Obviously, when it comes to putting together a project car, wheel selection is extremely important. Just like putting together that perfect outfit for a special occasion (not like the baby blue tux with white cummerbund you wore to prom), people are inevitably going to give your get-up the once over, and, invariably, they're gonna wind up staring at your feet. That's the way it goes. And, even more so with a car, people are going to see those shoes— immediately, if not sooner. Therefore, there's no biscuits allowed.
With the Camaro SS we knew we wanted to create something completely unique and totally different than the Camaro builds we’d seen in the past. Knowing we were going to be working with a convertible SS, we decided to take an aggressive, road-race style approach; something to address anyone who might question just how purposeful a convertible can be.
At last year’s SEMA show, one of the Mobil 1 booth cars was a wicked Porsche 965 Turbo owned by Hoonigan brand manager, Brian Scotto. Done up in Rauh Welt Begriff’s meanest bodywork, Scotto’s 911 was also wearing a killer set of 3-piece wheels built by SoCal wheel manufacturer, fifteen52. A classic 5-spoke design, their Tarmac wheel was exactly the look we wanted for the Mobil Camaro SS.
We contacted Matt and Brad from fifteen52, told them what we wanted to do, and without blinking they told us they were down to help and could already envision how the car should sit. Their words were music to our ears, and right away we knew we were in good hands. The thing about fifteen52 is that though they technically are a wheel manufacturer, as a business they’re also a lot more. Over the years they’ve either built or helped build countless influential project cars.
The 3-piece Tarmac wheels on ReFuel Motor Culture Mobil 1 Project Camaro are completely custom (as we hear it, they can build custom wheels for a Corvette too – just sayin'), measure 20x9.5 and 20x11.0 front and rear, and they are 100% made in SoCal using the highest quality forged aluminum centers, lips and barrels.
Speaking of lips, fifteen52 doesn't go for any of that trendy “flat lip” stuff – they use only the same classic flange profile that’s been around since the ‘60s. fifteen52 recommended a tinted brushed finish for both the center and outer wheel sections, and the results confirm that clearly they knew what they were talking about.
You might notice that though the Tarmac wheels are much wider than stock, they remain the same 20” diameter as the OE wheels. The reason for this decision is that, as we alluded to earlier, we’re going for a classic road-race vibe and simply put, classic road-racers don’t use 22” wheels and low-pro rubber-band tires (chubby tires make us happy). Of course there’s more to getting a car to sit properly on a set of wheels, and for width and offset specs fifteen52 did their homework. With factory brake and suspension specs in hand, working with their engineer they chose the specs necessary to stuff the biggest wheel/tire combos under the stock arches.
That brings us to where the "rubber meets the road." And, when it came to tires, we knew we had to get it just right. Being that fifteen52 created totally custom wheels for the Camaro, it was necessary to seek out tires that would work for our unique width and height requirements. In doing our research, we found that NITTO was able to accommodate our one-off wheel specs. We linked up with Harry Kong from NITTO, and when we showed him the wheels and let him know what we were going for, not only from a "look and feel" standpoint, but also from the performance angle, he recommended the NITTO Invo® tire.
He explained that the Invo® is a street tire that mixes high performance with the ultimate in ride comfort and quality. And that this state-of-the-art tire not only reduces road noise, but also delivers great all-around traction in both wet and dry conditions. On the front we ended up running 245/45/20s and for the rear we went with 295/35/20s.
Overall, we couldn't be happier with the look, functionality and stance of the custom-built, 3-piece Tarmacs from Matt and Brad at fifteen52 paired to the NITTO Invo® tires. Our suspicions that we'd done the right thing were certainly confirmed when the crew at Lashway Motorsports rolled this monster out of its cage for the first time. Jaws dropped in unison and the "ooohs and ahhhs" went on for quite a while. And for that we say, thanks to Matt and Brad from fifteen52 Wheels, Harry from NITTO Tires and Josh and Erik from Lashway Motorsports!
Check out a vast array of exclusive images below, then chirp on over to the Camaro Forum to discuss the ReFuel Motor Culture Mobil 1 Project Camaro's wheels and tires, and let us know what you think!
For more information on Mobil 1 Racing Products, fifteen52, Lashway Motorsports and NITTO Tires, please visit: fifteen52, Lashway Motorsports, NITTO Tire
