I didnt intend it to go off track, simply an observation of the whole prototype car. Personally, I dont like the wheels anyway. Im a firm lover in 5 spoke style wheels like Ferrari and Corvettes for example. They would make a nice catch if real for a collector, especially with an early 84 model.
As mentioned above by Fierofool, that page is from Gary Witzenburg's book on the Fiero. They use those wheels throughout the entire production of the car so the photo by Dobey is correct.
Is a copy of that book available anywhere in PDF format?
Out of print does not mean out of copyright. And still available does not mean still in print. The books for sale on Amazon could just be NOS that some sellers have, for example.
But yes, the images from the book being scanned and posted here, would likely be considered a copyright violation,
the only notable difference besides the different number of points on the "snowflake" pattern, is that the ones on the prototype are almost completely flat unlike the trans am ones where there seems to be some dishing/recessing in. I forget what the word is for this... XD
[This message has been edited by AL87 (edited 03-07-2014).]
the only notable difference besides the different number of points on the "snowflake" pattern, is that the ones on the prototype are almost completely flat unlike the trans am ones where there seems to be some dishing/recessing in. I forget what the word is for this... XD
Ya, the Firebirds wheels are for a rwd car. FWD usually have a way different offset. Fiero, even though it is rwd, used fwd chassis components (Citation & Geo). The normal trait of a fwd wheel is its usually pretty flat between the lip and hub, where rwd is several inches deeper in the hub. Some cars, like Ferrari and Lambo are designed with wider tracks so their wheels almost appear to be fwd ones.
the only notable difference besides the different number of points on the "snowflake" pattern, is that the ones on the prototype are almost completely flat unlike the trans am ones where there seems to be some dishing/recessing in. I forget what the word is for this... XD
The offset on the wheels on the Fiero is the same (or very close to) the offset of the front wheels for the Firebird. The rear wheels have a lower positive offset than the front wheels, and the deep dish on those wheels in the pic, is because they are the rear wheels. Look at the Smokey and the Bandit picture on the first page, and you'll see the wheels on that car look much closer to the ones on the Fiero.
Ya, the Firebirds wheels are for a rwd car. FWD usually have a way different offset. Fiero, even though it is rwd, used fwd chassis components (Citation & Geo). The normal trait of a fwd wheel is its usually pretty flat between the lip and hub, where rwd is several inches deeper in the hub. Some cars, like Ferrari and Lambo are designed with wider tracks so their wheels almost appear to be fwd ones.
Originally posted by jaskispyder: What would it take to dig them out? 1/2 hour? It would be time well spent. Oh well.
Depends on what his "storage" is like. I've seen countless storage units filled to the ceiling and all the way to the door, with no room to get inside, If he's got them in the back corner in such a configuration, it could take more than a half hour.
But nobody is going to be serious about buying, unless he digs them out and gets pics of the actual wheels.
Can the holes in the 15" snowflakes be welded up and drilled to for 5 X 100? Maybe by a wheel speciality shop somewhere. Lots of these Firebird wheels out there for sale.
Can the holes in the 15" snowflakes be welded up and drilled to for 5 X 100? Maybe by a wheel speciality shop somewhere. Lots of these Firebird wheels out there for sale.
There are companies that reproduce the snowflake wheels, with different offsets and such, for a more aggressive look. I'm sure for the right amount of money, you could get them to make a set in 5x100 with the Fiero offsets and sizes, as well. But it would be pretty expensive.
The larger ones made for the new aftermarket 2014 Trans-Am kit are pretty sexy:
Can the holes in the 15" snowflakes be welded up and drilled to for 5 X 100? Maybe by a wheel speciality shop somewhere. Lots of these Firebird wheels out there for sale.
There are 5 other undrilled spaces in the snowflake wheels. Making it a Uni-Lug or Dual Lug wheel might be possible. It would depend in part upon the wheel to hub mating surface.
With the seller's wheels being 13's, it's entirely possible that they were originally on some of the prototypes and someone got them and later ran them on a production car. The 84's did have 13's on the base models, so 13 inch prototype snowflake wheels wouldn't be toally unlikely. How many other GM cars had the 13 inch turbine wheels? I think it wasn't until 85 that the Grand Am was the first car other than Fiero that got the Tech wheels. If they're 5 x 100, they might be authentic unless someone can provide proof that some other car had those same wheels.
There is about a 100000000000000000000000000000000000000 to 1 chance these are from the prototype. There is about a 90-95% chance that they grabbed a set of production Phoenix wheels and painted them red for the prototype.
There is about a 100000000000000000000000000000000000000 to 1 chance these are from the prototype. There is about a 90-95% chance that they grabbed a set of production Phoenix wheels and painted them red for the prototype.
Fiero's have X-car FWD guts in the back, remember? X-car = Citation, Phoenix, Omega, and Skylark. All were 5x100.
There were magazine photos of Fieros with 14" X-11 wheels back in the day too. I recall a black '84 looking coupe with a 2.9 turbo and the X-11 wheels specifically, Google doesn't seem to be finding that right away though.
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Originally posted by jaskispyder:
From what I could find, yes.... This was the GM x-car platform I believe (citation, etc).
Fiero's have X-car FWD guts in the back, remember? X-car = Citation, Phoenix, Omega, and Skylark. All were 5x100.
There were magazine photos of Fieros with 14" X-11 wheels back in the day too. I recall a black '84 looking coupe with a 2.9 turbo and the X-11 wheels specifically, Google doesn't seem to be finding that right away though.
Keep reading though, apparently they werent all 5x100 their whole run. Thats what the clarification still needs to be made on.
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Originally posted by 2.5:
But have you seen anything that says the year the 13 was available in that style was 5x100?
Links I find say (the 14 inch rim was 5x100) and (the 13 inch was 5x 120.7) crossing over in years.
X-cars were all 5x100. 120.7 is 4.75", that's never been a FWD bolt pattern.
The bolt pattern websites I found must have it wrong and confused information with the pre 1980 rear wheel drive X cars of the same names. Weird though because they would not have had 13 inch wheels. The market for FWD X car stuff is so small that probably no one would run into the issue. This guy seems to just have wheels that were the alloy wheel available to a few cars in the early 80s.
Yup, all the x-cars I have seen were the same (early 80s).... basically... same drivetrain, including rims. Now, RWD cars could have varying setups, but x-cars were pretty standard.
Just noticed this thread. I'm surprised it took THIS long for this to come out, lol. This is the FIRST thought I had, as I have the Witzenberg book with the pics of those wheels on the prototype and long ago noticed the Phoenix wheels.
I'm with the crowd presuming these are just x-body Phoenix wheels. There'd be no reason the create "special" wheels for the prototype with all of the x-body options lying around, especially considering how "frugal" they were apparently being on the Fiero to begin with.
[This message has been edited by FieroFanatic13 (edited 03-12-2014).]
