1957 Pontiac Wheel Swap??

The car came with 14" wheels in 57, but I need to go up to 15" wheels to clear the disc brakes I'm installing. The bolt pattern looks to be 5 X 4 3/4"-- so What 15" GM wheels should I be looking for? Cadillac? What years?

Any help is appreciated.

jay

 

do a tech post on the install. are you using a kit? where did you get it? post some pic's

 

Its the Scarebird disc brackets with off the shelf calipers and rotors from 70's GM cars. I'll post some pics once I find the wheels I need!!! =-O

Thanks,

jay

 

The stock bolt pattern is 5 x 5 not 5 x 4.75. I made that mistake once! However I would guess your Scarebird conversion will end up using GM rotors with the more common 5 x 4.75 pattern. Also don't forget the wheel studs thread direction are not the same on both sides of the car (righty tighty is only true on passenger side...I think).

 

99 percent of the Impala/Caprice from '77-'90 came with 15 inch, 5 by 4 3/4 wheels.

 

I took on the same problem...

The bigger cars like the caprice, caddys, delta 88 and so forth are 5 on 5. The mid size cars like regal, grand prix, cutlass and monte carlo are 5 X 4.75... BUT most of these cars were 14 inch wheels as well.

to get the smaller bolt pattern with a 15 inch plain jane steel wheel, look at camaro / firebird or S-10 /Sonoma.

Getting a matching set is a whole 'nother issue in itself. (most of the previoulsy mentioned donors have fugly alloys on em.)

I gave up eventually and just got some cheap steel wagon wheels and stuck caps on 'em

 

Right-- I'm running 70's Bonneville front rotors-- I think they are 5 X 5 now that I look again. So I need Chevy pick up wheels - 5 x 5 by 15"

 

The only '77-'90 B bodies that had 5x5 wheels were the ones with the heavy duty brake option. I've owned three of them, and all had the 5x4.75 pattern.

 

Do these dimension/specs hold true for a 56 Chevy?

I was thinking about putting some 15x7 steelies on it with some 235/70/15 blackwalls. Need to know what rims to get too.

 

Anybody around the Bay Area have a take off set w/ tires by chance??

 

In that case, any '73-'87 2WD wheel will work, as well as any '77-'90 B body with the heavy duty brake option--more common on station wagons.

 

Jay, Astro vans and G body vans(full-size Chev/GMC) are all 5 on 5 pattern. So are 88-98 half ton pickups...but they have some backspacing---might be a clearance issue with your steering.

Man, I could give you what you need but CA and TN ain't real close

 

I so appreciate the offer though!

Looks like the local wrecker guys have 4 nice ones for $25 a piece, so I'm off to grab them this afternoon...

 

yes, 55, 56, 57 pontiac lugnuts are righty tighty on the right wheels (pass. side) and lefty tighty on the left side (drivers side).
the stock bolt pattern is 5x5.

 

5x5 pattern on all big GM cars - Buick, Cad, Olds, Pontiac - through '76. After '76 it gets confusing what had what, you had smaller full-size cars with the 5x4 3/4 pattern. But Cad, Buick Electra and Olds 98 kept the 5x5. All the station wagons keep 5x5. Most of those have 15" wheels, in fact the fronts on my Suburban are off an '89 Buick wagon at the u-pull-it.

To further confuse the issue, Chevy fullsize 71-76 are also 5x5.

If I did this swap, I'd use the '70s big car rotors, just so I could carry just one matching full size spare instead of some donut with a multiple pattern wheel.

My 57 does have one odd 15" with a truck tire on the front, came with it, on the front, that seems to clear things okay. It's an old bias ply 8.50x15 or something bigger maybe. Don't know about '57 but I do know on '60 a 235/75R15 will rub a little on bumps if you put a bunch of people or crap in the back of the car. It never was enough to worry about, but could be an issue on a lowered car.

 

I have three 15" Pontiac wheels with rubber on my '57 wagon. I need three 14" wheels for it. I'm in Santa Cruz. We should swap.

 

OOps. Just saw that was an old post Old post.