I am just wondering if anybody else has input -
I have a 2000 Seville SLS, black/ black with black canvas top, 15% tinted windows and tinted tail lights, and it looks gooood, but I can't help but feel the rims need to be changed to something a little more... dark.

The car has 100,500 mi on it, everything is original, no problems. The biggest thing on my mind right now is when the struts are finally going to go, but I'd rather not think about it.

My real question is, how practical would it be for a college-bound 17 year old to spend $1,500 approx on aftermarket rims for a fairly old car?

I plan on keeping the car until it dies, which I kind of think will be in a long time. This baby is solid, no issues EVER, original everything, coolants been changed, doesn't leak a single drip of oil.

I understand how to select rims with respect to offsets and all that jazz, but would 18" rims be a bad choice? I'm not concerned about the .5mpg I will lose due to weight. Shit, I'll lose enough during football season to make the difference negligible. But will this setup even look decent on the car?

I have NO interest in playing with the springs / suspension, as I believe that is just opening up a big ass can of worms. I don't want to completely "fill-in" the tire-wheel well gap, but I don't want the extra two inches of rim size to just make the car sit higher up in there air and keep the same size gap. Mentally, that looks very silly and I am not one to spend $1,500 on silly.

What do you guys think?

manufacturer / website / tire recommendations also accepted :bigroll:

sorry for the rambling, I am just scared of throwing this much money into something I'm unsure about.

Tyler

You're not going to lose any mileage or incur any weight change.

Go to a set of Cadillac 18's in the 5 bolt 115mm bolt pattern and install 235/50/18 tires or similar which have the same outside diameter as the OEM tires on your car. Look at TireRack and compare specs for your original tire and then find one close in original outside diameter and section width in order not to put so much tire in the well that it rubs on turns.

If the wheel gets a bit bigger, you gain a pound or so of metal, but the tire gets smaller (inside diameter) so the weight change equals out, or is so small as to be inconsequential.

BUT, 4 good (not Taiwan specials) rims and new tires is more than $1500, probably closer to $2300. There's a pic of a STS with 2005 CTS 12 spoke 18's a while back, either in this forum or up in Seville.

Unless you go to weird sized tires, which screw up speedo and computer functions and rub in the wheel wells, your car will sit no higher with 18's than 16's. Think about it.

Go to www.wheelcollision.com and drill down to the STS and CTS wheel lists. Click on the pic for the CTS 12-spoke. Nice wheel.
Search www.tirerack.com for tires, performance, all-season, size, and groom your search several times.

My whole reason for the possible upgrade is that I want to go for the "blacked-out" look. The newer Cadillac rims would look better, but it's not what I'm going for. These rims will most likely be used 6-8 months out of the year, and then in winter I'll use my stock 16" chrome SLS wheels.

You might think I'm crazy, but call wheelcollision and ask about the possibility of them doing a rebuild on a set of 12 spokes and powdercoating them black with clearcoat over. They do stuff like that, and you would be the only person on earth with that setup.

They also sell and mount tires, Hunter Road Force balanced.

Neat, the way I spend your money.........

Alright, I will take that option into consideration.

It's hard to decide these things when you're dealing with this much money... at least to me.

Thanks for your help

You're in my position. I think I just might screw the whole thing because if you can't make up your mind, the answer is "leave it alone." Here's what I say to my wondering mind right now:


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Do you have the chrome stock riims now... and if so are you looking to sell........


I have a 92 Seville that looks show room new but it has the crappy alloy rims and I am looking for the STS chrome 5 stars if anyone has any info i would apreaceate it.


Tim

I don't have the chrome "sts" spokey rims, I have chrome SLS rims
but sorry, if I do decide on aftermarkets I will definitley be keeping my stocks for the winters here.

try eBay or as suggested above:
www.wheelcollision.com and then just browse for the type you want