I am trying to figure out whatmy 73'sbolt pattern is. I want to say its 5 x 4.75"? Is that right? But 5 x 4.5 keeps popping up in my head. Anybody have an idea?

 

It's 4.75. If ever in doubt, the easiest way to measure is by putting a ruler on theCENTER of the first wheel stud,SKIP the second one and take the measure at theOUTER EDGE of the third. When shopping for wheels, take along a tape measure, and use the 5 bucks you would have spent on a cheap bolt pattern tool to buy yourself lunch.

 

Thanks for the help. I appreciate itmuch.

Now my next question is about backspacing. I am thinking about running 17x8 with 5" backspacingin the frontand 17x9.5 in the rear with 5.5" Does that seem correctI tought it would be fine butsomeone told me that 4" of bs would be enough?

If you can help me with this Camaro 69 you can take that 5 bucks you saved me and buy yourself a beer.

 

5 inches of b.s. is a lot for the front.Ithink that much is going to cause some clearance issues between the tires,suspension, frame, and inner fenders.And, it will be a close call for the back too.While you have your tape measure out, do some comparison measuring with what you have on now. I have 10" wide in the back of mine. They have about 2.75" b.s., and I have enough room between the tires and leaf springs to fit between 4"-4.5" of b.s. I want to change the rears to ones withmore b.s. to tuck the tires in.
Measure the b.s. of your existing wheels, then measure how much clearance you have between the leaf springs and inner fender in back, and everything in front when you turn them full lock left and right. Then you have to compensate for the difference in width between the old and new ones. Let's say you have 7" wide in the back with 4" b.s., and you have 2" of clearance between the tire and leaf spring. Now compare to a 9.5" with the same 4" of b.s. A 9.5"wheel is 2.5" wider, so you'll gain 1.25" of width on both the outer and inner lips. That just closed your leaf spring clearance down to .75". You also have to take the section width (widest point on sidewall) of thenew tires into account. Thetires will most likely gain in width at a different rate than the wheels.
Those numbers are just a guideline, plug your own in to figure it out. Oh look....it's beer time!!

 

Awesome, I got it all figured out and should be getting the wheels on wednesday. I'll have to post up some picks after I put them on. Thanks for the help,now where did my beer walk off to...