Hot Rods 18 Inch Wide Fives: Runnable?

I searched for 10 years to find a pair of 18-inch wide five wheels for my 39 Ford pickup, and a local friend of mine found a couple for me. The centers are in good shape, but the rims have seen better days. I'm not too concerned about the bends in a couple of the lips, since those can be straightened. I am, however, concerned about the pitting. I've seen worse, but I drive my truck hard, and I'd rather not have a wheel fail on me at speed.

My question is: are they usable as is, or do the rims (hoops, outers, whatever you want to call them) need to be replaced? If they should be replaced, does anyone have suggestions on where to find a suitable rim? So far, it's been challenging to find a rim that would work because the inside diameter of each rim is about 16", and that's larger than that of any of the new rims I've found.

Thank you very much in advance.

 

I've got a set of sixteens that are about that shape on my car for 10 years now.

 

What is your concern? That the hoop will fail? Bead sealing? I'd run em.

 

I wouldn't put em on Bass' roadster but...

 

The hoop failing is my only concern. I'm not worried about the bead sealing since I'll be using tubes.

 

I drive hard, but not that hard haha

 

I really appreciate all of the input. I've decided that I'll run them with the existing rims. Does anyone know of a good shop that can straighten rims, particularly in Northern California?

 

I also have a set equally as bad, maybe a bit worse where they sat in mud for decades, that have been in use for a decade with no issues. I blasted, and powder coated them to protect what was left. With a cycle style rim liner and new tubes, running Firestone bias plys.

 

Hell yeah, that's what I like to hear

 

The hangup in getting them straightened will be two-fold.

The average shop might not want to touch them for liability reasons.

Beyond that, no wheel shop that I know of is equipped to do anything but a hub-centric wheel.

You'd have to supply them with an adapter to even try.

Re-hooping them is totally possible, provided that an appropriate hoop can be found.

I only know what fits the 16-inch ones.

You might be surprised to know that on those is the exact diameter of a Chrysler minivan steel wheel. It's still a standard.

All of the ones in these photos are Ford/Chrysler composites that I made.

It is possible that the 18-inch is still a standard too. It's worth a look.

 

An adjustable wrench works well for tweaking the outer lip & save the hammer torture, however I have also used a wheel weight properly positioned to hammer on if a bit of hammer work is required it saves the edge from unsightly dimpling & additional labor.

 

Buy or DIY.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Spee...5dS5XVqPjI9Sy-yXHrcGcmwUrg5TpkXBoCD6MQAvD_BwE

 

The Speedway wrench is well worth the price. I’ve used it MANY times.

 

That is cool, I didn't know about this tool. Thank you.

 

Those wheels and your car look great by the way. I'll try to find a suitable set of donor wheels as well, in case the straightening doesn't work out.

 

That's all customer stuff.

My cars have HAMB unfriendly wheels.

The owner of the rusty T lives in San Carlos, so you might see it around.

 

Can you get an accurate measurement on the inner diameter of the current shells?

A common size that I have found is 15.280". Another is 15.698".

 

I'll check again when I get home from work, but I remember measuring exactly 16". So far I haven't found a wheel with the same rim inner diameter.

 

Do the 18 inch wheels tale the larger hub caps?

 

Its easy to say YES......but I would not use them. Why not look for some new "hoops" to put your centers in? Try Wheel Vintiques or Wheelsmith or some Jeep wheels.

sswlindia.com/wp-content/themes/sswl/assets/images/certificate/steel-wheel/car_&_muv_domestic.pdf

 

No, they take the same size hub caps. The "spokes" are longer than the 16" version, but the center pocket is the same diameter.

 

I don't mean to offend, but I think I'm safer on some old rotten originals than some brand new steelies from India.

I've searched all of the wheel companies' offerings that I'm aware of, but unfortunately I have yet to find a rim diameter that will fit.

 

Easy to say, hard to do. The chances that someone is making the exact ID hoop that he needs is small. I know the difficulty because I’m trying to do the same thing with a different vintage center. And getting one custom made would cost a mint.

I need a 15.125” ID hoop. Phillips found me one, but it’s 8 inches wide. Not really traditional width for my old hot rod. I might get one to try narrowing, but could be an expensive lesson.

 

Narrowing a rim shouldn't cost too much. It would be easy to section one on a lathe and weld it back up. If I could find a rim that had the right diameter, but the wrong width, this is exactly what I'd do.

 

My buddy’s lathe will only swing about 13”, so I’d have to hire it out. And not really sure if there’s enough room in the flat spot to narrow it to approximately 6”. I just need to take my gauge (a metal rod of the correct ID) to the junkyard and dig through the wheel pile. Maybe some minivan has the right size?

 

Yeah, most lathes won't have that much swing. That's something I'd expect to have to bring to a shop with some bigger equipment. I have a feeling I'll end up going to the junkyard on the same mission.

 

I've seen alchemy's defining rod when we chatted at a swap meet I also carried one fashioned from a threaded rod & a pair of coupling nuts to adjust for multi-purpose use & is still in my swap bag, later cut the rivets on a wide 5 center to bring along but must admit the rod fits a pocket much better.

 

The threaded rod idea is great. I'll make one up with acorn nuts at each end to get the most accurate measurement.

 

I actually have two rods. The second one is the same length as a regular 40 Ford wheel center. I carry it because I’ve found some 16” 40-50’s Shivvy truck wheels have the same diameter as the Ford, but come in 5” or 5.5” wide. I’d much rather buy a Shivvy wheel for $5 than spend $100 for a 16x5” Ford wheel. Drill the rivets and presto-cheapo!

 

@alchemy nailed it one of the best tools I have ever bought!


The wheel after straightened and welded a bead protector on it