problem with 15" steel wheels

[72lidart]

Approx 3 months ago I purchased a set of small bolt pattern 15 x 7" steel wheels with 4.25" back spacing for my 72 dart from a place on ebay that takes original small bolt steel wheel center sections and puts them on new 15" outer steel wheels. When I finally got around to painting them and getting new BFG T/A's mounted I found that the front wheels are rubbing on the calipers and will not mount. The rear tires are mounted and look great but the fronts will not clear the calipers. I compared my stock 14 x 4.5" steel wheels to the new 15" wheels and found that the outer wheel that they used is different than the stock wheels. When you look at the back of the stock wheels you can see the angle of the second step (transition) has a different angle than the new wheels. Has anyone ever had any problems like this?. It appears if the back spacing was either 3.75 inch or 4.00 inch it would give enough clearance for the caliper. Do you think that I would have any clearance issues if I had someone change the back space on the new wheels to a smaller back space?. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Or could I get away with trying to find .25 inch wheel spacers and using longer wheel studs. Thanks again.

 

[dusterdon]

I'd contact the seller and see if he could help you.

 

[Keith Mopar]

small bolt rims came in 2 types, ( Non ralley) one for drums only and one that cleared the disc brake equiped cars. I found this out the hard way as well. I went to move an old 70 Dart, and bought 4 rims with me and found out one rim was different than the rest so I had one that would bolt on to the disc brake and the other 3 would not bolt on to the front of the car. dam I wasted a lot of time that day!

Someone on this site filled me in with this info.

 

[redfastback]

Yes Ma mopar and Ford both did the stupid thing and made disc and drum brake steel wheels......why ???? the answer will never be known.

Who made them?? maybe they can set you up right.

 

[duckbuster]

Redfastback I think they all did. I know for a fact chevy and amc did the same thing.

 

[grumpuscreature]

The wheel maker probably used 13" centers. They are a lot easier to find. Know that 14" SBP steel wheels cleared the KH calipers since that was what was on dad's '72 Dart. Summit has wheel spacers but the closest bolt circle is 5X100mm. They will go on a 5X4 but they are a few thousandths smaller and will cause the wheel studs to break, so you will have to open them up a bit on the inner edge. Hope this helps.