Are 16.5 wheels 16.0 or 16.5 inches?

[davepl]

My Longhorn has 9x16.5 tires (nothing listed on the SPID though), and I know this sounds like a dumb question I could just go out and measure, but I don't know if they measure from outer edge or inside the bead, so:

Are 16.5 tires what you'd normally refer to as 16" wheels, or are they literally 16.5?

I wanna slap some 22" dubs with spinners on this and when I sell the old ones, I need to know what they're called. Thanks!

- Dave

PS: Just kidding about the dubs. Figured I'd give Jesse a heart attack if he's reading along. But I really do want to know what the heck these wheels are.

[68Gold/white]

16.5's are 16.5" diameter wheels, NOT same as 16's. GM quit using 16.5's around 1989. But I think 16's were used on some of their applications before 89....trucks of course...

Selection of 16.5 tires shrinks every day. Some 16" tires have a warning on them, NOT to use them on 16.5 wheels.

A good friend of mine has a 72 IHC pickup. He bought 16.5 chrome wagon wheels for it in 1980. He's finally dumping them for 18's..... 16.5 tire selection is almost nil... and his wagon wheels have out lasted themselves...

[davepl]

Thanks, that's precisely what I was wondering. I bet you'd have to really work to force a 16" tire on there, but no doubt people have done it...

[68Gold/white]

Originally Posted by davepl

Thanks, that's precisely what I was wondering. I bet you'd have to really work to force a 16" tire on there, but no doubt people have done it...

Having that warning on some of the 16" tires, leaves no doubt, LOL. I'd bet that at least some of the folks running the tire machine installing 16's on 16.5 wheels, have "Bubba" embroidered on their shirt...

Just in case, a FYI, the proper way to deal w/ those tires, IF ON A SPLIT RIM, is to let the air out of the tire before, even touching the lug nuts, must be aired up in a cage. Just saw your pickup in the build section, looks like you don't have split rims, Thank God!!! I'll leave this paragraph here, for others, might save a life.

[too much stuff]

I don't think 16.5 came in split rims, but not positive. Also, 16.5 rims have more of a slope on the outer bead instead of straight up and down.

[special-K]

When these trucks were made was when 16.5 "clinchers" were introduced. The only 16" wheels were split rims. GM started using 16" clinchers at some point later in the '70s. I believe your tires would be 9.50-16.5s. I believe all 16.5 tire and wheel widths used a fraction...never a whole number,and possibly to help rid confusion between 16 and 16.5 tires and wheels.

[duallyjams]

GM is still using 16.5 wheels and tires on military vehicles.

[slomotion]

My '68 C20 came from the factory with a two-piece wheel. It wasn't a split ring like you think of for "big trucks" (semi's), but the main body of the wheel supported the (16.5) tire, then an outer ring with two notches in it was slipped over the outer edge of the wheel, centered up on the wheel and became the retainer for the outer tire bead. Although dangerous, there were millions of them on the road in their day, and no one thought much about it. The plus side of these old wheels was someone out in the country could repair/change a tire without the machinery we need today to mount a tire.