Technical 1930 ford and Volkswagen rims?

I know Volkswagen is a swear word but recently I heard you can use Volkswagen 5.5 rims on early fords big 5.5 bolt pattern? Has anyone heard this before?


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From reading this I don't think that any one of the three VW wide patterns matches up. https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=119761
I new a guy who used the VW hoop on some US made centers cut out of some wheels back in the 70's because he wanted to run the skinny 15's on the front of his rod with steel wheels and hubcaps and have a rim they actually fit. He had access to an industrial machine shop with a lathe that would handle something 40 inch in diameter if needed so it wasn't a big deal for him.

 

I hoped to use VW hoops but they dont measure right

 

I believe you have been mislead. HRP

 

Yup^^^^^^.

 

I think you guys are right. I would like skinny-er tires on the front of my 30 but utilizing a different rim but original hubs and bolt pattern. But I may not be able to accomplish this


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How skinny ?

 

There’s adapters for anything.

 

Oh sweet. That will work perfectly. Just wanna run big and littles on the 30


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I think what you "heard" was the VW rims were swapped onto the old Ford centers. Not the whole wheels, just the rims. I'm not sure if the guys used to use the 15" steely centers or the 16" steely centers. Should be easy for you to measure once you have the old VW wheel in hand.

Nowadays the old VW wheel might be worth more than the old Ford wheel. I think the ones they used to use were from the 50's, and those are the VW's that are skyrocketing in price.

 

There was a tech article in Hot Rod in the '70s about welding early Ford centers into VW hoops.

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40-48 ford wheels are typically 4.5 inches wide and 5.5x5 bolt pattern. How skinny do you want to go that a 4.5 is to wide?

Or are you more after the 15” diameter? I’m sure there’s something that already has the right pattern

 

The '40 and '41 wheels are 4" wide. Sounds skinny enough to me, but if you want to get really narrow you could source a pair of '40 Ford V8-60 wheels which are 3.5" wide.

I think most of the 1950's F-100 wheels (the kind that accept the 40-48 caps) are 15" x 5.5" wide. There are some wider, but are harder to find.

 

Which are quite rare, thus hard to find.
I have 4” wide on my coupe with 450/475 x 16” and they are almost too narrow, - but look good.
Next time I will probably go 550 x 16” for a little more road contact.

 

Well I do have some of these old Vw rims laying around and would like a skinny 3.5” tire on the front of the 30 ford I’m goofing with. So this has struck some interest!


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39 Lincoln wheels look like a 40 ford and are also 3.5 wide if we are making a list lol.

sticking a correct center in a different/smaller hoop is pretty common. If that’s the route you wanted to go

 

I’m gonna have to do more research on these swaps you guys are speaking of.


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Ya I’d like to go down a size 15” or so. I’m gonna have to do some looking


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Anyone have a photo of these modifications that they made back in the day? Or know where this article is? I saw there was another guy sourcing for the same thing on jalopy. No luck tho


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There is a thread on here from 2009 that I started, some text & pic below: (Link to the whole thread is below the pic.)

2009>>>"I had some trouble getting the Ford hoop off after the rivets were removed, so I cut through the hoop to make it easy.

Also cut the VW center up in pieces to go faster, VW center is welded in spots. (the whitewall tire/wheel is a stock 16 ford awaiting cutting)

the dismounted wheel is the VW/Ford 15 steelie.

I finally figured out the best way to cut the Ford center down on an AAMCO brake lathe, was to use one side of the Disc cutter.

I got lucky and didn't cut it too small. it's a force fit with a large rubber mallet.

Now I'll sandblast, then weld.

Looks good to me

F&J, Oct 7, 2009 Edit Delete !Report!"

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...e-used-with-vw-skinny-outer-rim-hoops.405351/

/

 

Well I have 5 wide 5 rims for my 30 ford that I did find. Steelies. So I got my doner centers. And I got three junk Vws sitting behind the barn a 67 and 68


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2 I mean. So I could make my fronts and either use the stock doner rim or find a wider ring to weld onto the centers.. I just want to have an old school look to it.


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1949 and up trucks have the correct bolt pattern in a 15” rim.
I think I’d do whatever @F&J recommends. He’s pretty good at spending more time than money to make something cool

 

The only issue I’ll run into is turning down the vw rim to fit that 15” truck center I was talking about


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Don’t got a lathe. But I will probably be able to figure this out


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When you say "wide five" all us old Ford guys read is a 36-39 Ford wheel. The 5.5" pattern is just regular old Ford, not wide.

Looks like the modification is to get a 4.5" wide 15" rim onto the center from a 16" rim. It should look a whole lot like the 5.5" wide 1955 Ford F-100 wheel. A lot of work for an inch of width.

 

i have an old ford wheel that is 14", center looks just like the 40-48's. never seen another, i'll take a pic tomorrow

 

Part,of what is taking place here seems to be the misuse of the word RIM. many people erroneously call an entire WHEEL a RIM which an entire wheel is not. The rim is only the outer portion which is riveted or welded to the center. Use of the wrong terminology OFTEN seems to cause miscommunication when discussing WHEELS.

 

If you want a skinny wheel, try donuts. I have a set of 5 on 5 that are 19 inchers. I thought they would look good o a 40`s style roadster. Many more styles and bolt configurations out there as well.