Re: Will wheels from a '82 900 fit a Sonet, II , or III?n/m - Saab Sonett Bulletin Board - Saabnet.com
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Re: Will wheels from a '82 900 fit a Sonet, II , or III?n/m
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Posted by Jim Williams (more from Jim Williams) on Fri, 26 May 2000 13:00:03 Share Post by Email
In Reply to: Re: Will wheels from a '82 900 fit a Sonet, II , or III?n/m, Jim [Profile/Gallery] , Fri, 26 May 2000 11:39:05
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I've been looking into this, too -- believe me, the skinny 4.5" Sonett rims are VERY limiting when it comes to tire choice! What I've learned so far:

The main reason it's so hard to find wider wheels for a Sonett is the hubs, which use five bolts and have an unusually large bolt circle. Nobody I've talked to can cite ANY stock wheels that will fit, except 95/96 steel wheels and Sonett cast wheels -- all of which are 4" or 4.5". That leaves three approaches to getting wider wheels on the car:

1) Adapt 4-bolt GT850/Montecarlo 850 hubs, which allow a wider choice of wheels.

2) Have aftermarket cast wheels custom-drilled to fit the bolt pattern. I'm told that Panasport is one wheel manufacturer that will do this, but it's hugely expensive.

3) Start with 95/96 steel wheel centers and have wider rims welded onto them. This seems to be the most popular approach, as many wheel companies can do it and it's much less expensive than custom-drilling cast wheels.

Keep in mind for any wheel-widening project on a Sonett that you'll probably have problems with the tires contacting the body unless you move the wheel offset outward (to make more clearance inside) and cut or flare the wheel arches (ditto outside.) Although flared Sonetts such as Jack Lawrence's SCCA racer look very cool, this has flummoxed many of us who want to preserve the car's stock appearance. (I know a couple of guys who are working on widening a Sonett by cutting the fenders off along the TOP of the body, moving them outward, and then re-filling with fiberglass; this sounds as if it should result in a fairly stock-looking body with more wheel clearance, but at the cost of a HUGE amount of work!)

Because of the various complications, many people wind up deciding to just put the widest performance tires that will fit (consensus seems to be 185/65-15) on their STOCK Sonett wheels, and this is what I'm going to do too, eventually.




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