What good is a 3-wheeled fiero? (Page 1/1)
IrnDuke JUL 22, 04:02 PM
I just picked up a 1984 sport coupe notch back barn find to refresh just for the fun of it—and I am learning so much from the forums. I will be working on the restore/refresh with my 15 year old daughter and it will be hers to drive once we are done. It should be a fun project.

One of the idiosyncrasies of this find was it only had 3 wheels! 😅The 4th was the spare and the original owner had "no idea" where the original wheel was. The other 3 tires are shot anyhow (although the rims look good).

So I find myself at a crossroads and would love some advice and feedback from the group. As far as I see it, my options are:

1. Find another OEM rim and try to source some decent 13" tires. Its the later I am worried about. As most of you know, there is precious little out there except trailer tires in 13". What do people do who have the stock rims?

2. Since I am not 100% a purist, but would love to at least stay somewhat true to form, I could try to find new rims that will also allow more freedom in contemporary tire sizes. The problem here is I am completely confused by the options. I am pretty sure this model has the 5x100 with an offset of 42. What range of offsets am I good to go with on this model? I see a lot of 5x100 15 and 16 inch rims with an offset of 40. Should that be ok? Other than making sure the new tire isn't too wide (I'd like something that doesn't stick out much if at all - not into the wide hips look, sorry) is there anything else I should be watching out for?

I know I don't want to get a wheel adapter—I don't trust those, and I'm not keen on swapping the hubs at this point. I'd like to keep the originals if I can to save a bit of money where I can. Are there any other options I am missing?

Sorry for all the newbie questions! But you guys have been a fount of knowledge and help so far!!!! Cheers.

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Stupidly fearless. 1984 Fiero Sport Coupe #242064

Gall757 JUL 22, 05:11 PM
Welcome to the Forum!

As the 13" tires are gone, only show cars should have them at this point. You should be able to find the 14" 'HI-tech turbo' wheels that were also available. Many Fiero owners keep spare parts, so you should be able to ask in the MALL and find 4 of them in nice shape. There were also 14" steel wheels available with plastic wheel covers (sample below), but they are more rare than the aluminum wheels due to breakage.

[This message has been edited by Gall757 (edited 07-22-2020).]

theogre JUL 22, 06:22 PM
get 14" or 15" rims w/ proper size tires like listed for 85 - 87 Fiero.
Example Common sizes...
14x6" w/ 195/70-14
15x6.5 w/ 205/60-15

Why?
You'd find you have more choices of tires.

13" wheels wasn't very common even in 70's to early 80's and had little choice "back in the old days."

Likely need new lug nuts to fit none OE rims.
GM nuts w/ plastic nut covers won't fit most aftermarket rims.

I would worry about other things before buying rims and tires. Likely have brake and other problems that get eat money fast.
Go see my cave for related issues.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 07-22-2020).]

Dennis LaGrua JUL 22, 08:50 PM
Aftermarket wheels and tires really make the Fiero look nice.
I would recommend that you go with 16" wheels w 35mm backspace 7-7.5" wide 100mm bolt pattern. I would avoid using Chinese made tires but here is what I used for my latest project.
205 x 50R 16 Rear
225 x 50R 16 Rear
The 14" and 15" tires that Fieros used are getting harder to find and 16" tires look good. Actually 17" tires look even better to my eyes but they ride harder.
If you wish to stay stock, I would say the chances of finding 13" Fiero wheels is tough. The 14" and 15" wheels can be found but again most might be well worn.

Question for the experts: Do the 13" Fiero wheels have the same 100mm bolt pattern as the later 14" and 15" wheels?

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cvxjet JUL 23, 01:00 AM
I am running 16 x 7 wheels with 205/55 and 225/55 tires; These were very popular sizes back in the 90s on a number of cars so there is a large selection of these two sizes. I run General Gmax All season tires- they are rated very highly, are relatively inexpensive and also are lighter than most other tires in these sizes (Improves performance and ride)
Blue Rocket JUL 23, 01:11 AM
I have some 13 rims, bought the 14 inch rims because I could not find 13 tires. I also love the look of the 14 rims. I'm finding out 14 inch have the same if not worse tire selection. I would give you a 13 inch rim, but the shipping would suck. Like the ogre said look into the brakes first they are also getting hard find. The rear calipers need to have the ebrake working or they wont adjust. I just replaced all of my brakes from the rubber hose down. I swapped my brakes out for the grand am/ Seville swap so if you need calipers I have used ones, not sure if the ebrake works or not but they did stop the car.