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Sat Dec 11, 2010 6:40 pm

1) What is the widest stock wheel they made with the wide five pattern in 15".

2) Can a wide five wheel be purchased aftermarket that allows you to use the stock hub cap?

3) Has anyone welded the center of a wide five wheel onto another rim?

Trying to come up with a wider wheel that goes on a wide five pattern and uses the stock hub cap.

Thanks, Deron.

Sat Dec 11, 2010 6:49 pm

My buddy took his stock Nova rims and had them split and widend. Is that spelled right?

Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:25 pm

there are a ton of ppl that take their stock wheels to a shop and have the centers cut out and put on a wider barrel. there is actually a place in california that everyone there seems to love but idk the name. someone else will though im sure.

but yes its pretty common now.

Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:25 pm

Quote: and widend. Is that spelled right?

Widened - one more E

Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:38 pm

P.S. If you are going to widen wheels, better make sure you have the correct width tires to go on it and the correct load range for a bus. It is a utility truck that has quite a bit of weight in the rear. The guy who sold me my CJ7 in 1982 put a set of wide Enki rims on it. They were beautiful but the first rain storm I was all over the place like a hockey puck on a skating rink. The tires were pulled so that they were U shaped and had very little footprint. Wider tires solved the issue but it was pretty scary for the first few weeks while I figured out what was going on. You don't want to widen them until you know the optimal width for the tires you are going to buy.

Here is a chart from online. I cannot vouch for its numbers but it is probably good. Normally the optimal wheel width is 1/2 way in between the allowable range.

http://customwheelsmarket.com/rimwheelwidth1.html

Sat Dec 11, 2010 10:27 pm

Sure, centers and rims can be taken apart, switched, and welded. Also the rims themselves can be cut and a insert welded in.

Sun Dec 12, 2010 3:09 am

deronmoped wrote: 1) What is the widest stock wheel they made with the wide five pattern in 15".

2) Can a wide five wheel be purchased aftermarket that allows you to use the stock hub cap?

3) Has anyone welded the center of a wide five wheel onto another rim?

Trying to come up with a wider wheel that goes on a wide five pattern and uses the stock hub cap.

Thanks, Deron.

Answer to your #1 question... 5" wide was the maximum in a 15" diameter (early-to-mid-1960s?) IIRC, but the good answers already given to your questions #2 & #3 illustrate a better way to go. Make sure the guys who widen the wheels for you give you the correct back spacing also, to avoid possible brake & steering component interference.

Check out the widening operation carefully; some have reputations for shoddy work. Not an area of replacement parts in which one wants to gamble.

Sun Dec 12, 2010 4:48 am

Stockton Wheel Service in Stockton, Ca. is who you need to talk to. They have a site and are very good at what they do. I remember a Friend with a '55 Bug and it had rear tires on it that looked to be 8 inches wide. Stockton did the wheel and they looked like stock VW.

Sun Dec 12, 2010 10:14 am

I agree with aiming for the center of the acceptable widths. Too wide and your wheels will be what scuffs against a curb or bangs a rock and too narrow and you may have issues with keeping the tread flat. For good handling it is usually important to keep the offset close to original.

If you run a 215/70R14 tire on either a 5.5" wide rim or a 7.0" wide rim, so long as the rims have the same offset the tire will run with about the same clearances. While if you go with a different offset you may have problems even if you don't change the width of the rims.