Weld Pro Star/Draglites on a daily driver

[Brett SS]

I'm playing around with the idea of getting a set of either Weld Pro Star or Draglites to use on my VYII SV8 which is my daily driver. Currently I'm running 19" VE SSV wheels and love them but for a change I always have loved that old school look that Weld wheels give you.

I'm thinking of running the 15x7's with a 5.5" backspace on the rear with either 235/60's or 225/60's and run 15x5's with a 3.5" backspace on the front with like 175/75's or similar to have a similar rolling diameter.

Here's a pic of the SV8 with the VE SSV wheels:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee219/brstuchbery27/IMG_1169.jpg

Here's a pic of my old VT SS with Weld Draglites:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee219/brstuchbery27/LS1_Nationals_6.jpg

Along with the different look to 99% of the late model Commodores out there it would also take about 70-80lbs out of the rotating weight of the car. Some people say that rotating weight is worth 6 times static weight so that would equal like 420-480lbs of static weight. This would help to make the car quicker on the street, help fuel economy due to less rolling resistance and lower the cost of replacement tyres etc.

There's a good thread on ls1gto.com which is below about the guys in the states running Weld wheels on their GTO's but most of them are running the wrong offset and having the wheels stick out slightly which I'm not after.

LS1GTO.com Forums - Weld Draglites (http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136857)

Anyway, what are people's thoughts?

[Oversteer]

I like them, they reallt suit the shape of the VT you had! I reckon they will definately make the car stand out as a tough drag car..as long as it has the exhaust note to match!

Go for it mate, something different is always nice and financial benefits too as you mentioned!

[LS1TOY]

I think they will look tough, but which ones? id go the prostars!
Jake,

[Brett SS]

I like them, they reallt suit the shape of the VT you had! I reckon they will definately make the car stand out as a tough drag car..as long as it has the exhaust note to match!

Go for it mate, something different is always nice and financial benefits too as you mentioned!

They did suit the VT really well, I'm thining that maybe the Pro Stars will suit the SV8 better than Draglites.

The SV8 has a 4500rpm hi-stall, 4.11 gears, twin 3" exhaust and runs 11.7@115mph at the track so I think it's got the sound and setup to match the tough wheels. :D


I think they will look tough, but which ones? id go the prostars!
Jake,

I'm thinking the same too, I've seen a couple of black SV8's running the Pro Stars at the track (in my mind is the 10 second NOS C&V SV8) and I like it.

Does anyone know what the legal minimum rim width would be on our cars? I'm sure you can run 1" narrower or wider which should make the 5" ones for the front alright.

[Oztrack Tuning]

Go the Draglites, i think they suit the car better than Prostars.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j45/oztrack/ripple.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j45/oztrack/cars/IMG_8059.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j45/oztrack/cars/wsidnitrochamps030508_0291.jpg

[Brett SS]

Go the Draglites, i think they suit the car better than Prostars.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j45/oztrack/ripple.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j45/oztrack/cars/IMG_8059.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j45/oztrack/cars/wsidnitrochamps030508_0291.jpg

Looks great Steve (makes my choice harder now ;)), what size rims and offsets are you running with the Draglites as they look similar to what I was running on the VT?

[Oztrack Tuning]

If you get weld wheels its best to get ET Fronts they are heaps lighter (the tyre) and make putting fronts on it the most worthwhile.

15 x 7 and 15 x 3.5 (1.75) my backs needed some serious rolling and grinding to fit the 9" slick. I think the backs are 15 x7" 4.75 - it might be better to get them with set in further. ??

[Brett SS]

If you get weld wheels its best to get ET Fronts they are heaps lighter (the tyre) and make putting fronts on it the most worthwhile.

15 x 7 and 15 x 3.5 (1.75) my backs needed some serious rolling and grinding to fit the 9" slick. I think the backs are 15 x7" 4.75 - it might be better to get them with set in further. ??

Thanks Steve, the ET Fronts wouldn't be street legal would they? I'm looking at getting the Weld wheels and tyres to run as a daily driver so they'd need to be.

I ran the 15x7's with a 5.5" backspace but I did need to roll the guards with a Hoosier 9" slick. With a 225 or 235 street tyre they should fit no problems.

[Hellbent]

This is what the vt looked like when i thought it was finished
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/ls1andsp2/dirtyolevt001.jpg

And this is how it was driven to the track and raced unchanged and driven home, and yes old school suited it well. :) it made many trips up and down the coast, on et streets and 165 hankooks. And drove suprisingly well even on 90/10's. :rofl:
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/ls1andsp2/hellbentvsleatherman.jpg

[Brett SS]

This is what the vt looked like when i thought it was finished
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/ls1andsp2/dirtyolevt001.jpg

And this is how it was driven to the track and raced unchanged and driven home, and yes old school suited it well. :) it made many trips up and down the coast, on et streets and 165 hankooks. And drove suprisingly well even on 90/10's. :rofl:
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/ls1andsp2/hellbentvsleatherman.jpg

Looks very similar to my VT. ;) What rims were you running on the front, I'm assuming either 15x3.5" or 15x4". For 100% street duties I'm thinking that running a 15x5" rim will give me that little bit extra contact patch and they also have a slightly better offset than the smaller rim so that the rim doesn't stick out as much.

[Hellbent]

Yeah they were 15x4 and you will get a bigger load tyre on a 15x5.
If your safety minded or intend on having passengers onboard would be piece of mind.

[Brett SS]

Yeah they were 15x4 and you will get a bigger load tyre on a 15x5.
If your safety minded or intend on having passengers onboard would be piece of mind.

I've got the baby seat in the back with my 13 month old little girl so yeah I'm thinking that a little extra contact patch is a good thing. :)

On the fuel economy side of things it seems that reducing the static weight of the car by 100lbs will increase economy by 1-2% so if I can remove 400lbs of static weight I could get around a 5% increase in economy.

[Dead Man]

Get used to checking your wheel nuts daily :lol:

[Brett SS]

Get used to checking your wheel nuts daily :lol:

Why is that? Do you think the wheel nuts don't stay done up as well as other wheels?

[caz375]

At a guess i'd say he means you'll need to keep a close eye on them...they'd be a target for the less desireables of the world ;)

[SOBSE]

I was thinking of some convo pros for mine or the weld pro star's.

[SS-355]

Brett, ive had prostars on my vy ute and they suit the shape well,very tuff old school look.Just curious too mate as to how your bro went with the headunit for his new ss wagon cheers Steve.

[T_Kiwi]

These ones dont look so busy i reckon

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o94/TurboKiwi_2006/14102007347.jpg

[monaro_mad]

Can someone tell me if the stud pattern is different for those rims?? I thaught the commodore stud pattern was ever so slightly smaller/larger than what you can get when you choose those type of rims shown.

[darcy]

Does anyone know what the legal minimum rim width would be on our cars? I'm sure you can run 1" narrower or wider which should make the 5" ones for the front alright.




The width of any replacement rim must not be:-

-less than the width of the narrowest rim specified by the vehicle manufacturer for that model or vehicle series.

Link to VSI (http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/CC48FC10-4D57-4F04-82E1-3BD72EF88340/0/VSI8.pdf)



Sounds like a no go by that Brett.

[markone2]

Works wonders for this car.....60ft 1.46 ...Driven the 120Ks to and from track..and stopped by not once .. but TWICE by RBT Rid Teams on my travels home....with no undue stress on wallet :beer:

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee4/markone2LRC/LiftOff.jpg

[Leatherman]

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/ls1andsp2/hellbentvsleatherman.jpg


Ahhh..... those were the days!!!! LOL..... but I think this picture clearly shows that sedans are more suited to the draglites and the utes seem to look better wearing the prostars.

Rgds,

Leatherman

[Brett SS]

Works wonders for this car.....60ft 1.46 ...Driven the 120Ks to and from track..and stopped by not once .. but TWICE by RBT Rid Teams on my travels home....with no undue stress on wallet :beer:

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee4/markone2LRC/LiftOff.jpg

Looks awesome Mark, I think my mind is made up as I've always been a fan of the Draglites. :D

What front tyres are you running and how are they on the 120km round trips?


Brett, ive had prostars on my vy ute and they suit the shape well,very tuff old school look.Just curious too mate as to how your bro went with the headunit for his new ss wagon cheers Steve.

The stereo is going really well finally after we had to work out the code ourselves to enable the rear speakers. :)

[markone2]

Looks awesome Mark, I think my mind is made up as I've always been a fan of the Draglites. :D

What front tyres are you running and how are they on the 120km round trips?

15x4 up front with Nankang 165x15R...VW Tyres :)..handling better than you'd expect with 235x60x15 DR's. on rear...110kph criuse home walk in the park.

Please note.....NOT so with 275 rear rubber..accident waiting to happen

[Brett SS]

15x4 up front with Nankang 165x15R...VW Tyres :)..handling better than you'd expect with 235x60x15 DR's. on rear...110kph criuse home walk in the park.

Please note.....NOT so with 275 rear rubber..accident waiting to happen

Thanks for that Mark, I'm thinking about getting 15x5's with a 3.5" backspace and running 175/75's so that they don't stick out as much as I've found the 3.5" and 4" wheels do due to the different offset. I'll also be running normal street tyres on the rear (not Drag Radials) so hopefully it should handle quite well.

[badnews]

i cant really offer any helpful advice. but i can say i cant wait to see how your car turns out. ive thought about this idea a few times and always wondered what it would look like. it will be good to see someone doing something different. i have a bit of an off topic question, does anyone know how backspace converts to offset or vice versa? because when you talk backspace i have no idea whats going on...

[Brett SS]

i cant really offer any helpful advice. but i can say i cant wait to see how your car turns out. ive thought about this idea a few times and always wondered what it would look like. it will be good to see someone doing something different. i have a bit of an off topic question, does anyone know how backspace converts to offset or vice versa? because when you talk backspace i have no idea whats going on...

Thanks for the comments, I can't wait to see how it turns out also. As for the backspace versus offset below is a good writeup I found:

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=1441&itemType=CATEGORY&iMainCat=688&iSubCat=1441

[Brett SS]

After some thinking I'm probably going to go with 15x7's both front and rear with the 5.5" backspace and 225/60's all round. This way the rim width passes Vicroads regulations and will also offer better handling and safety etc than front runners would for daily driving. I'll also be able to rotate the rims around the car to even out tyre wear etc.

How does eveyone think the 15x7's will look on the front? I think it will look just as good as having front runners as the amount of front space of the rim is the same and will give the same stance.

[ADAM 26]

i was thinking of doin the same thing to my vx. but might have to give up on that now that you stole my idea!!

only thing i would be worryed about is the att from the five 0 !!!

[Brett SS]

i was thinking of doin the same thing to my vx. but might have to give up on that now that you stole my idea!!

only thing i would be worryed about is the att from the five 0 !!!

hehe, got to be quick mate. ;)

The car doesn't get any attention at all from the Police at the moment so I wouldn't think that should change that much with the Weld's on it. If I was putting front runners on it I would be more worried as they would be narrower than what's legally allowed.

[markone2]

hehe, got to be quick mate. ;)

The car doesn't get any attention at all from the Police at the moment so I wouldn't think that should change that much with the Weld's on it. If I was putting front runners on it I would be more worried as they would be narrower than what's legally allowed.

:) ..........requires the effort of bending down to view tyre width on front.......not going to happen in my limited experince.

[Brett SS]

:) ..........requires the effort of bending down to view tyre width on front.......not going to happen in my limited experince.

I'm 99% sure that it would be alright also with 5" front rims, but I think just for that extra piece of mind and better handling I'll run the 15x7's all round. That way I cant get any grief from that 1 person who does decide to bend over... ;)

[wagnman]

It will look great I think mate.
Make sure you put some photos up and let us know how it goes as I'm sure that there are plenty if people that would be keen to know.

Cheers

[Brett SS]

It will look great I think mate.
Make sure you put some photos up and let us know how it goes as I'm sure that there are plenty if people that would be keen to know.

Cheers

Thanks mate, I'm looking forward to it too. Will definately get some pics up once it's done. :)

[wagnman]

After looking at the pics my money would be on the pro stars.

The other rims mentioned look horn too but I think the prostars look "taller" and meaner.

Each to their own though.

The dragway catalogue has so many tough looking rims you may just be starting a new(ish) trend on late model street driven commy's by fitting a set up for daily use.

[Brett SS]

After looking at the pics my money would be on the pro stars.

The other rims mentioned look horn too but I think the prostars look "taller" and meaner.

Each to their own though.

The dragway catalogue has so many tough looking rims you may just be starting a new(ish) trend on late model street driven commy's by fitting a set up for daily use.

It's a tough choice but from what I've seen the Draglites seem to suit the sedans better (plus they are my favourites) and the Pro Stars seem to suit the ute's better.

I've seen some of the Americans putting Weld rims on their GTO's and they look good but they are obsessed with running the wrong backspace and having the rims stick out from the guard. By running the 15x7's with the 5.5" backspace the rims should tuck under the guards with 225/60's which is what I'll need as the car is slightly lowered as well.

Here are a couple of examples from guys in the states running the Weld Draglites and Pro Stars on their GTO's.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee219/brstuchbery27/PICT0048.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee219/brstuchbery27/Picture106.jpg

I'm not a fan of the white BF Goodrich writing on the sidewalls but it gives you a bit of an idea anyway. Both cars aren't lowered as they are both running the wrong backspaces and the tyres are sticking out past the guards.

[wagnman]

Gday BrettSS.

After seeing those shots of the GTO's above I agree with you. The draglites look way better than the prostars on the GTO's and yeh probably on the sedans too.

Cheers

[ED]

Hey mate, wondering if you have had it all done as yet?? Very interested to see the results, as I am looking at flicking my 17 and 19 inch wheels to do the same. But, similar to you I want to keep within the confines of the law.. Wanted to go 7s on the front and 8s on the back, with 225 and hopefully 255 or even 265 tyres up back. Would love to see some photos if you have it finished.

[Brett SS]

Thought I would update this thread after finally getting around to fitting up a set of Draglites and getting a few pics of the car, as usual pictures don't really do it justice but it gives you an idea anyway.

The tyres are cheap and readily available sizes at the moment which are 205/65/15's on the front and 225/60/15's on the rear but when they wear out I'll fit up some 235/60/15's or 245/60/15's if they fit so it looks fatter.

I think overall it looks great and is definately getting plenty of looks.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee219/brstuchbery27/IMG_3553.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee219/brstuchbery27/IMG_3556.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee219/brstuchbery27/IMG_3558.jpg

[alto]

very nice Brett. Looks real tough.

You've given me a great idea for my vx exec which already wears 15" rims.

[1340LOCO]

how much room do you have between the tyre and outer lip and have they been rolled or not?

Looks great by the way.

[LS1TOY]

Looks good, been thinking of doin this to the ute, cheap tyres too.:goodjob:
Jake,

[VendeTTR]

Im also looking at these rims on my daily VY. i have no idea about backspacing, does anyone know what backspacing ill need to fit 15x6 fronts and 15x8 rears?

Also, how much am i looking at getting slugged per rim and where do i get them from?

Cheers.

[bigdogdazza]

Rocket in nsw will help with the supply side but no idea on the offset needed they might be able to help you but.

[dyso]

I like it looks tuff as !!!!

[Tecca]

You are right Brett, the pics don't do it justice. It looks bloody horn in the flesh, Gives the car a muscle look :)