Can some one tell me how they measure rim width
It’s outside to outside side correct
My next question I have 4 new daytona wire wheels one measures 6 inch and 3 measured 7
Am I screwed
My portier book says they should be 5
Jim
Rim width is measured from inside to inside of where the tire seats. Google it if this is not clear. If you’re measuring from the outside I suspect you have one 5 inch and three 6 inch wheels.
Is there a problem with fitting 6inch verses 5
Like Bill wrote.
The first picture in the link shows what he described.
https://www.discounttire.com/learn/measuring-rim-width?storeCode=2184
Your 67 would have come with 5" wheels. Many here are running 6" wheels with no problems, so yes 6" wheels can be used.
Bump stops in the rear wheel wells will have to be removed and the mounts cut off if you’re planning to mount a modern wider tire. Tire will have a lower aspect ratio on the wider wheels. Many do not come in even moderately tall profiles. The Michelin Defender in the 205 size that many use is no longer offered in the 70 A/R according to the tire dealer I purchased from last week. 65 A/R is the tallest offered in that size. I would have your tire supplier to mount one and see how you like the look.
Not always true. I simply reduced the width of mine and the 205’s on 6" Daytons don’t rub at all.
Thks for the replies you guys I’ve been researching the archives for information. These are a new set I ordered years ago and today I discovered looking at them there wrong all wrong I’m so pissed I’ll have to post tomorrow
Have to see what my options are. Any thoughts appreciate
Jim
Interesting! I have less than a quarter inch of clearance with the mounts cut back nearly to the body seam. 1970 OTS so our cars shouldn’t be terribly different. Are your wheels centerlaced?
“ discovered looking at them there wrong all wrong”.
How are they wrong?
Standard 6" Daytons.
I removed the rubber bump stops and sectioned them to reduce the width by about 40%. I used a belt sander with an 80 grit belt to reduce the width of the mount back to the bolt holes for the rubber bumpers and beveled both ends of the bracket a bit.
Besides the section width of the tires clearance is going to depend, in part, on the camber of the rear wheels. Ands reported by others it also seems to vary car to car.
You really WANT 6" wheels - they give you many more tire options. So, you need to buy another 6" wheel. Just use the 5" one as your spare.
2 Likes
I have a headache
Well I’m doing a wire wheel course now,
Im still studying the options , the 6 inch rim will not fit in the boot correctly is that right . I was never concerned with this stuff because I thought I had factory rims
What tires will fit the 6 inch rim with no complications and what is the advantage to a wider rim, why would you pick it being there are clearance issues .
so as I see it
Replace them all there easy clean not period correct (should be curly hub)
Buy one and Deal with the fitting issue
Buy three and retain the easy clean
I discovered the issue looking through the archives for tires and figured I should check my rims #$&*$#@
I sure wish I had access to this group years ago
What do you think guys what would you do ,I’m not modifying bumper stops
Pissed off jim
Tht’s dictated more by the tire that is on the wheel rather than the wheel itself. Most p3eople say a 205 section width tire on a 6" wheel will interfere with the plywood cover When I bought my 6" wide wheels I kept one of the original 5" wheels for the spare. No problem with the boot even with a 205 section width tire mounted on it.
A 6" wide wheel multiplies the number of tires you can use. A few years ago I put together a list of many of the 205 tires that were available. Almost without exception the tire manufacturers specified a 5" to 7" wheel width with 5" being the absolute minimum, but based their measurements on a 6" width wheel. To put it simply a 6" wheel works best with those tires.
Clearance issues are minimal and easily corrected. Most here, if I can put words in their mouths, see the tradeoffs as worth it.
- Buy 1 new 6" wide wheel to go with the thr ee you already have, buy 205 width tires and deal with any clearance issues. Keep the 5" wheel for the spare.
- Buy 1 new 6" wide wheel and buy 185 Vredestein tires and keep the 5" wheel for the spare.
- Buy 3 more 5" wheels and buy 185 Vredstein tires, use one of your old wheels as a spare.
- Buy 3 more 5" wheels and buy 205 tires tires, use one of your old wheels as a spare .
There may be other options a sell.
If it were me I’d buy the 1 6 " wheel and use 205 tires. Then deal with any bump stop interference as necessary. There is a good chance all you would need to do is remove the rubber parts of t he bump stops.
EDIT:
A final thought. I wonder if a 205 sec tion width tire on a 6" wheel would fit in the boot if the tire was deflated? If so, one option might be to carry the tire deflated along with a hand or electric tire pump.
2 Likes
I like the standard 185s on 6” wheels. Same light steering at low speeds and more aggressive look. No alterations required on the bump stops.
Worth reading the entire thread, Jim.
Bill ,Joe,John,Ray,Nick
Thks for the Replies I’ve followed all the links and threads you guys recommended. Some of it should be required reading before buying wire wheels
I’ll have to think on this a bit and decide how anal I want to be about period correct details verses cost , thought this was dealt with years ago
I’m thinking buy one 6 and get 185 tires or sell them all and buy 4 curly… I’ve got a painted curly spare .
Do you think it’s worth pursuing the curly hubs
Measured the rims today the 5 inch is actually 5 1/4 and the 6 is 6
The 6 rim is 1/2 inch wider inside and 1/4 outside measured on the hub verses the 5
It sounds like you guys have played with tires more than once. While we’re on the subject
Do you mount them your self and how about balancing
One of the threads was talking about it
Cheers. Jim
Ray’s the one to ask about mounting and balancing. There’s a shop nearby that does the job for $20 per wheel, so I have no incentive to add another device to my shop.
As to originality, it’s really what you can live with. The later wheels are somewhat stronger and were actually introduced at the very end of the 1967 model year, although by then the cars were all open headlight variants. It’s not a big deal anyway. Any mod that’s easily reversible, like wheels and tires, detracts little if at all from originality.
My experience mirrors Nicks. I have local shop I trust who mounts and balances what I get from Tire Rack for less than $20 per tire. As Nick mentioned, Ray L. has had great success using his Harbor Freight manual tire machine. I cut my teeth on a manual tire machine working at a Texaco station when I was in high school so I know the drill. I bought one and anchor bolted it to the floor and commenced to work on removing a tire. The first time I applied any decent pressure to the bar you use to dismount the tire the bar bent like the lead pipe in a Clue Game. Harbor Freight took it back with no questions. Business as usual, I guess.
I use the HF bead breaker and tire machine and a bubble balancer to handle my own tires. If I had someone I trusted locally to do it for $20 a wheel, I wouldn’t do it myself either - it’s always a bit of a fight with the tire, but I win in the end when I remember the technique. If you try brute force with the HF kit, it will bend. Watch a few Youtube videos on technique, and it’s not so bad. I wouldn’t try anything lower profile than the 205/70s on my E-Type though. If your wheels/tires are tubeless, you might want to try balancing beads instead of lead weights. I used them on the 16" wheels on XK140 and they seem to work fine - that said, they were new MWS wire wheels, so likely well balanced anyway.
A lot of folks tell me I’m crazy to do my own tires, and they may be right. But when I do it they don’t leak in five years. Salt can cause all kinds of problems with aluminum rims.
Here I am doing a BMW wheel. I had a bit of trouble getting the second bead on, but I won in the end.
Thks David
Remember changing tires and pumping gas at the 2 bay gas station on the corner They had a bubble balancer.
Almost bought the hf style set up once but I watched the videos and decided I didn’t have the space to dedicate along with the usual hf issues . People bolt them to hitches , steel plates outside all kinds of mods to make them work better they need space maybe I could stick it outside tell the wife it’s lawn art. It needs to be convenient ,your technic matters and 20 bucks is a good price must have something on him or he doesn’t tell him it’s for a jag
My brother in law has been in the car repair business since the sixties,he told me they did wire wheels by hand and the manufacturers blog was alluding to that. They also talked about static balance preferred rather than dynamic ,not using the cones to center them on commercial machines. Just doing my research to find out what others are doing because I’m getting the cense the shops can’t
In Canada 
these rims are $1000 apiece
Cheers. Jim