Hey, I am trying to stuff these 15x8.5 AR slot wheels under the rear of my 53, they clear by about an 1/8 of an inch now , they are very close to touching the inside of the outer wheel well, this area seems to be about an inch thick inner fender/quarter panel. I have come up with some options but was wondering if there was something else I was missing. Ideas 1. Mill down .25 the mounting face of the rims, also cut down the lug nuts .25 . 2. cut out the inner fender well. 3. radius the wheel wells. 4. convert to disc brakes? maybe a rotor would be thinner than a drum? 5. swap rear axles. 6. give up and swap wheels. I'm really not sure which would be the best or a combination of ideas. Have any of you milled down a set of wheels? the center support on these is just over 1 inch thick, I would be taking it down no more than .25, this is a street car not a race car. The fronts are stamped 15x7 the rears are 15x8.5 and they are also drilled for slicks. I could not find an year for production. Thanks for your suggestions Godspeed MrC.
Can you roll the inner fender lip to gain another 1/8" my ride has a lil less than 1/4 an doesn't rub...
The lip of the fender sticks inward less than the inner wheel well does it is the closest to the tire/wheel. Godspeed MrC.
swapping to disc brakes won't help, the rotors are thicker than drums. i milled 1/8 off the back of some torque thrusts and an 1/8 off the rotors on my camaro, worked out great. i would guess 1/4 would be ok if your wheel has enough meat on it.
you can cut out the inner wheel well and modify it to make it thinner. kind of like a mini tub, but on the outer wheel well rather than the inner
That may be what I tried to do ^^^^^ it has been done by people less talented then us before. If I decided the mill the mounting flange I probably would go past .125 then I would tell myself that I was just trueing it up and not milling it.
Yes, done a couple of sets on a rotary table in the mill. I put a dial indicator on the bead area to get it to spin true. Went thinner than you are thinking but depends on car/usage.
Thanks for all the suggestions, I have never milled a wheel before, so I didn't know if it was a realistic idea, I will start with trimming out the inner fender then mill the wheel, that should be enough room. I really want these 10s to fit. Godspeed MrC.
Where are you measuring to come up with a 10" width? The width of a wheel is measured from bead seat to bead seat, and not across the outside width of the wheel. Just curious because the wheel in your pic doesn't look 10" wide to me.
metlmunchr is correct, if they are cast in 8.5, then that's what they are. Too wide is too wide. It would be one thing if you had a lathe or mill for the mods, but paying a machine shop to do this would cost far more than the wheels are worth. If you are set on using the slot wheels; go with your plan #6, put the 8 in. wheels on the rear and find some 6-7 inchers for the front. Swap meets and Craigslist are full of those wheels.
The actual measurement is the where the bead seats to the wheel which is that radius at the bottom of the wheel lip on the inside. Most of the time those measurements are nominal at best, no one would by a wheel that measured 8.48 for example and most people would not even grasp that it is only 1/64 less that .5" or 1/2". Sometimes the .5" had to do with copy write or patent infringement. Say for instance company x has a 9" wheel that is covered under a patent and company Y wants to make a wheel that is identical to it they call there wheel an 8.5 to got around the patent. Someone explained it that way to me once and it sounded like sound logic.
I've successfully milled wheels so they'd fit a car. It was 1981 and they were Cragar SSTs on my daily driver '74 MG Midget. The wheels were too thick for it's puny studs. Milling 1/4" off the wheels' mounting face fixed the problem. We used shank/Mag style lug nuts and had to ensure the shanks were long enough to capture enough threads on the studs, but not so long that they didn't squeeze the wheel against the hub. Fortunately, the little 4-banger didn't have enough power to worry about excessive stresses. Sorry for the OT picture, but it proves it _can_ be done.
Here's another HAMB thread with an example of milling wheels: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/i-had-my-halibrand-wheels-milled.654454/
If things are that tight with the wheel what happens when you put a tire on it can you get it in and out of the wheel well?
After much debate, I dropped off the wheels at a friends with a mill, He looked over the plan and said no problem. I decided to cut the wheel down .25 rather than cut my car, that should net me enough room for the tires I plan on running. This wheel with tire 205/60/15 does not rub but is to close, I will be using a 235/60/15 when finished. I have also raised the car 3 inches, that is also a factor since the inner wheel well tappers. This is the pad I am shaving down, I will post an after pic, for those that might be interested. Godspeed MrC.
When you first started talking about this, I was pretty skeptical. The more I listened to the inteligencia, the more I got on board. Hope it works out for you, good luck. Tim
Sounds like you may have it resolved but if the tire or rim rubs the outside of the wheel well you can gain a little more clearance by pushing the inner wheel well out. Use a piece of wood dowel, broom stick, baseball bat, whatever and stick it between tire and well and roll the car, rolling the dowel around the opening to collapse the well towards the quarter panel. I've done it before and you can gain a little room before distorting the quarter.
Ok guys here's the results of milling down the wheels .25 I have to say I am very pleased with the results. before/after and installed. You can see how the wheel really fills up the wheel well and fender. I still needed to trim the inners fenders due to the tires I picked but milling the wheel was the right decision. Thanks for all the input. Godspeed MrC.
Thanks for the compliments everyone, I struggled with taking the bags off the car and raising it up, But since I put the 472 in, it has been really feeling like a hotrod. That's the reason for the new wheels and altitude adjustment. I really wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. Thanks again Godspeed MrC.
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