by hotrodding
Car wheels…What wheels will you use?
12:52 am in Wheels and Tyres by hotrodding
Car Wheels….
Where would your hot rod be without wheels, you quessed it, still stuck in the garage. Within the thoughts for the planning of your hot rod or ride there is so much to be considered. Body style, colour, engine, trim, theme, and of course wheels and tyres. You won’t get far without them and to be honest they generally make the car. Throw away those vintage wheels or standard rims on your rod, as it could look pretty plain. Now to change this look on this 1939 Chev sedan, just by lowering the car will make a huge difference, so stance is just as important as the wheels itself.
Standard rims at this height just don't do it for a hot rod.
Now compare the same type of wheels, but this time we will change the colour and style of the hot rod. This will give you a totally different opinion now. The Highboy style looks cool to any hot rodder and fits right in there as a true Hot rod.
Just with colour combination we can see a huge change.
Lets look at another yellow hot rod but this time with yellow wheels. They do have a lower profile tyre which in turn makes the hot rod hug the ground more, but hell can you argue with this look …. You’ve just got to love it.
Matching colours will really give you a clean look.
And just to be totally different with another yellow hot rod.
More standard rims, this time factory wire wheels.
Wire wheels or wheel spokes have been around since the introduction of the push bikes and progressed from there onto the motor vehicles at the end of the 1800′s. Wire rims were mass produced by Henry Ford with the introduction of the “A” Model Fords which soon progressed into the 1932 models through till the end of there production run with the 1935 Fords. The 1932′s had a rim diameter of 18 inches, with the 1933 – 34′s being reduced to 17 inches and again reduced to 16 inches for the last of them with the 1935 Fords. Many of these wire rims found there way into the racing areas with the salt flat racers, though from the 50′s through to the current day many rodders have chosen them as the perfect choice for there rides.
These original Ford wire wheels have now been modified.
As in the picture above you will see various rims and sizes. The rim on the bottom left is an actual untouched version from a 1933 Ford being 17 inches in diameter. The rim to the right of that is an original 1932 Ford of 16 inches with the only the bolt pattern changed to a multi fit for current Ford stud and Chev stud patterns. The red rims above those are 17 inch rims cut down in the spoke length to become 16 inches. The French blue rims are actually Ford Ten rims which are made for the British cars with the small 4 cylinder engines , hence the hub is a smaller version. These are just as strong with the spokes being the same gauge as the V8 versions. These have been sandblasted and then powder coated to give that individual look.
They even modify them with really wide rims
Now this is what I call filling your guards, even though I would hate to think of how much pressure this width and offset is having on the wheel bearings, though they have been on this hot rod for years trouble free. So yes they are strong even if they are old. I have discovered with the wheels that I’ve had done that the 18 inch models have at times had stress cracks so if you can find 1933 – 34 models these will work the best for modifications down to a 16 or 15 inch rim.
Ford wire wheels look great even on later models
It’s endless what you can do with the choice you make for wheels, heck I even fitted a set on my current ride a 1978 Holden utility. With the wire wheels you have seen in all the above photo’s they have been modified and built by this man alone from “Newway Wheels” Melbourne Australia.
Peter from "Newway Wheels" finishing more wheels.
How the backing plates are done.
These two rims have been made from a standard 1932 16 inch on the left at 4 inches wide and a 1934 17 inch trimmed down to a 15 inch on the right at 8 inches wide. These will run traditional whitewalls with black rims and will be destined for the next project.
Keeping with a theme really makes your rod stand out.
Check out this next video if you want brand new wire wheels today:
Happy Hot rodding.
Dave
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Here’s a few tips to help fill your roof in: 
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