- Square pegs just don't belong in round holes.
- We gotta find a way
to make this fit into the hole for this
using nothing but that.
- And as simple as that idea seems to be,
it's because we all learned it as a young child
with, you know, our block sets, you know,
we had the round peg and the square hole
and you tried to put it in there and...
As simple as that is, it's amazing to me
how many examples of this still exist today.
Things like using a screwdriver as a pry bar
or a knife as a screwdriver or a ratchet as a hammer.
I think I speak for all of us when I say
that we've been there.
The same can be said when looking at the wheel wells
of a certain brand of truck.
I'm Dustin with Custom Offsets, @DUSTI.CO on Instagram
and today's video is all about how General Motors
decided way back in the 70s
to make it just a little bit more difficult
for those of us who want to own a bowtie truck.
We're comparing shape worse than a high school geometry
class to find out, are square wheel wells really worth it?
Before we dive into the bones of the video here,
if this is your first time stopping by then,
hey, welcome!
Thanks for swinging by.
We hope you guys like what you see and
if you're looking to build your truck,
then be sure to click on that subscribe button
that you can find down below and keep up with all the things
Custom Offsets.
If you happen to need a set of wheels and tires,
be sure to check us out at customoffsets.com.
Not only do we have a massive online gallery
that you can search and see exactly what's gonna
fit your truck, but we also have something like
40,000 fricking wheels and tires in our warehouse
just waiting to be your new set.
It's that simple.
You guys can check it out at customoffsets.com.
Also, if you have a Chevy truck in the square wheel wells,
you know, it was kinda your thing,
drop a comment down below and let us know
how big of a tire you stuffed in there,
and how bad it rubs since that's pretty much
all square wheel wells are good for, I mean,
I've been there.
All right, into the video.
For the first 50-ish years,
Chevy seemed to have it all figured out.
They started with their Chevy One-Ton truck way back in 1918
and spanning all the way up into their second generation
of C/K pickup truck in 1972,
General Motors had their wheel wells that were,
for the most part rather round,
which makes a lot of sense considering the wheel and tire
that you're putting in there is, it's round!
In 1973, though, the world would change forever.
- [Squints] Mertle asked the cops how long he had to keep
the beast chained up like a slave, he said until,
"Forever.
Forever."
- '73 Really was a good year, by the way.
The president at the time was Richard Nixon.
The price of gasoline was 37 cents a gallon,
which is cheaper than you can buy a banana
at Kwik Trip these days, and better yet,
you could buy an average home
in middle America for somewhere around $35,000.
Time's definitely changed.
But perhaps the biggest influential change
to the truck world in 1973 was the introduction
of the third generation C/K line of pickup trucks,
the one and only iconic Chevy square body Silverado.
Iconically at the time of the introduction,
the square body was actually referred to
as the Round Line generation,
because it was the first generation to feature
curved glass windows on the cab.
Additionally, this generation of truck would be the first
to offer a factory available dual rear wheeled
pickup truck, dubbed the Big Dually
and it was fricking awesome, okay?
And also for the first time,
this new generation would be the first generation
of Chevy truck to be tested in a wind tunnel
for aerodynamics and fuel efficiency.
This testing is ultimately what resulted
in a very square body, but sweeping design
that helped the new Silverado glide through the air
instead of cut it, making it more fuel efficient
than the previous generations of Silverados before it.
Well a lot changed over the next 45 years
between engines and transmissions and body style
and one thing that would stay the same
was the square wheel well design.
In a lot of ways, this became almost iconic
for General Motors, being both the butt of many jokes
by the Ram and Ford guys, who could fit 35 on 12.5's
and a 12 wide on a relatively stock truck,
but it also became a design pillar when it came
to exterior styling of the GM trucks.
So much so, that when General Motors
decided to change their truck design in 2019
and eliminate the square wheel wells,
people lost their God (bleep) mind.
Do you remember the first time you saw
a new body style Silverado in the wild?
Because I do, and I remember how much I hated it
because it wasn't square like all the rest of them.
(film reel whirs)
(upbeat music)
(record screeches)
- If you're like me and your truck's sitting
on jack stands right now, and you need to get
your wheels and tires mounted and balanced,
just head to customoffsets.com.
We've got free mounting, balancing, and shipping
to the lower 48 states, plus as low as 0% APR financing.
If you're looking to get your built started now, to get it
ready before show season, check it out.
- It was like we were brainwashed to think that
wheel wells had to be square,
even though we wanted them to be round.
- Tell us your invasion plans,
and don't bother taking over my mind.
- And it seems that this was a common theme
across the board when it comes to the new body style trucks.
I wasn't the only guy that initially
just didn't like 'em when I saw 'em.
Fun fact for you here, when asked about the new redesign,
Rich Scheer, the lead exterior designer
for the 2019 Silverado, stated
the reason the square wheel wells didn't make it
to the new body style was quite simply aerodynamics.
So the reason in the 70s that we got 'em
was aerodynamics, and the reason in 2019
that they disappeared is because of aerodynamics.
Oh, how the turn tides have tabled, my friends.
(man laughing)
(man screeches)
But here's why we really hate square wheel wells,
and I can say that because I have one, they're okay,
but listen, they're a pain in the ass.
If you're a truck guy or gal like us,
the chances are that you can't leave anything stock.
Perhaps one of the biggest first mods that I do
to pretty much any vehicle I own is new wheels
and new tires, and usually they're bigger and wider
than the factory setup.
Now, sure, right?
There's some flexibility
if you're gonna leave your truck stock height
and you have square wheel wells, but let's be honest here.
The square wheel wells,
they really suck to fit anything
bigger than a 9 wide into.
This is because where most round wheel wells
give you that room in the backside of the wheel well,
or the front side of the cab,
depending on if that's how you want to spin it,
square wheel wells are about three inches more forward,
and then they square off.
All of that material in there adds up
to the unfortunate fact that chances are, it's gonna rub.
To combat this, the guys up in Northern California
started hacking up pinch welds.
They trimmed back material and otherwise they just
straight up attacked their fenders
with grinders to do what we like to call the Norcal mod.
Now this Norcal mod works by cutting back the pinch weld,
rolling the material forward with a hammer,
and then just overall making yourself more room
for bigger wheels and tires in that wheel well
so you don't have to rub every time
you put the truck in reverse.
If you're not gung ho on attacking your truck
with a grinder and a big (bleep) hammer though,
you still have a few options.
If you're looking to clear 12 wide
and you don't wanna do any metal trimming,
you're gonna be looking at a six inch lift kit or larger.
This is gonna get the body of the truck up high enough
that you really won't have to worry about those bigger tires
on those 12 wides coming back and wrinkling your fender
or rubbing on the front side of the fender there.
Sure, it may not give you that stuffed wheel and tire
look that some guys are after,
but it is gonna get you going on some 12 wides
while still retaining that factory fender shape,
and if you want to use factory fender flares here,
you can do that as well.
Would you guys Norcal mod your truck,
drop a comment down below and let us know,
and also be sure to subscribe to the channel
if you haven't already.
With that, I'm Dustin with Custom Offsets,
we'll see you guys on the next one.
Peace.
(upbeat music)