14" vs 15" Rims

I was thinking of putting 15" old style steel rims on my van to give it a beefier tire look. I found a set for $300 with good cooper tires on them, but I'm not sure it would be worth the money with not a lot of difference in appearance.

Right now I have 14" rims with P205/70/R14 and the for sale set is 15" rims with 225/75/R15.

The 15" rims seem to be 6" wide, so a 225 tire is about as wide as you can go, maybe 235. Did they make old style steel rims that could take dog dish hub caps that were wider than 6"?

Mopar made 7" rims. You can get aftermarket rims like I got in 7, 8 and even 10". They take the standard 10 1/8" dog dishes. Only problem with them is that they have a +6mm offset and they should be 0 offset imo. They are lug centric and have to be balanced on the lugs.

Mine are 7" all around w/ 225/60's. I would have gone 235/60's but they're only available in BF T/A's and were twice the cost for the rubber. Also, that size may rub the drag link at full turn right. Not sure you can put a 235 on a 6" rim.

http://www.wheelvintiques.com/o-e-chevy-ford-bare-finish.html

Thanks for the info and link Seth. Seems like a pretty good option because the ones I was looking at dont really gain me much being the same 6" width that I have now, just an inch taller.

Yeah, taller isn't necessarily a good thing imo, depends on what you're after though. I like the low slung look with these vans. I'd like to get mine an inch or two lower really, but I'm liking where it's at to. Those wheels are ~25.5", w/ 235/60's they're ~26". I used 5mm wheel spacers to bring them back out.

When I first picked up my van I was still doing HVAC refer and bldg control work and drove a new econoline. I found it amusing to have them parked side by side, the new van dwarfed the 64 like night and day. But really not much more room inside, a little for sure.

One thing to be aware of is the oem econo dog dishes were smaller. Somewhere around 9" vs the more common 10" ones. Afaik they were all that size. At least the common ones you see in either crome or painted white with the long diamond through the middle and f o r d on either side.

Seth did you do the 15" or 14"?

I have 15" rims on my E Pup and I just ordered hubs from this eBay shop. They were super helpful in making sure I got the right size. I'll post pics once they are attached.

baby moon here...

uante wrote:Seth did you do the 15" or 14"?

15x7's

They replaced the 14x5.5"??'s that came with the van. They had 195/75 R14's on them. I wanted to keep about the same diameter wheel which was ~25.5"

Laserwolf, those are nice hubcaps. I fixed the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-CAP-DEAL-BABY-MOON-WHEEL-RIM-CHROME-STEEL-CENTER-CAPS-10-1-8-ID-10-1-2-OD-/322171886696?hash=item4b02f0dc68:g:jBkAAOSwjXRXcZSc

Killer, thanks Seth! Truck is getting painted now, but can't wait to pop these on with the beauty rings!

I've always liked those baby moon hub caps. They remind me of an old matchbox car with plain wheels held on with a rivit axle.

I went and looked at these rims today, and they aren't what I want. They are only 6" rims so they have the max tire width of 225 on them already and are not much different from what I have already. Also since they are 75/R15 they are 28" tall. Measuring 14" from the center of the hub on my van they only clear the bottom front corner of the front wheel well by 3/4".

Even if I went with 60/R15 on those rims, they would be pretty much the same look as I have now with 75/R14.

I'll just hold out for something else. Seth the ones you gave the link to are a bit expensive. about $82 per rim, with another $45 per rim powder coat, plus $20 shipping per rim. All that before tires. Guess original skinny whimpy wheels that I have are coming back in style anyway...I'll just stick with them. lol

I took my baby moons to the paint shop today to make sure they fit on my e pup and they look great! very stoked with the product. Unfortunately the beauty rings I ordered did not fit so I'll be sending them back.

Did you get the rings from ebay? Are they the ones with the little teeth all the way around. I have those and they were just a little too big until I bent all the teeth in a little with some needle nose pliers and then they fit.

Yeah, those are the ones. They are too big to adjust. What size are your rims and rings? Mine are 15" and 15". These are supposed to sit in deep enough to where you can still see some of the rim in-between ring and tire.I sent a picture of my wheels and dimensions to seller at their request before I purchased and they assured me rings would fit but the inner space of rim looks to be around 13.5"-14" across ( can't get an exact read ). Waiting to hear back from them on what rings will work. Hopefully they don't work me on that bs 20% "restocking fee".

Yeah they are pricey, esp once you have them powder coated. I looked for some 7" ones locally for a long time, I found 1 here 1 there, but never a set. Finally gave up and bought them, I justified it telling myself I'd just rattle can them, but when I got them I was like wtf, and had them coated. I think I have around $750 in the wheels with the tires. More than I paid for the van LOL

http://www.ebay.com/itm/230831235336?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

These were the rings I bought. You can see the tabs I had to bend on one of the secondary pictures.

@ Seth... Really more than for the whole van? LOL

My 14" rims measure the same as yours...you need 14" rings.

Thanks for pic. The seller said the same thing. Unfortunately they told me the first time I need 15" rings so now I'm paying shipping 3 times which is almost the cost of the rings. Once to Hawaii, once back to seller and again back to Hawaii. The price you pay to live in paradise : )

North Shore huh? Nice! Did a little hanging out at Bellows beach myself back as a kid in the 70's

uante wrote:North Shore huh? Nice! Did a little hanging out at Bellows beach myself back as a kid in the 70's

Right on brother! I'm right here at Pipeline. Made the move from Florida about 8 years ago. One rust haven to the next.

I think I'm going to go with these rims you gave the link for Seth.
15" x 7" with 235/60/R15 tires

With the 15" x 7" rims with 235" I get about an extra 1.5" to 2" in width but about the same overall height in wheel.



I was going to get 2003/4 Mustang Mach 1 rims like the ones pictured in this van I almost bought but got snookered out of! However a couple people have talked me out of it and into staying with Original style rims. Initially that's what I set out to do, just wanted a wider look. I guess I just got caught up in all the "What if's"

I've decided I'm going to go forward with trying to find a set of 2004 Mustang Mach 1 rims. I found a great set that were on a T-Bird for $850 with good tires, but unfortunately they are 9" wide. They are listed as 17" x 9" with 275/40/17R tires. That means the tires are 10" wide and 25" tall. I think from what we've talked about that these are too wide to fit a stock front end set up.

Just buy the Tbird.

Wolfster wrote:Just buy the Tbird.

Naw, that'd be taking the easy way out lol

I had a red 57 Tbird that had a 302HO and AODE. One of my favorites. Wish I still had it but I have this habit of whenever someone offers me a lot more than what I have in them, they're sold. And then it's on to the next.