New wheels for our Two's...almost

[78CobraII]

XXR Wheels (XXR Wheels - The Pursuit of Lightweight Wheel) has some nice new wheels out for the 4-lug Import wheels with small or zero offset.

XXR Wheels - Style 513 JDM Deep Lip Rims by XXR
XXR Wheels - Style 002 Rims by XXR

Unfortunately the lug spacing is either 4x100mm (3.94 inches) or 4x114mm (4.5 inches), so one is just a bit too small and the other just a bit too large.

I wonder if you could redrill one or the other to our 4x108mm pattern?

XXR also makes a "NASCAR" wheel in 17"x7.5" size with 4x108mm lug pattern, but it is for a high offset +40 mm) application: NASCAR Victory 614

 

[78CobraII]

Modifying Wheels

For what its worth, the guys at Weldcraft Wheels (Weldcraft Wheels Wheel Widening Wheel Repairs Wheel Restoration) claim that they can weld up and redrill lug holes, although it will mess up the finish in the area worked.

For best results, choose a wheel in a natural aluminum finish, one with a flat surface where the lugs are located, and one without cast-in voids on the backside where the new lug holes need to go. They also widen aluminum wheels, so they might also be useful in modifying a wheel with a high offset or large backspacing.

Whether or not this results in a weaker wheel will have to be yours to judge. Spacers and adapters also result in a weaker situation from a perfomance standpoint, in fact most race sanctioning bodies will not allow you to race with either.

From a logical perspective, its probably waaay cheaper and safer to change your MII over to 5-lug hubs than to use non-optimal wheels with spacers or to use modified wheels. And its waaay cheaper to swap to 5-lug hubs than to use custom made wheels in the 4-lug pattern.

So why do I care? Because I Want To Use 4-lug Wheels On A Car Designed For 4-lug Wheels!

There...I feel better now...

 

[78CobraII]

From the Department of Redundancy Department

Yup, I still can't leave it alone...here are yet more Not Quite A Perfect Fit new wheels for our MII's:

You can do an eBay search for 4x108, 4x4.25, or Fox Mustang wheels like this: http://motors.shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=4x108+wheels

Sometimes you find something neat like this set of Weld racing wheels:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Weld...et-4x114-3-4x108-Ford_W0QQitemZ250572783037QQ

Or this wheel which looks likes a larger version of the factory cast mesh wheel:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/16-W...002-AUDI-MERCURY-SAAB_W0QQitemZ290395685776QQ

Unfortunately its 16x7.5" with a +20 offset, so the rim likely interferes with the upper ball joint without a spacer. I've heard that 15" and 17" wheels have a lower likelihood of interference with the same offset. In this case a 1/2" spacer would probably do the job.

Most of the new 4x108mm (4x4.25") wheels available now are for the Contour/Cougar, Escort, Focus or Saab 9000. So most will be around 7 inches wide with +30 or +40 offset.

The Import world has a small group of people that like to hang their wheels out of their wheel wells, which tends to give a "low rider" look, but gives us a few wheels with low or zero offsets like I referred to in the first post of this thread.

Rota (ROTA Wheels) manufactures a few of these wheels, but most of their wheels in 4x108 actually have offsets that are more for Fox Mustang (i.e. +20 to +30) than MII like this one: PDC - ROTA Wheels

But if you find one in less than +20 it should fit with a small spacer.