Wheels & Tires
wokka
This was really my first aesthetic mod (ok, the shift knob was probably the first), but this was the first major one. I never cared for the look of the stock rims on SS, not even the fancier SLR rims, and the tires were too narrow for my liking. Traction of course, but also the looks of wider tires have always appealed to me.
This is what I went for on my look :
The tires are Nitto NT555 G2 from Discount Tire, they had the best pricing and with free rotations and flat fixes. I went with 315/35 R17 all the way around, so I can rotate them and I just prefer the look. I went with 17's because I have some cushion and they will flex. Plus, the tires were cheaper than going with a similar sized 18, however, the wheels were a bit more expensive. The wheels are Race Star 17x10.5" Drag Star in metallic gray. Picked them up off of ebay for about $15 off per wheel vs any other place online. Discount didn't have that brand on their website, but turns out, they could have ordered them for me, and beaten the price, live and learn.
One thing to note, these wheels do not take standard lug nuts, the ones I had put on my SS a few weeks ago do not work. In talking with Race Star (excellent customer service), they recommended Gorilla Automotive 84127 lug nuts. The B on the part number is bulk and comes with the washers, but of course, the packaging doesn't mention which washer and it had the off-centered ones, while these wheels need centered ones.
Pretty deep shank is needed, and I used a standard 13/16 socket. I normally use an impact socket on a torque wrench, but it was a tight fit and didn't want to scar the wheels.
Of note, the washers are marked for wheel side, and are slightly concave. These wheels have a 78.1mm hub and our SS has a 66.1mm hub, so an adapter is needed to keep the wheels centered properly.
Lastly, I finally installed the TPMS sensors and info about the TPMS I picked up a while back, still don't have the display unit mounted anywhere, but for now, it's staying stored in the glove box and I can pull out for rides.