After reading many posts here and other places i decided to dive in and widen my rear wheels and grind a set of wide whites to go on them. I started with the original wheels on my Plymouth. I cut the rims off the centers by splitting them and grinding off and punching out the rivets. I bought a set of 15x8 hoops from speedway and pressed the centers in. I set up my dial and got them to .020 runout on one and .025 on the other. I plug welded the rivet holes to set the centers and grabbed my 4 inch grinder and went to town on the tires on the slots I have on the car now. No the wait for payday to pony up for two new tires on the front because the slots were 14s and my originals are 15s. Here's a few pics of the progress so far...
What brand tire did you grind? Did you weld more than just the rivet holes, all of the shops that I've seen replace wheel hoops weld more than just the holes. Looks great.
I used an off brand of tires made by Cooper, Grand Am Radial GTs. 235/70/15. Nope, I just welded the rivet holes. My dad is a certified welding instructor. It was his advice. The centers fit so well they had to be pressed in so there is little chance of them moving. The three welds on each "spoke" are more than enough to lock the center in place.
No guide, just grind until you see the edge appear. I used a rust removal attachment on my 4 1/2" grinder. One like this, It took about 10 minutes a tire.
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