Newer Spoke Wire Rims Not holding air with new tires

[Guest]

[jopizz]

Is the car a real factory sport roadster or did the previous owner add the roadster package to it. It will certainly look better with the wire wheels if you can get past the issues mounting them.

John

[Woobie]

Thanks for this post. Makes the most sense to me.
I pulled the orig recpt for the 15 wire rims I have on it, it says they are 15" by 6"
Does that mean or add anything more then what you have said?

I want to still capture best I can the wire wheel look via wire hubcaps. Want the right 15 inch rim for them. Maybe even a chrome one that will look good with chrome wire hubcap and spinner.

15" by 6" means that you have a 15" rim for a 15" tire and that the rim is safe to use with a 15" tire that the manufacturer recommends for a 6" wide rim.

I would recommend, however, if you choose chrome rims or aluminum rims that the installers use sick-on wheel weights as an option. From experience, the edges of these types of rims have been made to look like junk from the weights. Corrosion and lifting of the chrome plating. With hubcaps, have the installers put the hubcaps on to make sure they will fit over any wheel weights on the outer rim.

Again, though, the manufacturer of your tires will supply the width of the rim they are to be installed on. It may be 5-7 inch width or 4-6 inch width or a variety of other combinations.

[Woobie]

I think he meant offset, not backspacing. There is no 0 backspacing.

John

Yes zero offset. I'm just adding to the confusion here.

[Guest]

Is the car a real factory sport roadster or did the previous owner add the roadster package to it. It will certainly look better with the wire wheels if you can get past the issues mounting them.

John

Not a true roadster but it is fully converted with everything they did from factory.
I thought I would go to normal rims and put on spoke hub caps that look as good as what I have now. The ones I have on it are showing a little age, surface rust around spokes.
Just seems keeping these spoke rims is a hassle. I'd like to drive it anywhere, far or near and not worry about if the pokes will get the tubes, even with a liner.

[Guest]

Sooo a 15 inch rim from a 65-66 tbird fits a 62? I assume it is the same bolt pattern offset and backspace?

Thanks

[jopizz]

That's correct.

John

[Guest]

Thanks much man

Tim

[Guest]

good lord this not be this hard to find rims. Tire shops are clueless. Been reaching out to classic car salvage yards, getting DONT HAVE IT or no reply at all.

[simplyconnected]

Isn't it odd that Summit has at least a half dozen choices in many brands, starting at $47/each for new wheels? Shipping is free for orders over $100.
CLICK HERE
I'm sure, if this auto parts store has them, your tire stores can get them as well. There is nothing special about these wheels and I believe they sell tons of them. - Dave

[Guest]

One of those wheels is for a trailer.

[Guest]

some of those say 5 X 4.5 Bolt patteren, what is the 5? I have learned here the 4.5 blt pattern I should be looking for The 5x 4.5??

[Guest]

Any 65/66 tbird that has disc brakes, those rims will still work on my 62, direct bolt on?

[YellowRose]

Newer Spoke Wire Rims Not holding air with new tires

Tim, let me see if I can answer your questions for you, since jopizz, and Dave are out of pocket at the time being. Regarding that 5 x 4.5 question. Bolt pattern or bolt circle is the diameter of an imaginary circle formed by the centers of the wheel lugs. Bolt patterns can be 4-, 5-, 6-, or 8-lug holes. In our case our bolt pattern is 5 bolts. A bolt circle of 5x4.5 would indicate a 5-lug pattern on a circle with a spacing of 4.5 inches between lugs. If I have that wrong, someone can correct me.

Now to answer your next question regarding '65-'66 Tbird rims. Yes, they are 15" disc brake rims and WILL fit right on your '62. So I am told... jopizz already confirmed this in post #37!

Furthermore, any 15" rim off a Ford car with that bolt pattern setup should fit. Hopefully, someone can confirm that also. Those of us who went through the front disc brake conversion for our Squarebirds with 14" OEM non-disc brake ready rims on them, got our rims off of '70's Fords, like the Granada, and others that had disc brake equipped rims all around. We could have gone to 15" rims but didn't, because like you, I had brand new 14" tires on my Tbird and did not want to pay the money to switch to 15" tires, and disc brake ready rims. So I got all 5 14" disc brake ready rims off that Granada at a junk yard for $10 each.. Pulled them right off the car and out of the trunk.

[Guest]

hum, I wish the old junk yards around me had older cars in them.
I will keep digging. I found a yard out west that has 4 65 rims off a Tbird.