Thread: temporarily moving car, need wheels/tires

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I'm moving to a different house and need to make my hot rod mobile temporarily, just to get it up on a flat bed.
I don't have the body on yet so I'm not ready to buy my final wheels and tires, plus I don't really have the money anyway.

I want to use some cheapo wheels to get me by.
Is a junkyard the only place I will be able to score these?

.

yeah, but I would kind of like to have a set of junk tires and wheels just so that I'm able to take short test drives before investing in good ones.

plus, is there only one bolt pattern for a 5 lug chevy, and same for a 5 lug ford?
Or are there certain 5 lug wheels that wouldn't go on?
I have a chevy pattern in front and a ford in back.

So, your pattern is 5 on 4-3/4 and 5 on 4-1/2? Centerline rims, or at least the ones I have, are drilled for both patterns.

I think your best bet is to just go to different tire places and see what they have in the way of used rims and tires. If you are wanting to drive it around a little bit before you buy your more expensive rims, then you aren't going to want to skimp too much. Better yet, go to the junk yard. I'd bet you come out of there with what you want for less than $50.

so there is just ONE pattern for chevy 5 lugs and
ONE for ford 5 lugs?
that will help since it's tough sometimes to measure that
if you can't get a tape right up against the wheel for some
reason.

You will need to measure your pattern just to be sure. Do you know the correct way to take measurements? Here's a pic from off-road.com

Wheel Fitment Guide

those lousy engineers couldn't just pick one and stick with it.
thanks guys, hopefully I'll find something

Compact spares. Cheaper than regular wheels at the junk yards. Easier to store in your shop.

I measured the pattern on the rear that I took from a 71 mustang last night.
The most accurately I could measure it seemed to be 4 5/8".
Now I'm looking at the chart posted previously and see there
is no 5 on 4 5/8".
Would anyone know what it was on a 71 mustang?

Oh yeah, and I finally got my bed done, I hung a fender last night to try and figure out what wheels will work.
I'm afraid to just measure for backspacing and width for fear of being off slightly.
For the guys who have done this before, is the best way to do it to just borrow a wheel from a shop and see how it works?
Does anyone lend out stuff like that?
Any suggestions on wheel suppliers that are good to work with?

Maybe this link will help a bit. They also have extra tech articles on this page, just look for the scroll down menus. Wheel Measurements

Also, when I measured for the rims on my truck, I started with measuring how far from the inside of the fender to the inside of the bed. I then measured from the brake drum mounting face to the inside of the bed. This is assuming that the frame rail is not sticking out past the bed, (confusing?). Basically, measure between the areas in which the tire will travel, fender to frame, or fender to bed. This gave me some numbers to work with and then add/subtract (whatever needed) as to different size rim widths and offsets.

I wanted wider tires, so I cut my bed and tubbed it a bit. Just remember to take into consideration the tire width. The link I gave you should have total sidewall widths for different tire sizes that you can pick and choose from. Don't forget to give yourself extra room for suspension travel, you don't want tire rub, that could lead to bigger problems. It's not hard to do this, it will just take time.

I know you can do it, I've seen the headers you built

I'm not sure what to tell you about your rear axle. If I remember right, you have a Ford 9-inch, well, that would have to be 5 on 4.5. For the sake of sounding like your mom, my suggestion would be to go measure it again. Just try it differently, maybe with a ruler instead of a tape measure or both.

yeah, I was measuring last night between the fender and bed side. I hung a string down from the inside edge of the fender. It seemed like I could get 10" tires in there, but that may be pushing it, especially if one side travels up and it starts to angle. I think 9" would be safe.
The part I'm most worried about is the back space. I didn't tub it, that will be a project for some winter most likely. It's tough to get a real hard number for back space with a tape. I think 3 1/2" should be correct, but I don't think I'd feel comfortable buying expensive wheels and then finding out I'm 3/8" off or something.

I'll check out that link now. Thanks for the input.

Hi tcodi, the Mustang would be 4 1/2 (ford used the 5" on the big full size boats, cop cars etc).

I know what you mean about finding out about back spacing. Here's one way I use to figure it out.

Mount up a fairly reasonable size tire that you can get into the wheel well. It works best if you can use the size of tire that you will actually going to be running, but it's not critical, and in some cases may not be doable if the rim your using isn't close to the right offset.

Once the tire and wheel are mounted on the car lower it to ride height. Measure the distance from the outer sidewall to the inner fender (if the inner fender tappers in at the top of the wheel travel, make sure you take this into account).

Now measure the distance from inner sidewall to the closest part that a tire can rub on. This is usually the inside inner fender well, but it could also to the rear leaf spring/lower control arm.

The difference between the 2 measurements is the amount of offset that either needs to be added/subtracted to the back spacing to center the wheel in the opening.

Having the wheel centered in the opening of course allows the largest tire to be used.

Hope this helps.

Here is a really cool device to determine backspacing:

http://www.autowaretech.com/mountmate.html

Look at the web page, enjoy the way the thing works BUT DO NOT LOOK AT THE PRICE!! With each purchase they should give you a cigarette so you can smoke after being screwed.

Somehow, you should be able to gin one up that is less expensive.

mike in tucson

thanks guys, I have a pretty good idea now what I need to do.
I think first I just need some wheels and tires from a junkyard to make it mobile, plus I'm broke right now.
then I can work off them to figure out good measurements.