89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade - Second Generation Forum

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89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Sunday, November 23, 2014 8:20 AM
Apologies if this belongs in the Wheel/tire forum.

I have an '89 base coupe cavalier, with 13" wheels. I am thinking of upgrading to 14" (14 x 6?) GM OEM wheels. Does anyone have the info handy as to what cars would fit (bolt pattern, wheel width, offset, etc.) the '89 cavalier? Thanks.

Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Sunday, November 23, 2014 10:45 AM
baron5867 wrote:I have an '89 base coupe cavalier, with 13" wheels. I am thinking of upgrading to 14" (14 x 6?) GM OEM wheels. Does anyone have the info handy as to what cars would fit (bolt pattern, wheel width, offset, etc.) the '89 cavalier? Thanks.

Looking into this further... apparently I have 13" x 5.5" wheels with a 5x100mm bolt pattern and a 57.1mm hub, and I am looking to upgrade to 14" x 6" wheels with the same bolt pattern and hub. I don't have offset figures. The current 185/80/13 tires would be upgraded to 195/70/14 tires, meaning total mounted tire height would be virtually unchanged, while I guess the upgraded tires would be 10mm wider. I am guessing that I should not worry about offset differences if I stay with GM OEM wheels.
Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Sunday, November 23, 2014 2:15 PM
The 88-90 RS uses 14"wheels that take 195 70r14 tires.
Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Sunday, November 23, 2014 2:51 PM
85 and up Sunbirds came with 14" as an option ,1990 and up the standard size was 14.

Doug in P.R.


92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!




Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Sunday, November 23, 2014 3:00 PM
baron5867 wrote:Looking into this further... apparently I have 13" x 5.5" wheels with a 5x100mm bolt pattern and a 57.1mm hub, and I am looking to upgrade to 14" x 6" wheels with the same bolt pattern and hub. I don't have offset figures.

BTW, the 5x100mm bolt pattern has bolt holes to accommodate 12 x 1.5mm studs. As far as I can tell, the current 13" x 5.5" wheels and the desired 14" x 6" wheels are simply listed as having a "high (positive) offset". It seems that this usually means a 35 - 45 mm offset. One source lists a Z24 as a 42mm offset. I think I have enough information, I will see what I find and hopefully update.
Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Sunday, November 23, 2014 7:29 PM
I don't know if this helps but any rim from any J-body 1982-2005 will fit. This includes Cavalier, Sunbird, Sunfire, Firenza, Skyhawk, and Cimmaron. Any rim, any size, any model, any year. I'm running 1999 Z24 rims on my '90 base model coupe. Also many Subaru rims will fit. I was running '07 Legacy 17" rims on my cavi.
Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Monday, November 24, 2014 6:23 PM
Suspension FAQ at V6z24.com.



Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Tuesday, June 23, 2015 6:14 PM
FrankD wrote:The 88-90 RS uses 14"wheels that take 195 70r14 tires.


Can anyone recognize the following 1990 14" steel Cavalier wheel, and verify the size tire it takes:

Similarly, can anyone verify that this wheel is NOT a Z24 wheel (which takes a 215/60R14 tire)
Attachments
Cavalier WHeel.jpg (12k)

Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Wednesday, June 24, 2015 3:43 AM
It's the wheel used on the RS
Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Thursday, June 25, 2015 7:24 AM
195/70-14 is the tire size for the Steel RS rims.








Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Monday, June 29, 2015 11:39 AM
FrankD wrote:It's the wheel used on the RS

Spike J wrote:195/70-14 is the tire size for the Steel RS rims.

Belated thanks, guys, for verifying this (which is what I thought).

Believe it or not, Tire Rack was not showing the 195/70/14 tire as applicable to these late 80's cars. They were only showing the 185/80/13 (which haven't been available for some time) for the 13" wheels, and the 215/60/14 tire for a Z24 wheel. Other sites did not list the 215/60/14 as an option, so I was unsure of things. I wanted to make sure that the wheel I pictured here wasn't something that needed a 215/60/14, which are pricey and seem to be almost obsolete themselves.

Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Monday, June 29, 2015 5:41 PM
I have 205/70/14's on my stock steel wheels, rubs only at the top of the plastic inner fener on hard bumps with shot struts.

Doug in P.R.
Attachments
DSCN2030.JPG (77k)


92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!




Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Monday, June 29, 2015 8:02 PM
92Sunbird PuertoRico wrote:I have 205/70/14's on my stock steel wheels, rubs only at the top of the plastic inner fener on hard bumps with shot struts.

If I get the RS wheels, there is no reason not to get the right tires (195/70/14) for them. They are still widely available and cheap.
Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Tuesday, June 30, 2015 1:16 PM
Just letting you know the tallest tire size that fits ..thats all, , anything taller will need a suspension lift ............

Doug in P.R.


92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!




Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Friday, July 03, 2015 3:56 PM
92Sunbird PuertoRico wrote:Just letting you know the tallest tire size that fits ..thats all, , anything taller will need a suspension lift ............

Thanks. Not looking to modify the car. At this point, just looking to get decent -looking wheels that will allow me to get new(ish) tires on the car.
Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Monday, July 27, 2015 11:07 AM
FrankD wrote:It's the wheel used on the RS

OK, I found a set of these wheels in a JY a couple of weeks ago and picked them up. These had varying degrees of rust on them. I cleaned them up, but one in particular has rust on the inside lip of the wheel (see pics). It is mostly on the "vertical" part of the lip, not on the horizontal portion, if that makes sense. I am not sure where, exactly, the tire bead seals to the wheel.. Questions:

1) Will the tire seal (and stay sealed) if left unpainted?

2) If I paint the inside lip area with Rustoleum enamel, will THAT cause a problem with the tire seal? Or will it not matter because the tire mounting equipment will remove the paint?

Thanks!
Attachments
Wheel1.jpg (152k)
Wheel2.jpg (232k)

Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Monday, July 27, 2015 11:13 AM
It seals on the horizontal surface. It is best to paint it, otherwise the rust will come back and spread and cause sealing problems.
Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Monday, July 27, 2015 12:38 PM
FrankD wrote:It seals on the horizontal surface. It is best to paint it, otherwise the rust will come back and spread and cause sealing problems.

If it seals on the horizontal surface, then the rust is not the issue, as the rust is on the vertical lip. The question then becomes, if I paint that rusty lip (which I want to do) and end up getting paint on the horizontal sealing surface, is that going to cause any problems?

Yes, I understand that they sell many wheels that are completely painted and the tires mount just fine, but that might be different than someone just brushing enamel onto an unpainted OEM wheel. There might be no issue at all here, but I figured I would ask.


Thanks!
Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Tuesday, July 28, 2015 11:21 AM
FrankD wrote:It seals on the horizontal surface. It is best to paint it, otherwise the rust will come back and spread and cause sealing problems.


X's 2 ................... just spray it with primer and paint, you dont want to keep putting air in the tires every week . Sooner or later it will get too bad to seal ( seen that when I worked in a gas station in NY in the 70's)
They become badly pitted after a while in that condition................then its real hard to fix.

Doug in P.R.


92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!




Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Tuesday, July 28, 2015 4:12 PM
92Sunbird PuertoRico wrote: X's 2 ................... just spray it with primer and paint, Doug in P.R.

The enamel will just be brushed on. I had a little concern that the enamel might be too smooth, and maybe the tire might not seal. Whatever, I am probably just over thinking this, I just wanted to know if anyone knew of an obvious problem with painting the sealing surfaces. I am just going to paint it and let the installer deal with any problems.
Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Tuesday, July 28, 2015 4:55 PM
Use etching primer on the cleaned up bare metal, then paint it any way you want......it will seal ( I've done it both ways)

We used to use brake fluid on the badly rusted rims ... never did repaint them.. worked okay for a pinch. ( not a forever solution though)

With new paint ...............you will be fine.

Doug in P.R.


92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!





Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Tuesday, July 28, 2015 6:25 PM
baron5867 wrote:OK, I found a set of these wheels in a JY a couple of weeks ago and picked them up. !

Front side of wheels, after cleaning them off. Two of the wheels were noticeably rustier than the other two. The wheel in the top left of the picture looked like the wheel in the top right, but I had already started to wire-brushing it and removing the rust.

(Side question: Are the two center caps desirable or worth anything? They are intact but worn and knicked up. I am not going to use them, but I don't want to chuck them if they are wanted....)
Attachments
Wheels1.jpg (647k)

Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Tuesday, July 28, 2015 6:29 PM
baron5867 wrote:OK, I found a set of these wheels in a JY a couple of weeks ago and picked them up. !

Blurry picture of the insides of the wheels. Again the top two were pretty rusty; the bottom two were much better.
Attachments
Wheels2.jpg (129k)

Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Tuesday, July 28, 2015 6:34 PM
baron5867 wrote:OK, I found a set of these wheels in a JY a couple of weeks ago and picked them up. !

Picture of the insides of the wheels after wire-brushing and cleanup, ready for paint.
Attachments
Wheels3.jpg (225k)

Re: 89 Cavalier Wheel Upgrade
Wednesday, July 29, 2015 11:41 AM
baron5867 wrote:
baron5867 wrote:OK, (Side question: Are the two center caps desirable or worth anything? They are intact but worn and knicked up. I am not going to use them, but I don't want to chuck them if they are wanted....)


If you found new ones on EBay then save them as spares ( center caps are allways worth something later down the road)

Doug in P.R.


92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!




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