Looking to lower my '69...

[ACUDANUT]

Shoot me now, if the rest of us like Mexican low riders. I am out.
However, if this is your style, so be it. Give me your 15 inch rims and tires for free since you hate the 70-80's.
I'll take your 426 Hemi's and you can find your own Prius powertrain. 

In the 70s, a jacked up ass end was the current trend. People did it to all sorts of different cars. You think guys in their 50s  liked that trend then? Now in the new age of the 20teens, trends are different. The taller wheel, shorter sidewall came about for 3 reasons as I see it: Fitting bigger brakes, shorter sidewalls for better handling and finally.....Personal preference for the sake of fashion.

Your car, your way.  Just not my cup of tea.

[Lennard]

Shoot me now, if the rest of us like Mexican low riders. I am out.
However, if this is your style, so be it. Give me your 15 inch rims and tires for free since you hate the 70-80's.
I'll take your 426 Hemi's and you can find your own Prius powertrain. 

In the 70s, a jacked up ass end was the current trend. People did it to all sorts of different cars. You think guys in their 50s  liked that trend then? Now in the new age of the 20teens, trends are different. The taller wheel, shorter sidewall came about for 3 reasons as I see it: Fitting bigger brakes, shorter sidewalls for better handling and finally.....Personal preference for the sake of fashion.

Your car, your way.  Just not my cup of tea.

The stage coach look isn't my thing either.

[alfaitalia]

Its not that low....compared to some...the big wheels make it look lower than it is....the body has fair clearance to the road.

[Lennard]

Low is awesome .Big wheels with rubber band tires... nope.

[darbgnik]

Shoot me now, if the rest of us like Mexican low riders. I am out.
However, if this is your style, so be it. Give me your 15 inch rims and tires for free since you hate the 70-80's.
I'll take your 426 Hemi's and you can find your own Prius powertrain. 

In the 70s, a jacked up ass end was the current trend. People did it to all sorts of different cars. You think guys in their 50s  liked that trend then? Now in the new age of the 20teens, trends are different. The taller wheel, shorter sidewall came about for 3 reasons as I see it: Fitting bigger brakes, shorter sidewalls for better handling and finally.....Personal preference for the sake of fashion.

That's more like the progression, than different reasons. Want a larger brake, wheel has to get bigger, want it to still fit? Sidewall gets shorter. Big wheels first appeared on sports cars, then pop culture took it in a whole other direction. I personally wince when I see a modern SUV on 22" wheels from the factory with an 11" brake rotor under it. To me it screams: I'm a person who likes the look without a clue as to why. To the buyer it screams cool.

Less sidewall increases handling over taller sidewalls, indeed. But only to a point. You won't see any racecars with 20's on them. And for serious track work, a lot of track cars go with smaller wheels and higher sidewall than they came with. An example would be cars that come stock with 19" wheels will cram a custom cut 18 over the caliper. The new Viper ACR comes with a 19 inch front to fit the massive carbon ceramic brakes, but the hot ticket for track junkies is a custom 18 that just barely clears the caliper. Low sidewalls are for performance, rubber bands are for posers.

To me, a large wheel, that is nowhere close to the brake caliper on a sports car looks just as silly as rubber band "offroad" tires on jacked up pickups. If you actually had any intentions of going offroad you'd want as much sidewall as possible. But I digress, that's only my opinion, and guaranteed I'm in the minority.

Back on topic, I prefer 15's on muscle cars, but I appreciate a 17 or 18 if there's a big brake under it....... To me, if it looks useful, it looks cool.

[Kern Dog]

I absolutely agree that if a man is paying his own way with his own car, nobody has the right to tell him what tires or wheels to buy.
I saw a 70 Chevelle today, driven by a black guy. The body and paint were beautiful. It looked like an OEM restoration except for the 24" wheels. I have seen white guys do this a few times but it is more common for the black guys, just as it is common to see Mexican guys building low riders on 13" wheels.
That Chevelle looked great except for the wheels. I'd never tell the guy that I thought his car looked wrong, I'd give him a nod and a thumbs up  because he obviously took pride in the car and expressed himself in the way that he wanted. Sometimes, Black guys like to show off a bit when they are doing well. In fact, this occurs in every race and creed. Rednecks with 20" lifts  and 40" tires on a quad cab diesel truck sound familiar? Lowered Acura with a 4 foor rear spoiler driven by an Asian guy?
Hell yeah...Do your own thing, man! Black, White or whatever.
In 2003 when I bought my wheels, the large diameter trend was gaining steam. I sold a nice lowered 76 Camaro that had a 245-50-16 tire on IROC wheels. I knew then that better handling meant a lower profile tire. I didn't want the Charger to sit so low as the Camaro did. To maintain a streetable stance while having better handling, the diameter of the wheel has to increase. I was looking to have a near stock tire height because I wanted to fill out the wheelwells.To me, a small diameter wheel and tire look bad in a big wheelwell.

[alfaitalia]

I agree with that about 100%.....with the possible exception of the racial/national stereotyping! Anyway...I'm off to the Palace for a garden party with Her Majesty then a bit of punting on the Cam and then polish the Roller before a spot of fox hunting just in time for high tea on the lawn. Tally ho old bean.

[garner7555]

The number of people who don't like larger wheels and pro touring/resto-mod builds is dropping.  More and more people are coming to realize that the brakes that fit under a 14" (or even 15") wheel are not great.    I went to the extreme with brakes on my 69.  14" drilled Brembo 2 piece rotor with 4 piston Brembo calipers.   My setup needs 20" wheels to clear well.   I would prefer to have 18" wheels but I'm willing to go with 20"s in the name of awesome brakes.      

[alfaitalia]

Its amazing how a shorter side wall tightens up the handling.....my DD is a CLK200 Kompressor Mercedes 6speed . A friend has the same car with much lower miles and we both have original shocks. My car rides on 18in AMG 4 wheels with 225-40/18 on the front and 255-35/18 on the rear (factory sizes for the optional AMG wheel package) and his runs the standard 16in wheels with 205-55/16 front and 225-50/16 rear. Well....not being nasty to him (Hi Pete!) ...on the limit his handles like a pig on stilts compared to mine. We both like to have a bit of fun "steering from the rear" on the local country roads and mine is far more predictable on the limit and the slides much more controllable. The obvious disadvantage of mine is the ride comfort....his feeling rather more compliant on the highways.....but I like my cars in the slightly stiffer, more alive feeling, side so that's a price I'm willing to pay.....look much cooler than Petes too imo!!! LOL!

[rikubot]

I don't think Kern was trying to be offensive by stereotyping. He was just making a couple examples, and coincidentally, stereotypes tend to be true a lot of the time. It's just the way the human mind works, it sees patterns, stores them, then recognizes them. I think the whole point is "to each their own." My preference tends to look for logic in a thing, so big wheels and big brakes make sense for a street machine. Newer technologies make these boats handle better and have easier adjustment. I'm kind of in the middle. I want my car to work better and smoother, but at the same time, I enjoy it for what it is: a 50 year old economy cruiser with too big a motor . Maybe I'll change it up in a few years and do a fuel injected hemi with all modern suspension and tubular k-frame 

[Kern Dog]

Thanks, Rikubot. You are right in that i wasn't trying to insult or disparage. I think we should be able to identify each others differences without being branded as a sexist/racist type.   

[rikubot]

Welcome! Very well said. Wouldn't it be a shame if everyone and everything was all the same? I sure as hell wouldn't wanna live in that world! Haha

[alfaitalia]

Thanks, Rikubot. You are right in that i wasn't trying to insult or disparage. I think we should be able to identify each others differences without being branded as a sexist/racist type.    

I was, of course, joking! I would have thought my comments on the stereotypical Englishman would have been a clue....maybe Brit humour does not cross the puddle sometimes!

[darbgnik]

Thanks, Rikubot. You are right in that i wasn't trying to insult or disparage. I think we should be able to identify each others differences without being branded as a sexist/racist type.    

I was, of course, joking! I would have thought my comments on the stereotypical Englishman would have been a clue....maybe Brit humour does not cross the puddle sometimes!

Too dry to make the trip, lol.

[rikubot]

Thanks, Rikubot. You are right in that i wasn't trying to insult or disparage. I think we should be able to identify each others differences without being branded as a sexist/racist type.    

I was, of course, joking! I would have thought my comments on the stereotypical Englishman would have been a clue....maybe Brit humour does not cross the puddle sometimes!

It loses its effectiveness without the accent! Lol 

Red Dwarf is my fav TV show 

[Kern Dog]

What other stereotypes are true?

Is British food bad?
Do the French smell?
Are Norwegians a group of haggis eating cave men?
Are Americans fat, lazy and violent???

[cdr]

Thanks, Rikubot. You are right in that i wasn't trying to insult or disparage. I think we should be able to identify each others differences without being branded as a sexist/racist type.    

I did not take it as sexist/racist , you were speaking truth,  as long as they dont FORCE me to be like them, & change my "Dirty white boy" ways,, it's a free for all.

[Kern Dog]

Dirty White boy.....
I'm sure you shower more than 5 times a week.   

[alfaitalia]

What other stereotypes are true?

Is British food bad?
Do the French smell?
Are SCOTS a group of haggis eating cave men?
Are Americans fat, lazy and violent???

Fixed that for ya!!

[cdr]

Dirty White boy.....
I'm sure you shower more than 5 times a week.   

Just poor  privileged white trash  !!!  it's a frame of mind

[Kern Dog]

Same here. High school graduate and that is it. College was not pushed in my family. Graduating and staying out of jail were encouraged though!

[phantom]

What other stereotypes are true?

Is British food bad?
Do the French smell?
Are SCOTS a group of haggis eating cave men?
Are Americans fat, lazy and violent???

Fixed that for ya!!

Thanks We dont eat that stuff in Norway 

[phantom]

Oh, and i want in on the discussion  

As we speak, my brand new 20x12" and 20x8,5" are on the way from the states, custom made for my car. I like the low car/big wheels-look, but i also have fairly big brakes behind them, so they have a sort of purpose as well. I know many think that big rims and rubberband tires dont belong on our Chargers, but i really dont care. I am building my car as i want it to look. Those who dont like it can look away    

And to answer the op: Mine will be lowered with Air ride, both to get the stance i want, when i want it, and to be able to clear trailers, speedbumps and so on. My car is built for the street and for show, wont be much racing. It's a costly upgrade, but it comes with top shelf parts, like 4 link in the rear. 

[alfaitalia]

That's cool..I'm a big fan of individualism. I'm probably going somewhere between 17 and 19th inch rims.....at the stage I'm at wheel size is the least of my problems!

[SGAmmo]

I like all chargers, really all classic muscle cars, lowered, not lowered, big wheels, original wheels, Dodge, Chevy, Ford, etc, they are all fun. Personally I preferred lowered cars with bigger wheels, but that is the kid in me that refuses to grow up. The Blue 68 Charger I have has become one of my favorites but I have a 69 charger on 20s & 18s that I love too with an insane 528 Hemi, It came with 15s, but they were just too old fashion for me, probably would have been too old fashion for me when I was a kid getting into hot-rods in the 1990s. Also a 69 Camaro I got from Smoky Mountain Traders that is rolling on 18s and 20s that it came with that gave me the first taste of big wheels, plus a couple mustangs that I like too. In the car world it seems like some people just get too into only liking one thing, one way, to appreciate all different cool stuff that is going on out there. They probably order the exact same meal at the exact same restaurant whenever they go out to eat but that is their choice to make.