PINTO CAR CLUB of AMERICA
Welcome to FordPinto.com, The home of the PCCA => General Help- Ask the Experts... => Topic started by: pintojim on June 10, 2012, 07:05:39 AM
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I have a set of 1985 mustang Aluminum rims ...they bolt right on but....the front rub on the upper control arms...im guessing I need spacers...do they work??? who makes them......What other 14 inch rim will fit my car thats not a stock looking rim ????????? Tricking out my 77 Camo Wagon !
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Hi Jim.You need about a 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch spacer for each wheel. You can get these spacers at your local auto parts store,such as Autozone ,Advance auto and so on.I wish you luck on your wheels and I hope to see you and Toby next year.
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im running 89 gt wheels on mine, bought arp wheel studs and my friend cut out 1/2 spacers for me
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Try performancewhe eladapters.com they have what you need and I think you need more than a 1/2 inch spacers because it will matter what size tires you put on the front.The size is 4X4.25 or 4X108 MM .
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I put ARP wheel studs in the front and bought some 1" spacers from Motor City Bolt On. Running 15" GT turbines, the scrub angle is the same as the 13X7s I used to run.
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You need to get good hubcentric spacers. Not the crap they sell in parts stores or on eBay which also don't provide much surface for the hub to rest on. Otherwise the wheels won't center properly (Fords are designed to center on the hub) and make sure your studs are long enough. And run hub-centric rings if the bore of the wheel is larger.
I would not touch anything Motor City Bolt on makes after seeing that they make 4 to 5 lug adapters. Any company that does that doesn't care about safety, a 4 to 5 lug adapter is just a plain bad idea.
I just put some 15x7 +9 Enkeis on with no spacers. I used the hub-centric rings, the wheels wouldn't even tighten down centered without them. They rubbed the upper control arm just a hair so I took a grinder to the edge of the ball joint bracket. The wheels came from an '82 Fairmont.
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Are you sure our old Pintos are hub centric? The reason I ask is that before I went to 15s I bought a pair of 13" mini stock wheels and the hub hole in the wheel was off center to the point I couldn't get the lug nuts to seat properly. Using a die grinder, I opened up the holes to make them fit, had a tire shop balance the wheels using a lug centric adapter and those wheels worked perfectly.
As for the adapter, numerous companies make 4 to 5 lug adapters but I didn't use those. I used the 4.25" 1 inch spacer and bolted the spacer AND the wheel to the ARP wheel studs. My team ran the car very hard for 12 hours on a road course and never experienced any vibration, odd tire wear, or any other issues plus we didn't have to grind anything for clearance.
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The car itself is hub-centric. The stock wheels fit quite tight on the hub, but a lot of those race wheels are designed differently. The Enkeis I just put on centered great with the hub rings. They wouldn't even tighten on centered before installing 'em.
I do know that some spacer companies lie about the specs. I forget who it was that examined spacers from another company and they were not billet as advertised and I believe the studs were also not grade 8 like advertised. You have to be careful and read reviews.
What did you do to torque the bolts holding the spacer on properly? Set the rotor on a wood block? It's the only way I can think of to do the fronts.
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The spacers from Motor City are nice. 4 holes with a recess in each to accept a short lug nut to attach to the rotor and then 4 studs opposite the holes. I ended up pounding out the studs to make the spacer flush and then mounted the spacer as normal to the hub. A friend got into the car, held the brakes, and I torqued the lug nuts to 90 ft. lbs. Put the wheel on and torqued those lug nuts to the same spec. ARP wheel studs are something like 170,000 lb. tensile strength and they didn't seem to care that both the spacer AND the wheel was mounted to the same studs.
That's why I question if the Pinto is hub centric. The center hole in the spacer is slightly larger than the hub but it centered up nicely after torquing the lug nuts. Furthermore, when I bought the Bobcat it had the old 4 spoke styled steel wheels and they didn't have a center hub hole like the factory steel wheels or slot mags. But, I could be wrong.
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The car itself is hub-centric.
Im gunna disagree the wheels on my bobcat are stock steel wheels and use beveled lug nuts to center the wheel not the hub. Also It really doesnt matter all the mustang wheels I have and have seen are lug-centric.
In all reality the wheels your using is all that matters if they are hub-centric then by all means you will need to mount them that way but ALOT of aftermarket wheels are lug-centric so they can be used for multiple applications.
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Im gunna disagree the wheels on my bobcat are stock steel wheels and use beveled lug nuts to center the wheel not the hub. Also It really doesnt matter all the mustang wheels I have and have seen are lug-centric.
In all reality the wheels your using is all that matters if they are hub-centric then by all means you will need to mount them that way but ALOT of aftermarket wheels are lug-centric so they can be used for multiple applications.
i agree
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A friend got into the car, held the brakes, and I torqued the lug nuts to 90 ft. lbs.
I didn't think of this for some reason when I was wondering how to torque down a spacer.
That's why I question if the Pinto is hub centric. The center hole in the spacer is slightly larger than the hub but it centered up nicely after torquing the lug nuts. Furthermore, when I bought the Bobcat it had the old 4 spoke styled steel wheels and they didn't have a center hub hole like the factory steel wheels or slot mags. But, I could be wrong.
From what I've heard, most if not all Fords were intended to be hub-centric. People on the Ranger forums tend to make a big deal out if it when people want to use Jeep wheels on a Ford and vice-versa. The wheels I used would not center by torquing the lugs, but they centered perfectly with hub-centric rings installed. The stud holes may be close enough to mount the wheel centered, but I have heard that this isn't always the case on some vehicles.
I wish I could find better info confirming if Fords are hub-centric or not, but there doesn't seem to be anything official that goes either way.
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i had steel rims off an 92 mustang on my 75 bobcat and never had any issues, the only thing is they did rub on the upper ball joint grease fitting. it was weird.
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i had steel rims off an 92 mustang on my 75 bobcat and never had any issues, the only thing is they did rub on the upper ball joint grease fitting. it was weird.
My Enkeis rubbed the edge of the ball joint tab where the rivet goes. I ground it down at an angle and now the clearance there is fine. It barely touched.
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pintojim
If you would go to 16 inch then you could use any wheel meant for 4 bolt Mustangs with no spacers or rub. With low profile 205/45-16's you get the same scrub as with stock wheels/tires. If you need 215s or larger you will need spacers at least in the back. I have stock Mustang GT wheels with 205/55-16s on 7 inch rims on my Pinto(http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx36/robertdbreedlove/th_Christmas2010026.jpg)
Grumpy