Well, I finally scored a clean 96 Roadmaster sedan.The plan is to use it for a comfy road trip cruiser that won't beat me to death like my old third gen trans am did.
I want to keep the car stock except for wheels, lowering it an inch or so to get the stance right, and enjoy driving something that's actually comfortable for a change.
I like pro touring looking cars, and want to emulate the look of Dax Shepherd's wagon.
So my question is, for you guys who've swapped wheels on these, how wide a wheel can you fit, and what is the best backspacing? Id like to use at least 17x9 or 18x9. If I can fit wider that'd be great too.
Impala ss wheels appear to be 17x8.5 with 5 inch backspacing, so I know at least that much fits. But if I could go 9 or 9.5 inch wide I wouldn't be opposed either.
Anyone done this before? Any suggestions? 
Factory is zero offset on most. Impala SS wheels are something like +5mm, so darn close to zero.
My memory is a little hazy since I sold my SS 4 years ago, but for a while I had 20x10 on the back and 20x9 on the front. 20s were too much IMO. You get such little sidewall that it's a handling nightmare and you'll find that the transition from grip to slip is more like a light switch. In the end I settled on 18s. General consensus among the B-body crowd for the sweet spot is 18 or 19.
As far as width, 315mm will kinda fit on the non-skirted quarters. Never tried that on a skirted quarter. 285mm at all four corners with zero offset is a slam dunk with no rubbing
Good info, I appreciate that.
I want either 17 or 18 inch. I want the widest wheel/tire combo I can fit. Tire selection will determine which I suppose.
I found this pic of one on impala wheels that has the stance I'm after.
Is there a spring that will drop the car 1.5 inches or so while keeping the soft spring rate?
No spring that I know of specifically. The off-shelf aftermarket stuff was all aimed at performance, so they're going to be stiffer. As far as I ever knew, there were 4 OEM springs used in those years of B-body. The Cadillac, the Buick/Olds/Caprice, the 9C1, and the SS. They go from tallest/softest to shortest/stiffest. I'm sure you could measure your springs and call Afco and order some to your spec... like maybe the same free height, but with 2 more winds. That should let it droop a bit. The nice thing is that the springs are right over the axle, so if you have springs that are 2" shorter with the same pound/inch rating, you should get about a 2" drop.
In all honesty, though, the stock SS springs were still pretty squishy if you ask me. I went with Intrax on my SS which took it down another 2" from the SS height. I think even though the SS was targeted as a sporty offering, it was meant to be sporty for 65 year old fat, cigar-smokers who couldn't afford a corvette, not 20-something autocrossers. They weren't exactly what you would call a performance spring. SS springs should get you 1.5" drop or close to it.
I would imagine, though that if you took some Caddy or regular Caprice springs and hacked off one coil, you might get your lowering and it may still be softer than SS. Also look into box-body Caprice springs. I found them to be pretty darn squishy... at least the car felt squishy.
You'll find that with some exceptions, all B, C and D- body cars are relatively parts-bin back through 71 for Chevy and 65 for BOPC. There are something like 3 different ball joints used across the whole four decades. My 1966 Bonneville currently has my stock 96 SS springs in the front. They were a little low in that application, so I swapped for 9C1 springs.
TL;DR... I wouldn't hesitate to throw some SS springs in it and call it good. I don't think you'll notice much ride difference.
That is great info. I was wondering how much stiffer the SS springs were.
I wouldn't mind tightening up the handling a little, but keeping the soft ride is a priority.
There aren't a ton of them around, but maybe you could find an SS on FBM to "test drive" the springs.
