I recently purchased a 1990 extcab SR5. I love it... but it needs something beyond the stock 15x6 alloys. I have a quick question for those running 15's. Do you go 7inch or 8inch? I am planing on a very conservative 2inch drop and because I am cheap I want to reuse the brand new but off size 205/70-15's it has on it now. I am old and like the look of the minitrucks back when I was a young driver (80's). Thanks for helping me recapture my youth!
welcome to the site! me personally, im also trying to "capture" the essence of the old school mini's as well. i am going with some 15x8 wheels with some slightly stretched in tires. to give an opinion, i would rather go 15x8 than 15x7....... the stance will be a bit more aggressive and fill out that massive 70 series tire better. as for old mini truck style, this members truck here gave me a little inspiration for the look i am going for.
See now that is what I am talking about... I did some more thread searching... you are dead right. 15x8's look the right way. 15x7's look like factory replacements. So now that is out of the way 15x8 with 4 inch(ish) back space... so what wheels? I love the deeper lip that the old schools had. Dream would be to make it look like a AE86 autocrosser... except a truck. Thanks for the help.
well......... that all depends on what yer taste is like. do you like a spoke type wheel kinda like this? or do you like something like a molded wheel like this?
Sounds a bit like me; I built my truck with all the stuff I wished I had but could never afford back when I was a kid in high school. For me, 15's don't look right unless you have a small enough tire and your truck is low enough to tuck it. I like the 15x7's because they are super light, tires are super cheap, and they don't stick out past the fender but can still have a good lip if you get the right offset. I got my Prostars cheap off Craigslist; if not for that I probably would have got a set of Draglites like the ones SD Yota posted.
The Prostars are totally something I wanted to have back in the day. Man that and a Fox Body Mustang. that would have been the ish! I plan on keeping the tires for only a season or so because they are such junk... so new wheels, lower a little bit, new tires, Lower a little more. I love the 5 spoke design and if I could get Starion's with tires for $500 shipped that would be amazing. Love those wheels and that car. BTW what is the hub bore? I am worried that if I ebay something they won't get over the hub. Thanks guys!
see, this is pretty much what my opinion of what old school minitruckin used to be.... extreme looks with extreme low budgets to match! no fancy parts, no big wheels, no super duper controlled suspension height. just guys that did the best they could with low budget parts, wheels, tires, and simple touches that made the scene easy to get into and enjoy. hence why i chose 15" wheels for my build......... V8 power instead of turbo's and high dollar hop ups.... along with some other real simple yet accented throw back style to the old days. starion wheels go for up to around 350 bucks (as high a price as ive seen them) gotta consider that they are pretty rare wheels to find, and difficult to find them in decent shape and not beat to hell. they gotta be thee most badass lookin wheel to come out of any 80's japanese car. anyhow. cool thing about these trucks is that the look, attitude, and style of the truck can easily be changed to something completely different and unique fairly easily. you can decide to stick with a certain look for this season and change it up some next season (when yer ready for tires again) you just gotta set yourself on a desired look goal in mind. anyhow..... moving back to your truck. me personally, i would do about a 195/60/15 tire on your 15x8. if possible, a 4" backspace on it (+0 offset) to get that nice deep lip on it and get it flush to the fenders. this is considering between a 3/3 to 4/4 drop in mind. like i mentioned..... this is my personal opinion based on taste, style, ride, and handling preferences.
SD Yota... I am having a hell of a time finding a 15x8 with zero offset in our lug pattern. Am loosing it or are these hard to find?
if you are into the ae86 i hope that you know of or are a fan of Initial D. It pays great respect to the Trueno
+0 offset should be fairly easy to find...... its = to 4 1/2 inch backspacing. our bolt pattern is both 5x114 and 5x4.5 gotta look through the mfg and see what they make the certain wheel model for. some wheels are not made in a lug pattern or size due to either popularity or wheel load restrictions from design. find a wheel you like and start looking to see if they make it in the size you want.... then look to see if they offer it in our lug pattern size. btw..... this was the result of 195/65 tires mounted on 15x8 wheels. By alisn4x4 at 2011-05-05 By alisn4x4 at 2011-05-05 a bit big for my drop goals but it was a starting point.
Just found some old school mesh wheels with a huge lip 15x8.5... Saw that the guy with the old school Western Hurricane II wheels had the same size... and for a hundred bucks... I couldn't pass them up. Gonna post pics when I get them on. The next few nights will be full of polishing or at least cleaning off the poop. This is way more fun and cheaper than my old S70 Turbo! Cheers!