wheelmasters.....clue me in.

i bought some supremes last winter in what i thought was a universal/ford pattern. when i hold them up to the wheel my stock lugs barely poke thru the lug slots. is this a pretty typical thing that is fixed by replacing the stock lug bolts with longer ones or is their no way in hell these are for ford? wheres a good place to score hubcentric rings for these? heres a stolen pic to show what the back of these wheels look like. thanks.

mothradeath wrote:i bought some supremes last winter in what i thought was a universal/ford pattern. when i hold them up to the wheel my stock lugs barely poke thru the lug slots.

If they stick thru, they are the right pattern.
Dodge/Ford is 5 lug, 4.5 inch circle.
Chevy is 5 lug, 4.75 inch circle.

mothradeath wrote:is this a pretty typical thing that is fixed by replacing the stock lug bolts with longer ones or is their no way in hell these are for ford?

Looks like a steel rim with an aluminum center welded in. A thick section for the lugs means that the stock lugs are often too short. Swap to longer studs.

mothradeath wrote:wheres a good place to score hubcentric rings for these? heres a stolen pic to show what the back of these wheels look like. thanks.

Hub-centric is a more modern deal. Old school aftermarket rims were all lug-centric. Unless you are planning on entering autocross events and have updated suspension, I wouldn't worry about it, especially with new studs.
If you absolutely MUST have hub rings, ask your local rim place. Make sure to have the wheels to measure AND the van or an exact measurement of your hubs. Make sure to check front and back.

I used these. I did check and the rims are not hub centric. I think I got them from a site called lug nut king.

haha. wtf am i looking at there? i understand the bullet but how does that work? are you saying you have supremes and are not currently using hub rings?

ok....i think ive got it figured out. i had no idea there are lugnuts that have shanks on them. so the shank goes into the wheel slot but rather than bottoming out on the hub the face of the nut tightens to the face of the wheel? still....no hub rings?

Yes ,lug centric not hub centric. I took the supremes off my 62 t bird and ran them on my econoline, haven't had any problems with them on either the car or truck even though there not hub centric.

aight. thanks guys. those lugs made my head spin. after dealing with vws and tuner style wheels and whatnot i thought i had a pretty good clue on whats up. i guess not the case in dealing with this dinosaur technology. haha. after getting on ebay for a bit...i found a guy who sells a little "kit" for supreme wheels including 20 bullet lugs and 4 center cap bullets for like $60.

good price -ya  i know -thats why ur here =get that free advice from us old guys!!= 

The enlongated lug nut holes we're origionally designed & pattented by - ET wheel corp- like in mid -late 60's era.

yea...i never utilized a shank style lug before and the pic chainsaw threw up with the washer still on the lug had me going what in the f? i got it now tho.

 

Be sure and put a couple of good heavy coats of paste wax on them. It will help seal the pores in the chrome and help prevent rust.

Duane in Tennessee

When you put them on start all the lugs at the same time with just the chamfer started in the rim. If you try to put one lug all the way in and then start the rest it wont work. Hope that made sense, might have had one two many margritas.

One other opinion on lug nuts with shanks...

I prefer to put a light coat of anti-seize on the lug studs so the chrome in the threads doesn't ball up, and also on the inside of the shank holes, since again this is a hard chrome surface. Some will say that NO lubricant should be used, but I've found that clean dry threads work on bare steel or soft plated (phosphate or cadmium) lugs and nuts but causes issues on hard plating.

I will also start one lug and get it on about 3/4 of the way, then rotate the wheel so it's at the bottom then hand install the remaining lugs. Since the Dodge/Ford pattern is the smaller circle, it's to the inside of the oblong slots. This procedure allows the one lug to hold the wheel at he right up/down height, the remaining lugs only require slipping the wheel side-to-side to start. For Chevies, start the first one on top and install the rest below (outside of slots). It's a bit of a hassle and you want to do the whole thing by hand so you don't jam stuff and heat up things with speed. I also run any new lug nuts all the way on and off before hanging the wheel to make sure they get along.

Having a lug nut ball up the chrome in the threads and strip will turn a simple wheel remove and install into a big pain. Cutting off the lug nut and stud close to flush with the wheel using a die grinder and not messing up the chrome wheel is an exacting process filled with dread and danger to you and the wheel!

Oops, gotta talk more...

The lug nuts come with various length shanks. They must NOT extend past the inside wheel face! They normally end up being about 1/8 inch from the face when held in the hole from the front with the correct washers.
Next, the new lug studs must extend out the end of the lug hole on the wheel but not be so long the nuts bottom out on the end of the stud before clamping the wheel if you are using an acorn or other closed end lug nut.
When I had to change studs on my 2002 van, I had to get longer studs, drill out the holes, install the studs and then cut off and face the ends so everything worked properly. This was a worst-case scene, but goes to show that you can't just expect to buy an aftermarket part and expect it to be a perfect fit in every case.

excellent. i will me thinking about all those suggestions. thank you.

now that weve got that figured out, i just have to figure out the perfect white wall tire to fit these 14s.  these are PERFECT.