2cm difference in offset. [/b]

Fiero's use a very FWD-like offset. Remember, this car is not a traditional RWDer. Think of the layout. Engine and drive wheels at the same end. One just pushes instead of pulls. Greg is 100% correct.

[Bill Miller]

Andy,

I was going off of what I have seen. IIRC, the offset for my old ITA AW11 MR2 was a 'traditional' RWD offset. If the Fiero uses a FWD offset, there are probably more options out there for it.

[ScotMac]

Thank you everyone for weighing in on the topic...i think the discussion is good and civilized so far.

Few issues that have been brought up :

1. Offsets: Yes, alot of the stock stuff is not appropriate for a particular car, in terms of offset. I have only found *one* stock wheel that work for the front of a 88 fiero. That is exactly my point: opening it up to 7" rims means much more supply, especially for the aftermarket lightweight stuff, and then you are more likely to find the correct offset.

2. Weight: The stock stuff is often not suitable for racing, because of weight.

3. Future: There will always be short terms problems for people when change is made (previously or just bought 6" wheels), but we need to think about what is best for the future of all ITers, as GregA mentioned. ie, current, new, and future racers. The 6" restriction will make it more and more difficult for ITB and ITC racers to get the correct wheels to race, and will thus discourage people to race the exact two classes that we need to built up right now. I strongly believe the class differentiation via handling and hp-to-weight is enough.

4. SpinWerks: Yes, i found spinwerks, and yes, they do make a suitable rim for me in a 14x6 (5x100), but they are the ONLY aftermarket wheel i could find under $400/wheel (kodiak/bogart are greater than $400 wheel). And they are marginal, for the price ($210/wheel), due to the weight (11.5lbs/wheel).

Cheers, -Scot