Good morning guys so I finally got my disc brake conversion kit for my customline. I need to up the size of the wheels. Currently there are 15 inch wheels on the back and 14 on the front. I believe the 15s would clear the kit in front but clearance issues in bsck would arise I’m sure as it’s already close. I know have a 5x4.5 bolt pattern but I’m wondering if I can use any wheels with that bolt pattern or do I need to worry about center bore? Should I just stick with other Ford wheels? Or stick with just cars. I have seen other wheels in that bolt pattern for lexus and hyundai but I wasn’t sure if they would fit. Any advice greatly appreciated daniel
Can we assume this is the '55 in your profile? Pictures,especially of clearance issues might be useful
There is such a thing as a "disk brake wheel". It has a different center and rim design, to allow room for the caliper. We can guess all day long what wheels you have, or what style wheels you want, but without more specifics, it's really hard to make recommendations. Make sure the wheels you get are designed to work with disk brakes. Most wheels made since the 1970s are. Older wheels, like original 55 Ford wheels, are not. Also pay attention to center hole diameter (it has to be as big or bigger than the center part of the hub or axle), and also to wheel back spacing. Wheels off front wheel drive cars generally have way too much offset (and back spacing) to work on older rear wheel drive cars.
I don't know if this will help with your particular problem, but it lists all the 5X4.5 wheels and the center bores. 5 X 4.5 Bolt Pattern Cross Reference and Wheel Sizes - Roadkill Customs
It’s hard to know what combo you’ve got. 55-56 Ford’s and birds used 15 in rims. 57 birds and I think Ford’s went to 14”. The front spindles, etc are the same 55-56 ford, and 55-57 bird. Many 55-56 disc conversions use a granada front hub/disc, turned down to fit in the early ford wheel center. But you don’t say what you’ve got. Some conversions use a spacer that move the fronts out about 1/8”. That will affect clearance on some wheel/tire/offset combos. Post it all up, there’s probably a couple ways out.
I used a Speedway disc brake kit with 5 X 4.5" pattern on the front of my Model A using '37-'41 Ford spindles. I believe it's some sort of GM rotor and used "Metric" GM calipers. Wanting to use 5" wide wheels on the front and 7" on the rear I had a friend give me a pair of 15 X 5" wheels that I believe were of Ford origin, but the center hole was too small to fit over the disc brake rotor in the front. I have no idea what the wheels came off of, but thought I'd mention it so you're aware that all stock steel wheels may not work out. Just a guess, but I'd say the hole in the wheel was about 1/8" too small to fit the rotor. Lynn
Clearance is tight in the back for '52-'59's. However, there's a guy in the social forums that's running 18 x 10 American Torq Thrusts on this '54 with stock rearend. He's got 5.74" of backspace. That gives you an idea of what's possible. If you want to go with steel wheels, how about custom made wheels through places like http://thewheelsmith.net/ or https://www.wheelvintiques.com/wheels/fwd.html They can make any size you want with any size backspace and width. Their prices are surprisingly reasonable.
Wheelsmith made me a set of 15x7 for the back of the bird, 4” backspace. I ran 10” cheaters on those. But you need to know the center hole and possible change in offset for the front. And the type/size/brackets on the front calipers. Otherwise, it’s a shot in the dark on a modified car. Carefully measuring, I’ve got 15x7’s and 225/60’ and 235/60’s on the back of a stock 55 bird. But there is little room for error in the wheel specs.
That’s what I have to figure out I believe. That’s where I need to know which ones will fit as is for now.
So the disc brake kit I got is the willwood one which has some adapter to make it fit onto my spindles so I don’t need to change them out. I need to have at least 15 inch wheels to clear the disc brakes according to the kit. So I’m looking to get some basic Steelies or something just to clear and ride on them for now. I’m not ready to pick my final wheel set up like spending big on the wheels and tires. I’m thinking of going to 16s all around for now and I guess I need to figure out what 16 inch 5x4.5 bolt pattern will work. There’s a chart a fella posted above that will give me the stats I think I need to make a decision
If you are considering 16" rims, I used a set of 1940 Dodge 16' rims on my Sedan Delivery which had 4 wheel disc brakes. The 30's-40's Mopar rims use the 4.5 bolt pattern and have a large enough center bore. They bolted on with no issues.
I think jimmy six has the Wilwood kit on the front of his 56. Might be able to help. Typically (I don’t know about Wilwood), the spacers used to retain the spindles are what move the front wheel out 1/8” or so. That’s the set up on my bird. Given the limits for tire height on a 55, I’m kind of getting a bad vision about what tires you have to put on a 16” rim.
Yes there are some spacers that came in that kit. I’ll have to message jimmy. Yeah I hear that on the tires. I’m not trying to go low profile or anything. I’m gonna have to jack the car up and see what kind of room I’m playing with.
Watch the turning radius (or however you say that) on the front wheels. Real easy to hit something before you get to full lock.
According to that website center bore is 70.3 looks like tons of other Ford wheels will work and some Acura and Lexus
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