The Camaro Club (UK)

Guys, I know this has been posted on USA sites but they talk about back space and I can't work out the conversion to ET ! most folk say BMW wheels will bolt onto a 1st gen but for safety's sake recommend a hub centric adapter which will also act as a spacer. So my question's are :-

1. What ET do I need to run 7-8 inch wide front, rim diameter either 17" or 18".

2. What ET do I need to run 9 -10 inch wide rear, again rim diameter either 17" or 18"

3. Can anyone recommend a company that would be able to custom make the hub centric adapter.

Before you all jump on me and flame me for being sacriligeous, I intend to keep the original Chevy PCD so I can go back if needed but want to increase my choice of wheel selection for the Camaro.

Thanks for any help on this - William

I tried a set of 17 inch Alpina clone alloys fitted with 235/45/17 tyres .
They fit OK but once on the car I found I didn't like the look. :
The ones you need come from the 5 , 7 ,and 8 series BMWs and the back-space to edge of rear rim is roughly 6 inches.

thanks firebird, but do you know what that translates to in ET ? I would be looking to run a staggered set up and have seen some BMW wheels that have different ET front and back but are for the same car

I think (but I'm not totally sure) that 1st gens run the same offsets at second gens.. I think the rear wheelwells on 1st gens are a little smaller too, so may not allow a 10" wide wheel.. You may need to do some measuring....
As you said you need the lowest offset 5, 7 or 8 series wheels.

I've had BMW fitment wheels on my car for a while.
1st set were genuine 8 series 17 x 8.5 with a 13mm offset. Front fitted fine, but the rear were a bit too inset, so I used a 1.5" spacer/adaptor. I ran 235 & 255 tyres on these.

Current set are Rondell BMW 7 series (E38) 18 x 8.5 front with 13mm offset, and 18 x 10 rear with 19mm offset. Again front fit fine, but rears have 1" hubcentric spacer/adaptor to move them out a little, and clear the leaf spring, bought from EZ accesories (on US ebay). They also supplied the spigot rings you'll need to get the wheels to centre properly from the BMW 72.6mm centre bore to Chevy 70.5mm..

Hope that helps..

_________________
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

I have to say I thought I knew almost all there was re 1 gen wheels!
Fantastic Info! Keep it coming!


MyCamaro Wheel info:
Classic Industries produce a 15X 8" rally wheel with 4.5" backspacing-this enables the wheels to fit all Camaros 67-72, Chevelle 64-72 and Nova 64-72
The original came with 4" backspacing 5 stud with 4.75 PCD BS4
Global West recommend the following:
67-69 Camaro 16 X 8" wheel with 5" backspacing in conjunction with 245x50 x 16 tyres
Alec Runs 8.5" X 16 Vintage tyres with 4" backspacing
Jeep Wheels Offset backspace inch outspace inch
top tip is that a lot of Jaguars' wheels also fit Camaros

_________________
Kind Regards
TopCat
Secretary
Classic Camaro Club
Member of The Association of American Car Clubs UK
Email :tboles@strathnoon.co.uk Websites: http://www.classiccamaroclubuk.com and:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdhLJtR_ZY4

Always wanted to try some modern Jag wheels from XKR/XJR but never had a chance to see if they'd fit...

_________________
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

chevy - stu - thanks man thats really useful. Did the wheels bolt up fine ? I know the chevy and bmw pcd is out by .65mm, did you experience any difficulty getting the tread to "line up" ? and did this put any stress on the wheel bolts ?

Thats why I was also after a recommendation for a company that would custom make hub centric adapters which would space the wheels out and also take care of the 0.65mm difference. Do you think I need to go to that sort of trouble ? otherwise I will do what you've done and get spacers and spigot rings from the states.

topcat - also thanks for your info but I'm looking to run at least a 17" wheel as I would like to eventually put corvette c5 /c6 discs all round. Kore3 do a very nice bolt on kit.

I wanted to keep the chevy centre bore on the spacers so if I changed wheels to proper chevy ones they'd fit, with having to have new spacers made, and also the cost. Spigot rings are cheap and do the job of centering the wheel properly, as I've never had any issues due to 0.65mm difference, and never get any vibration, even at 130mph + (on a private road of course )

I did the wheel size upgrade for the same reason as I have C5 front brakes.. I looked at the Kore3 kits, but in the end I bought a DIY kit from Custom Works, http://www.customworksproducts.com They just supply the bracket, hoses, hubs and bearings - you need to source your own calipers, discs. Worked out much cheaper for the same thing..

_________________
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Kore3 come highly recommended from me, Tobin is a great guy to deal with.

I have got wheels which were originally specced for a 2nd Gen on my 68, and I think the offset for the front is too much. As for the rear, they are 9" wide - and foul the leafsprings (there really is not enough room out there), so needed spacers to fit, again I think it was to do with the offset.

General consenus is to go max of 8" at the front (with Offset that TopCat posted), otherwise you will start hitting/rubbing the subframe in turns lol! For the rear, I think it's 9" max, with the correct offset which I think is around 5" (but don't take my word on that).

You should *in theory* be able to use aftermarket wheels that are for Jags, but this may be early cars, rather than from when Ford got their mits on them.

cheers,
Mark

_________________
'68 Camaro

Forgot to add... The other thing is the wheels stud sizes.. When doing the C5 front brake swap, the wheel studs went from the standard US 7/16" to metric 12mm x 1.5 as the hubs were newer..
So the rear spacers I bought also had metric 12 mm studs so they're the same all round now..

_________________
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”