My '85 SCCA ITA race car has the 15" X 7" wire lace (or wire mesh?) type wheels. The rears have about a 1 1/4" rim showing (from the face of the wheel) while the fronts have no rim showing. Are these a stock set-up? My brother's '88 has the 1 1/4" rim type. And I've been told that all the wire lace types are of the same offset. I want to find a set with the differing offsets for my rain tires. Any body know anything about this? Thanx.
The lace 15" wheels first appeared on the '86 GT's. They were 7" wide and had a 30 mm offset at all four corners. The roadside face of these wheels had the 1" lip you mentioned. The same wheels were stock for '87 GT's as well.
In '88 the rear wheels were once again the same as before, however the front wheels were 15" x 6" with a 37 mm offset. The roadside face of these wheels have no lip. The reason for the difference in the '88 front wheels was to accommodate the wider new suspension while maintaining the wheels at about the same location in the wheel well.
From your description, it sounds as though you have a set of '88 fronts on your '85 and your brother's '88 doesn't have the correct front wheels on his.