I love small bolt rallye wheels - and making the most of them

-
str12-340

str12-340

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2012
Messages
4,282
Reaction score
3,929
Location
Vashon, WA
I bought my first set of rallye wheels for my 70 Dart in 1976. I followed a guy with a 70 340 Duster with brand new Cragar SS mags home and asked him to sell his old factory wheels to me. They were holding down plastic in his garden and he let them go for $20 for all four.

I love these wheels but wanted more rubber and came up with the following:
By using various supplier's kits to move the springs in 3/4 of an inch on both sides (yes there is a big squall about how far this moves the springs). I found that I could get 7 inch wide rallyes on the car with 245 60- 14 tires. With the Dart Wheel wells you can't go out much if at all. But you can get them to make the wheels with custom offsets so you can get the extra 1 1/2 inches (compared to factory 5 1/2 wide wheels), all on the inside and retain the factory look on the face that shows. I think all the new rallyes that are being made start at 6 inches wide as opposed to 5 1/2. and they are made with the extra 1/2 inch on the inside. If you go that way, the factory trim rings fit like they should without a big gap between the ring and the wheel. By using 205-70 14s on the front you get very close to the same side wall height front and back with more tread width on the back and from the side of the car they look the same front and back. I just put together a new set for my current project and here are some pictures for your consideration.

DSC03063.JPG
DSC03064.JPG
DSC03065.JPG
DSC03069.JPG
DSC03071.JPG
DSC03070.JPG
DSC03072.JPG
 
Nice ! I also prefer the blackwall. Doesn't seem to take away from the beauty of the wheel. Most of my buddies prefer raised white letters. Hope to see you at Carlisle
 
I wanted to put body colored steel wheels with red line dog dish caps, but the SSBC disc brakes up front "put the brakes" on that idea (pun intended). So, I kept the 14 X 5 1/2 Rallyes up front (P195-75R14) and found a pair of WheelVintiques 15 X 7 (from Ken member 72Dart6pack) for the rear (P245-60R15).

1-Hagerty (show off)-5.jpg
 
I have put my 70 dart back to 14 inch SBP Ralleys. Although I admit i wouldnt mind a nice set of slots to switch back and forth with.
 
DartGTDan said:
I wanted to put body colored steel wheels with red line dog dish caps, but the SSBC disc brakes up front "put the brakes" on that idea (pun intended). So, I kept the 14 X 5 1/2 Rallyes up front (P195-75R14) and found a pair of WheelVintiques 15 X 7 (from Ken member 72Dart6pack) for the rear (P245-60R15).

View attachment 1715923822
Click to expand...

You got the "Look" ^^^ with this one!
 
str12-340 said:
I bought my first set of rallye wheels for my 70 Dart in 1976. I followed a guy with a 70 340 Duster with brand new Cragar SS mags home and asked him to sell his old factory wheels to me. They were holding down plastic in his garden and he let them go for $20 for all four.

I love these wheels but wanted more rubber and came up with the following:
By using various supplier's kits to move the springs in 3/4 of an inch on both sides (yes there is a big squall about how far this moves the springs). I found that I could get 7 inch wide rallyes on the car with 245 60- 14 tires. With the Dart Wheel wells you can't go out much if at all. But you can get them to make the wheels with custom offsets so you can get the extra 1 1/2 inches (compared to factory 5 1/2 wide wheels), all on the inside and retain the factory look on the face that shows. I think all the new rallyes that are being made start at 6 inches wide as opposed to 5 1/2. and they are made with the extra 1/2 inch on the inside. If you go that way, the factory trim rings fit like they should without a big gap between the ring and the wheel. By using 205-70 14s on the front you get very close to the same side wall height front and back with more tread width on the back and from the side of the car they look the same front and back. I just put together a new set for my current project and here are some pictures for your consideration.

View attachment 1715923800 View attachment 1715923801 View attachment 1715923802 View attachment 1715923803 View attachment 1715923804 View attachment 1715923805 View attachment 1715923806
Click to expand...

Very nice! Are these wheel vintiques? I was test fitting some wheels I bought from them and it seems like they dont fit well over the KH front hubs? any issues with yours?
 
j_anderson said:
I was test fitting some wheels I bought from them and it seems like they dont fit well over the KH front hubs? any issues with yours?
Click to expand...

Yes - I found 2 things:
1)these Wheel Vintiques rallyes are more precisely made as "hub centric" wheels than original Rallye wheels, which I think is good, but if you have corrosion or paint built up on the hub, it will interfere with the fit. I ended up using some medium grit sand paper and then some steel wool to really make the hubs clean.
2) Vintiques makes the wheels for a tight fit and then they powder coat the wheels (which makes for a great durable finish) and they do not seem to take thickness and durability of the coating into account when they engineer the wheels, so I ended up sanding the inside surface of the hole for the hub to remove the powder coat.
In both cases I put a thin coat of bearing grease on the bare surfaces to keep them from rusting and now they seem to come on and off with ease. This was not the case with earlier sets of these wheels (mid 1990s and 2005) that I got from them in the past but they were, I believe, just painted.
 
8FD5B3A4-7D57-49F3-984A-953700AB07BE.jpeg
8FD5B3A4-7D57-49F3-984A-953700AB07BE.jpeg
I have 245/60-14s on my 70 dart with the stock wheels without relocating the spring. And yes, they are really too wide for the wheel. It was like that when i bought it.

4DD322BF-B2C8-4400-93EE-611361D401C5.jpeg
 
15x7 (4.5 back space) and 255-60's on the rear. 14x6 and 205-70's on the front.
They are close on the rear but no rub. (closer on one side)

001.jpg


052.JPG
 
str12-340 said:
Yes - I found 2 things:
1)these Wheel Vintiques rallyes are more precisely made as "hub centric" wheels than original Rallye wheels, which I think is good, but if you have corrosion or paint built up on the hub, it will interfere with the fit. I ended up using some medium grit sand paper and then some steel wool to really make the hubs clean.
2) Vintiques makes the wheels for a tight fit and then they powder coat the wheels (which makes for a great durable finish) and they do not seem to take thickness and durability of the coating into account when they engineer the wheels, so I ended up sanding the inside surface of the hole for the hub to remove the powder coat.
In both cases I put a thin coat of bearing grease on the bare surfaces to keep them from rusting and now they seem to come on and off with ease. This was not the case with earlier sets of these wheels (mid 1990s and 2005) that I got from them in the past but they were, I believe, just painted.
Click to expand...

good to know. I figured the coating was causing the fitment issue. My hubs are clean already. Thanks for the advice. I’ll clean the powder coat off the inner wheel opening and see how they fit
 
str12-340 said:
I think all the new rallyes that are being made start at 6 inches wide as opposed to 5 1/2. and they are made with the extra 1/2 inch on the inside. If you go that way, the factory trim rings fit like they should without a big gap between the ring and the wheel. By using 205-70 14s on the front you get very close to the same side wall height front and back with more tread width on the back and from the side of the car they look the same front and back.
Click to expand...

I have a pair of NOS trim rings I planned to use. So when I ordered wheel vintiques, I stuck with 14x6 in front and 14x7 in the rear. Tonight I realized, I'm going to have a gap between the trim ring and wheel. I see now what you were talking about.

I already have the wheels and need to make the best of it. Is there a deeper trim ring that will work to achieve the same look (non-gap) as the factory OE wheel/ring?

Will this 3" ring work?
 
j_anderson said:
I have a pair of NOS trim rings I planned to use. So when I ordered wheel vintiques, I stuck with 14x6 in front and 14x7 in the rear. Tonight I realized, I'm going to have a gap between the trim ring and wheel. I see now what you were talking about.

I already have the wheels and need to make the best of it. Is there a deeper trim ring that will work to achieve the same look (non-gap) as the factory OE wheel/ring?

Will this 3" ring work?
Click to expand...
I don't think any trim rings will take up that gap. My Vintiques rallys have a sharp square edge on the hoop that the trim ring can't get past. Almost like they welded the centers onto the hoop backwards. There is a taper on the back side. Hard to explain. I will see if I can find some photos tomorrow.
 
toolmanmike said:
I don't think any trim rings will take up that gap. My Vintiques rallys have a sharp square edge on the hoop that the trim ring can't get past. Almost like they welded the centers onto the hoop backwards. There is a taper on the back side. Hard to explain. I will see if I can find some photos tomorrow.
Click to expand...

hmmm. well thats a bum deal! Hard to believe no one (not even wheel vintiques) makes a ring to close the gap on their off the shelf wheels.

I'm going to need tire recommendations too. You're running 14x6 and 205-70's on the front. So, what would be a good rear for a 14x7?
 
Last edited:
j_anderson said:
hmmm. well thats a bum deal! Hard to believe no one (not even wheel vintiques) makes a ring to close the gap on their off the shelf wheels.

I'm going to need tire recommendations too. You're running 14x6 and 205-70's on the front. So, what would be a good rear for a 14x7?
Click to expand...
What ever you can get up to a 255.
 
I believe that BFG TA radials are the widest readily available 14s at 245-60-14
 
So who is makin these wheels? I need some 14 x 7 plain steel wheels.
 
toolmanmike said:
I see Wheel Vintiques only has 15" in plain small bolt. They are fun on early A's though. There are Rallys in a 15x7 with a 4" backspace. All Wheels

View attachment 1715932054
Click to expand...
Yeah, but they don't have um in stock and don't know when they'll get them. I thought about 15s but I want 14s. I think 15s will be a little big for this car. I do like how yours looks though.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Yeah, but they don't have um in stock and don't know when they'll get them. I thought about 15s but I want 14s. I think 15s will be a little big for this car. I do like how yours looks though.
Click to expand...

Still waiting for you to put those nice 14" Aluminum Slots on there.

Would have those on there in a New York Minute.

Period Correct too . . .
Way Cool
 
Vintiques will make them with whatever backspacing you want
 
14 tires are getting harder to find in any width past 215. My Mazda still takes 14's Walmart Turkish tires! $43/pc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top