Vintage Mustang Forums banner

Wheel Question

699 Views 3 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Hottarod
My '70 Coupe came with F70-14 tires and standard steel wheels. I needed to remove the tires to have the bead resealed because after sitting for 13 years at least one had a slow leak. While the tires were off, I decided to have the rusty wheels blasted and I would repaint them. This was done.

In preparation for painting, I had all of the wheels sitting together and noticed that one was different. I already knew the spare was not as wide, but of the four mounted on the car one was less wide than the other three but still wider than the spare.

I am not sure where the wheel dimensions are determined. If I measure the O.D. (outside diameter) from lip to lip it is about 15 3/8". If I measure the first internal flat area inside of the wheel lip, I get 14". This corresponds to the tire designation, and I assume this is correct. Please confirm or tell me the correct way to measure!

Using the approach to check the width, for the widest wheel the lip to lip dimension is 8". If I use a similiar approach for the width as I did for the diameter, then the widest wheel would instead be 7".

Presuming my method is correct, I have of the four wheels that were mounted on the car with the F70-14 tires three (3) wheels that are 7" wide and one (1) wheel that is 6" wide. The spare wheel which does not yet have a tire is different still. It is 14" diameter, but is thinner still at 5" wide.

Having the spare different doesn't bother me, but I wonder about the wisdom of running different size wheeels even though they would have the same size tires. What is the collective wisdom?

If I need to change, should I get another 7" to replace the oddball 6". Or should I get another 6" and run those on the front, with the 7" wheels on the back? Does it matter?

I have seen many adds for the dress-up wheels, but where does one find just ordinary stock steel wheels? Is this a salvage yard only item?

Thanks for taking the time!
See less See more
1 - 4 of 4 Posts
replace the oddball 6 inch wheel..you should be able to get a stock steel wheel at most auto stores

'59 T-Bird..[color:blue]'70 Mustang Convert</font color=blue>...[color:green]'72 Mach One</font color=green>

http://www.geocities.com/theadgroup/T-Bone.html
http://www.geocities.com/midlife66/tbone/tbone.html
I've noticed too that diameter of the rim is not exactly what is described on the tire. Oh well. I think I would find another 7 inch wheel. I like using the same size wheel/tire on all four. It looks best, and you can rotate.


Coppertone's current condition:
http://www.knology.net/~dorner/images/coppertone2.jpg
I just sold a set of 14 inch Magnum 500's so I ran down to the box place and bought 4 14" x 14" x 10" boxes. Oh yeah right, LOL. Wheels woudn't fit because they were around 15 inches wide, DUHH. The rated diameter of the rim is for the bead of the tire.

Somehow you have one oddball narrow rim that came from somewhere. You should either run all 7's or put a pair of 6's on the front if you feel like you need a bit narrower rim. I ran 6's on my 65 in the front with 225/60's and 7's on the back with 245/60's. If you have only about a 6 inch wide front tire its better to run the 6 inch rims.


You can see my 65 fastback at: http://hottarod.stangnet.com/
http://members.aol.com/macstang/Gifs/macstang6.jpg
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by hottarod on 03/10/01 11:32 PM (server time).</FONT></P>
See less See more
1 - 4 of 4 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top