Are Fat Lip wheels really wider than advertised?
 

ok i'm really confused. I'm very interested in going with some 18" Coy's C-5's for my 69 Firebird w/stock wheel wells. They recommend 8" rear wheels vs. the 9.5" to avoid rolling the lips. I've read alot of posts saying guys use 9.5's all the time with no probs so why would Coy's 9.5's be a problem. Is it the fact that Coy's are a fat lip design and are accually wider than 8 or 9.5?

All fat lip wheels will measure about an inch wider from lip to lip than advertised. If your looking at a 18x8 your wheel will measure closer to 9.

So PRRC if I am reading it right their 20x10 would actually be a 20x11? So what would be the widest series of tire that you could run on these. Does this just go for Coys or any fat-lip design...TIA

All wheels are measured that way, it's "industry standard" to measure the width of a wheel from inside bead to inside bead. So wether it's a Budnik, or a Coy's, a 8" wheel will meaure closer to 9" overall in width.

In relation to Tires, because it's industry standard, they take that into account when listing recommended wheel width's. So when they say a 245 wide tire is recommended on an 8" wide wheel, they know that a 8" wheel measures 9" overall.

Confusing, yes, but it makes sense.

thats what i always thought, glad to know i was right...lol

Go with 9.5" rears with 5.5" BS. The Coys look really nice with the grey centers.

But wouldn't the 9.5's be more like 10.5" and thus be to wide for my wheel wells?

you are correct, a 9.5" rim measures 10.5" overall

Hey Rybar,

How did you get so much wheel/tire under your ride. Is your car minitubed or did you roll your fender lips or both.

Hey Jason,

do you have somthing similar to the Fikse five spokes that's around 250-300 each in 18"

Hey Jason,

could I get a price list of the 18" wheels you carry

I would recommend the Billet Specialities "Street Stars"

https://www.newstalgiawheel.com/imag...W_1130_250.gif

EDIT: this might be outside of your range... PM me!

PM or call for specific pricing for different manufacturers.

-Jason

Stock wells with rolled/trimmed 1/4 lips. It works with the 275 tire. 9.5's with a 275 tire would fit no problem.

Rybar,

How did you roll/trim your wells? And after you do this will a 10-10.5" wheel fit cause evidentely a fat lip 9.5 is really closer to 10"+.

Used a fender rolling tool. And also trimmed at my body shop, I think they used a cut off wheel. Yes a 10" wheel fits, but is tight. Not sure what you mean by fat lip, but there are tons of people running 9.5" on stock wells. And a few like myself running 10's.

Yeah the fat lip design baffled me at first. Evidently there are two lip styles a stepped style like the Torque Thrust 2 and a fat lip like the Coy's C-5. The fat lip wheel because of its design is accually wider than advertised so an 8" is closer to a 9" and so on. I called Coy's and they said they're 9.5" definately won't fit a stock well which confused me since so many dudes run 9.5's in stock wells with no problems.

both traditional (stepped lip) and "fat-lip/smooth-lip/reverse mount" measure the same exact way.

9.5" torque thrust 2 measures 10.5" overall.
9.5" OEM c-5 vette wheel measures 10.5" overall
9.5" fat-lip coy's measures... wait for it... 10.5" overall

the correct backspacing or offset is what is going to make these wheels fit in your wheel wells.

bottom line, it has been proven that a 9.5" wheel w/5.5" backspace will work in the rear of a 1st Gen F-body.

That is what I've been trying to say as well. :_paranoid

Well alright then. Thanks for the great info guys.