Edumacate me on OEM vs aftermarket wheels

[Huskinhano]

I'm getting to the next phase on my 66 Mustang now that my suspension is basically done and driving the car. Years back I bought AR TTD's. I like them but the back spacing isn't the best but mostly because 15" tire selection in the size I need or want isn't that great. Going to a 17" opens up a whole lot of options. Great selection, price and now the wheel clears the upper ball joint to run a wider wheel or better back spacing for my narrow fenders. With a 4.75" bs, I can run a 17" x 8" wheel with 235/45/17 tires especially with my suspension mods. Another benifit is since I still have drums up front, there are a ton of kits that allow me to run a 13.2" rotor and caliper from late model 5.0's that you can get cheap as new take offs on ebay.

A popular wheel on early Mustangs is from the 99-04 Mustang GT, 17" x 8". You can get these all day long used and cheap off ebay and Graigslist. I do need to run a .5" spacer in the rear and a 1" adapter in front. I can get them in billet form which is what I would use. Not crazy about the spacer/billet part but I'm not racing. The big plus though, is the undisputed quality of an OEM wheel. I know the aftermarket makes copies of OEM wheels. About a year ago I contacted a vender on ebay about one of these for my 06 Freestar. The vendor told me that these aftermarket wheels meet the exact same standards as OEM and are DOT legal. One of the reasons I'm asking about this option is I could get a brand new set of wheels for close to the price of used OEM. I'd like to use the 04 Mach 1 wheel which is not as common as the regular grey 5 spoke GT wheel.

Then there is the aftermarket that makes a 17" x 8" with the correct 4.75" back spacing, such as the Coy's 67 that I wouldn't need to run any spacers.

This is the aftermarket Mach1 that I really like.


The regular OEM GT wheel


And the Coy's

[Barry Donovan]

mustang should be easy.
The spacer part of your buld got may attention. those are rarely good..
there is a line load for bearings, the backspace must be across it towards wheel well.

else big problems arise.

the mustang probably doe snot need to think of those things, custom wheels have been around forever.
With the old mustangs there is power numbers and weight change, go for tougher.

[Huskinhano]

Barry, the back spacing would be correct for my car at 4.75" with a 8" wheel. With the 04 wheel has a 5.72" back spacing so with the 1" adapter on the front I would have a net of 4.72". The rear at .5" puts the wheel right in the sweet spot for clearance in the fender.

[DanStokes]

Remember that if you find what you REALLY want, the back spacing can be modified. There's Stoughton Wheel (sp?) in CA and a place in Livonia MI - the name slips my mind but Milner or someone can fill in the blank.

Dan

[Huskinhano]

Dan, I'm more interested in the quality of construction between OEM vs aftermarket. I realized I wasn't too clear in my post. The bs is not a concern because I know what my options are.

[1badmonkey]

best way I could think to explain the difference, quality control

Coys and most new aftermarket wheels are Chinese. I mounted a set of Coys for a customer last week, and the finish was just terrible.

ebay only vendors sell wheels that are cheaper, and they are cheaper for a reason.

I would be more worried about the half inch space than a billet adapter, I run 1.5 inch adapters on my 2wd Suburban with no issues.

the cheaper ebay stuff might have porous casting that can leak, and again, the finish isnt always good..

[Beagle]

I've never had a problem with the OEM Ford stuff - I managed to roll the lip off of a 96 Cobra rim at 50+ mph into a curb several years ago... about 8" of busted rim lip, you could see the tire bead kind of OOOOOPS. It held the bead long enough to get home. It was flat in the morning, but it gave me a lot of faith in OEM specs.

[fast Ed]

Not answering your question, but are you sure on the 8" width under the 66 front fenders? I'm all for jamming the most wheel and tire you can get under all 4 corners, but most guys I've seen are running 7" on the front of the early Mustangs. On my 68 Cougar, which of course has pretty close dimensions to 67-68 Mustang, even a 7.5" wheel was pretty close.

I'm assuming that you have / will research this a bit on the vintage Mustang forums before making a purchase!


cheers
Ed

[Huskinhano]

best way I could think to explain the difference, quality control

Coys and most new aftermarket wheels are Chinese. I mounted a set of Coys for a customer last week, and the finish was just terrible.

ebay only vendors sell wheels that are cheaper, and they are cheaper for a reason.




I would be more worried about the half inch space than a billet adapter, I run 1.5 inch adapters on my 2wd Suburban with no issues.

the cheaper ebay stuff might have porous casting that can leak, and again, the finish isnt always good..

Charles, thanks for the info. That's exactly what I was looking for.

[Huskinhano]

Not answering your question, but are you sure on the 8" width under the 66 front fenders? I'm all for jamming the most wheel and tire you can get under all 4 corners, but most guys I've seen are running 7" on the front of the early Mustangs. On my 68 Cougar, which of course has pretty close dimensions to 67-68 Mustang, even a 7.5" wheel was pretty close.

I'm assuming that you have / will research this a bit on the vintage Mustang forums before making a purchase!


cheers
Ed

Ed, yes I have looked into it. I'm running a modified front suspension that has a better camber curve as well as more static camber. I'm at 1 3/8* neg camber. I'll roll my fender lips if I have to. I spoke with one guy on my Mustang forum who's running a 17x8 with 235/45/17 on his 66. I need to have 4.75" bs in order to do it. A lot of 17" rims for early Mustangs have 4.5" bs which won't cut it on a 65-66. 17x7, ok.

Here's a chart of known tire sizes and wheels that will work along with notes as what needs to be done. This is based on actual combinations.

http://www.dodgestang.com/emAlbum/albums/Tire%20and%20Wheel%20Charts%201965-1973/Tire%20and%20Wheel%20Chart/Tire%20Fitment%20Guide%2065-6.pdf

Here's on for 67-68 Mustangs, I'd assume it will work for your Cat.

http://www.dodgestang.com/emAlbum/albums/Tire%20and%20Wheel%20Charts%201965-1973/Tire%20and%20Wheel%20Chart/Tire%20Fitment%20Guide%2067-8.pdf

[fast Ed]

I didn't realize that you had so much negative camber, that will certainly help to tuck the top of the tires in the fenders! Got away with 16x9.5" with 245/50 on my old Fox track car with about 3.5 degrees of camber. LOL

BTW, I don't have the Cougar any more, sold that about 5 years ago. Wouldn't mind getting a 70 to do sort of Trans-Am style, even though they didn't run anything other than 67-68 Cougars in that series that I have ever seen.

cheers
Ed

[SpiderGearsMan]

17" is too bling bling

[Huskinhano]

17" is too bling bling

It's more based on economics and practicality. The 17" opens up a lot of options. Chrome rims would be bling-bling.

[Beagle]

16" tire selections are getting thin, same with 15's... availability if one gets damaged... I think you are thinking right.

[SpiderGearsMan]

coker has every size of 15 ....c mon dude ...no problem getting 15 and 16 at work