My wife thinks this is a joke. I have had about every kind of wheel on this car, and am never fully satisfied. The wheels on it now are for a Dakota pickup truck. They fit fine, but have the now common 3 3/4" back spacing which puts the rears in a nice place, but places the fronts a little too far out. The left front tire rubs the front fender when backing up and turning to the left. It is not going to hurt anything, but I would like to make it better.

My all time favorite handling on this car came from old 15x7" cop car wheels. It handled like it was on rails. The Dakota wheels were a step back in that department, but were cheap (Pep Boys) and look good. But the car picked up an over steer with these wheels and it does not self center as nicely as it did with the proper 4 1/4" back spacing.

I have considered going back to the tried and true Mopar Rally wheels which I kind of like. They are attractive, but just a bit tame for my taste and not cheap any more.

I know Lou has Mustang wheels on his Darts, with spacers. I have been told spacers are a bad idea, but he seems to get by just fine, and drives his cars way harder than I ever will. However, the one time I tried putting a Mustang wheel on my Dart, it hit the rear springs before even contacting the disk surface. I did not pursue it further.

Any ideas or thoughts out there? Any cool, favorites you are using, or have seen, or have thought about? This is not a high priority. I am just letting it simmer in the back of my brain for now. If something came along I might spring for it though.

Sam

_________________

Spacers work just fine when properly designed and fabricated.

Mustang wheels fit just fine once the proper steps are taken. Adding the late model brakes up front widens the track and then the Mustang rims are closer to bolting on. In the rear you either need spacers or go with a wider rear end.

It isn't necessarily cheap or easy but it can be done.

Sam,

What style wheels do you like? The Ansen Sprint wheels American Racing makes are close in 15x7" with 4" back spacing, but still not ideal. I have 17x8" +28mm offset wheels on the front of my Valiant no spacers required. 17x9" with +27mm offset on the rear with 1" billet aluminum spacers. Tires are 235/45R17 and 255/40R17. I did have to bore out the wheel center hole to fit over the front hubs.

I run 17" wheels because there aren't any very high performance street tires available in 15" suitable for our cars. None. There are little 15" tires that suit me Neon and other small cars, but there hasn't been a 245/50R15 street tire in years.

_________________
Joshua

Thanks Josh, I guess those would be OK. The five spoke wheels are what I like the best. Ralley's are still on the shopping list I suppose. I really like the looks of the wheels in the photo here. Andy, I will look into the Mustang wheels eventually. I think Lou has been trying to get me to do that for years. I'm just in the nosing around stage at this point.

Sam

_________________

I like the Ansen Sprint wheels myself. They are available in 17", but the offset they offer would reduce the size tire I can run in the front, but would eliminate the spacers in the rear.

Are you referring to a photo of another wheel?

I've also got a set of 17x8" Mustang Mach 1 wheels which are a modern interpretation of the Magnum 500. I ran them on my Dakota for a while. I'll use them on my Barracuda when it's converted to big bolt pattern.

_________________
Joshua

Thanks for the photos. I understand the confusion about my photo, as these are indeed 6 spoke wheels. But, even though I said I prefer a five spoke wheel, I do like the looks of these as well. All things considered, if I had to chose between a 5 spoke, and a 6 spoke wheel, the one that comes the closest to being the correct offset is the one I would choose at this point.

Sam

_________________

Oooohhh, Sam is back into it!!

I just hard drove my '64 Dart up to MA. Spacers and 16X8 SSR Integrals are holding fine after 8 yrs of pounding. The Mustang rims are hard to beat for price and availability. I bought a set of 16X7.5 Mustang rims (V6 car, yr 2000) for ~ $200 shipped a few years back. They are light and look good. 17X8s off a V8 GT Mustang (~ 1999 year) are also great. If you want to spend more, get the really light and cool Enkei RPF1s in 17X8 or so. I've been eyeing those for one of my cars.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Here's a fly in the ointment: I have four brand new 15" Yokohamas on the Dart now. I can't justify shelving them. I guess I will have to drive the car hard and wear them out.
Sam

_________________

Two words: track weekend...

I'll meet you at Summit Point and we can dice it up on the track!

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Can I drive the Miata?

Sam

_________________

Since your car is red, I think it would look cool to go with the black steelies, dog dishes with the red ring and then either a red stripe on the tire or a small red pin stripe close to the outer edge of the wheel.

I agree. That would be throw back to earlier 30's and 40's cars, but would look cool I suppose. Those 15x7 cop car steel rallys certainly made the car handle very well. I want to get back to that track, which was almost 1 inch narrow all around. Actually, it might be nice to put spacers behind the rears if I went back to 4.25 back space on a 7" wheel.That would square it up, which should help the over steer.

Thanks for your thoughts. I will live with that idea for awhile, and keep my eyes open for a set of old cop car rally wheels. Saving my pennies till I eat up these tires as Lou suggests might be the thing to do right now.

Sam

_________________

I see Summit has the Chrysler Police Wheels for $85 a piece...they look pretty nice, I think they'd look really good with the red body color.

_________________
1963 Plymouth Fury 4-door, 225 /6, 3-speed manual w/ OD, "super six", Mopar electronic ignition

I vote for the Ansen sprints if you want to keep your tires.

The cop car rims (I have 5) are way heavy.

If your going to 17s the Mustang is my vote. (Ansen sprints also in 17")

_________________
Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

I agree, all the steel rims are really heavy (unsprung weight). Aluminum rims can be really heavy too, so watch out. I always find out weights before I buy. The factory Mustang rims are pretty light for their size. There are still some decent tires in 15" sizes, just not a huge selection.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988