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wheels do not fit?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jessewayne
  • Start date Start date Sep 15, 2008
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jessewayne

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#1
  • Sep 15, 2008
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i have a 1991 mustang lx 5.0, and i wanted to put some 17 inch black cobra r rims on it, but all they have is four lug, and my rims are five... does that mean somebody did a five lug conversion kit? and if so can i reverse it?
 

BlownFiveLiter

have car, will race....wait, it doesn't run
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#2
  • Sep 15, 2008
  • #2
to :SNSign:

Someone did in fact do the 5 lug conversion. Trust me, you're better off that way, so keep it as 5 lug, since you have better brake options, in stock form it's stronger, and there's generally more wheels to choose from. My personal opinion would be to sell the 4 lug wheels and go with a set of 5 lug. Our very own StangNet sponsor, American Muscle sells black Cobra R wheels in 5 lug (link to the wheels), and I'm sure there's more, but that was the first site I checked. How about some pics of the car, too?
 

cobra92usa

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Yes Yes . . . consider yourself lucky . . . the 5-Lug Conversion is a Very Good thing. Before you purchase your wheels, I would verify the brake setup. Since you are going to 17 inch you should have no problems either way. Does the car have 17's now? If so, check the front rotors, it is a common and simple task to swap out the front 4-lug spindles for SN-95 5-lug spindles but I would verify what size rotors are on the car, if they are cobra 13 inch rotors, you have to run 17in wheels to clear the calipers. The rear is where things get a lil tricky . . . are the rear brakes drums or disc ? if they are disc it is likely the swap was done with a FRPP M-2300 K 5 lug conversion kit. If not, it's probably what I call a junkyard dog conversion where they just replaced the front spindles and rear axles with that from a '94 or newer stang. This isn't a bad thing either. Just know that if you ever plan to upgrade to discs in the rear you'll have to upgrade the brake booster/master cylinder. Either way, your 17x9 cobra wheels will fit. They will fit beautifully up front and come right to the edge of the fender lip, in the rear with drum brakes they will sit just inside the wheel well and still look fine. With discs in the rear you will want to verify your backspacing, they will still fit but you may want to 'roll' the inner rear fenders to avoid rubbing.
 

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell
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#4
  • Sep 15, 2008
  • #4
jessewayne said:
but all they have is four lug, and my rims are five?
Click to expand...



So wait a second? Are the rims 5-lug? Or is the car 5-lug?


If the car is 5-lug, it can be reversed, but depending on which conversion they used, you don't want to reverse it...especially if it's Sn95 cobra.

Now, if it's Mark 7 front rotors and ranger drums out back...then you could reverse it.
 

2000xp8

SN Certified Technician
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Sep 15, 2008
#5
  • Sep 15, 2008
  • #5
jessewayne said:
i have a 1991 mustang lx 5.0, and i wanted to put some 17 inch black cobra r rims on it, but all they have is four lug, and my rims are five... does that mean somebody did a five lug conversion kit? and if so can i reverse it?
Click to expand...

So you are saying you want to reverse the coveted 5 lug swap to use cobra R's?

First off, i'm sure there is 5 lug black cobra r's.
Second there is about a million sets of rims that fit on 5 lugs.
Barely any choices for 4 lug, and half of those choices are poor looking replicas of another rim.
5 lug rims also look significantly better, due to the fact that the lugs and spokes are symmetrical.
 
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jessewayne

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#6
  • Sep 15, 2008
  • #6
confused

so since i have the five lug does that mean i could fit the 94-98 model wheels? the reason i thought i had to have four lug was because all the 87-93 used those, and if so does that mean the 2003 style black cobra wheels could go on my 91?the ones that are meant for a 94-98?
 

cobra92usa

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#7
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Yes . . . and like XP8 said, so will about a million other wheels on the market as long as the lug pattern is 5x4.5 with close to 5.75" backspacing ( for 17x9 ). The '03 cobra R's have 6.12" backspacing and still should fit. You will most likely have to remove the horizontal dampers to avoid rubbing. One option is to rotate them and reinstall so the gas cylinder sits inside the wheel well rather than rubbing the tire as it will. The second option and much better on performance is to remove them completely and install aftermarket upper and lower control arms and chuck those flimsy stock stamped steel control arms. I did this on my '92 and it worked beautifully.
 

2000xp8

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#8
  • Sep 15, 2008
  • #8
jessewayne said:
so since i have the five lug does that mean i could fit the 94-98 model wheels? the reason i thought i had to have four lug was because all the 87-93 used those, and if so does that mean the 2003 style black cobra wheels could go on my 91?the ones that are meant for a 94-98?
Click to expand...

Yes, basically all the good rims come in 5 lug.
I for example use rims from a 94/95, I even have different offsets for the front and rear, i just reversed the rims, and put what would be the rears on a 94/95 on the front and vice versa.

Many different rim and tire combinations work.
Basically you can use any rim meant for a mustang from 94 and up, just make sure to get the right offsets and size the tires properly.

Also if you have rear discs, you need to know how it was converted, because 94+ axles are 3/4's of an inch wider which changes things.
 

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell
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Feb 18, 2001
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Sep 15, 2008
#9
  • Sep 15, 2008
  • #9
Of course it would help to know what type of 5-lug conversion you have?

There are a few different methods, and each has it's own offset issues and wheel fitament issues
 
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Makdaddymac

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Sep 15, 2008
#10
  • Sep 15, 2008
  • #10
yeah is it axles or just the disc and ranger drums???
 
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