Found a good deal on some wheels last night and couldn't pass it up. Here's the deal; I own a new 2003 Pontiac VIBE. Called my local Belle tire to see if they had any winter tire&wheel packages availible. The gguy on the phone tells me that a local Pontiac dealer brought in three VIBE's for aftermarket wheels and tires and that they had three entire sets of alloy wheels with tires. After some thought I decided to buy the wheels&tires because the tires that they had mounted on those wheels would be better for winter driving (Continental touring vs. Eagle GS-A's).

I get to the store and look at the wheels and see that they are 16x6.5 (38) w/5x100 bolt pattern pattern. I think to myself, "these would probably work on my 88' Fiero GT". The only catch is that the wheels use a lug nut similar to Crager wheels where the lug to wheel interface is flat (not conical) and they use a "pilot" feature on the lugs that fits into the mounting holes and I'm not sure the threading and thread pitch is the same as the Fiero's. I'm planning on attempting to mount the wheels tonight to verify that they will clear the suspension components and calipers, and that the lug nuts will work. I'll pass along the results here.

My plan is to wear out the tires currently on the VIBE then mount the new wheels and tires onto the VIBE. Then (provided they fit) take the wheels from the VIBE, mount some nice tires (215/50/16 & 225/50/16?) on them and then install the wheels onto the Fiero.

Anyone see any imediate problems with the wheel sizes or tire sizes? I realize that the offset is different from the stock Fiero wheels (Fiero= 37mm front/41mm rear vs. 38mm front&rear w/new wheels) but don't think the difference is very much and should look ok. Wish me luck!

Remember that the Vibe is really a Toyota.
All of the other Toyota wheels that are 5x100 (Celica GT for example) still require that the center hole be bored out just a bit in order to fit the Pontiac hubs.
Not saying that's absolutely going to be the case, just don't be surprised.

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Raydar

I'm not the pheasant plucker.
I'm the pheasant plucker's son.
But I'll pluck pheasants
'Til the pheasant plucker comes.

I had thought about that after posting above. I had a Saturn SC2 that I put some aftermarket wheels on and it had a plastic reducer-ring that went into the rim to fit the Saturn hub. Guess I never thought about the situation being reversed where the hole in the rim was too small. If center bore is too small for the Fiero hubs then maybe I'll just use the VIBE rims as a second set of wheels for the VIBE and put on some high performance summer tires. BTW how or who would be able to bore out the hole if I did decide to pursue putting them on the Fiero? Machine shop? Wheel dealer? I fear that since the diameter and concentricity tolerances of the hole is critical for proper installation that the job should be done by a professional. Any suggestions?

Damn! The VIBE wheels didn't fit. The center hole is too small for the Fiero hub. Everything else looked pretty good. The lugs fit, hole pattern is same, and it looks like they would work if I could get the center hole bored out to 57.1mm dia. The hole is currently about 53mm dia. So, is there any wheel specialists that could bore out the center hole and provide a spacer-ring so that I could put the wheels back onto the VIBE if I decided to? Suggestions please! The wheels looked REALLY GOOD on the Fiero GT (just hanging from the wheel lugs). I would like to make this work if I can.

I had mine done by a local "Machine shop". Basically a guy with a big garage that does welding work and such.. Check around in the area, you should be able to find someone.. Cost me $15 per wheel.. Take a look at my sig, my wheels are Celica GTS's... Fit perfectly and look awesome.

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Bob Williams
Multi-colored '87 GT, a work in progress!

Well, it took a few weeks but I finally got the VIBE wheels machined at a local machine shop (bored out the center hole) and put them on the car. They look pretty darn good on there!
After measuring the new wheels and comparing them to the original I have determined that the outside face of the front wheel has moved outward 5/16" and the rear has moved inboard 1/2". The tires on both the front and rear are currently 205/55/16 and this makes the rear look too tucked-in compared to the front and also makes the back-end look too squatty.
I'm going to buy some wider tires for the back tomorrow but I'm having a hard time figuring out the right size. The original tires (205/60/15 & 215/60/15) resulted in the front tire being 1/2" smaller in diameter than the rear. Keeping this relationship is my goal.
I want to go as wide as possible but the wheels are only 6.5" wide. So, I think the widest I can go on that size rim is 225.
A 225/50/16 is listed as having the same overall diameter as a 205/55/16. A 225/55/16 is listed as being 3/4" bigger in diameter than a 205/55/16. So, to keep the "original" front to rear size relationship similar the 225/55/16 makes the most sense. But this is 3/4" bigger than the original 215/60/15 and would really fill the wheel-well up.
Anyway, take a look at the photo's and let me know what you think.

They look very nice

Toad,
Car looks absolutely fine, but then I'm a sucker for anything in red. Hey, we ought to get together for a beer sometime, swap lies about Fieros etc. I'm in Grand Blanc and thats what??? maybe 10 minutes from you?
Nice job on the wheels, good idea. Oh btw I've got a silver 86 1/2GT
Take care