I just bought a 1966 Starfire and it has 14 inch wheels on it. Are they stock or did the car come with 15 inch wheels? Also, I want to put aftermarket wheels on it and I don't know the correct dimension (or how to measure it for that matter). Can you help me? Thanks!

 

I don't know about what aftermarket wheels fit, but, yes, 14" wheels were standard on the full-size cars through about 1968 or 1970 or somewhere in there. Someone will know the exact date, but for your year, definitely. My '67 Delta 88 has 14" wheels.

 

Thanks for the useful feedback Jaunty!!

 

Man, I just drove one of these home myself last night! Post up some more pictures. I love the color on yours!

-jeff

 

Congrats you Starfire owners! Great cars they are too bad I had to sell mine...

 

Thanks dude; it looks good from 50 feet but it has some scratches and some paint weathering if you get too close. It'll be a fun project; gotta love that 425, nice low-end torque!!!

 

I thought about looking into getting a vanity plate that says "STMPPLR"

 

I'll bite; what's that about?

 

"Stump Puller" :-)

 

Lmao

 

all kidding aside, when I had my first one, these cars are so heavy, I used to be able to pull other cars out of ditches in the winter that had slid off the road just because it had so much weight for traction purposes, and the low end torque pretty much just let me idle them out gently with minimal gas pedal. I made some good cash with it the 2 winters I drove it around. That one was so far gone at that point, I didn't mind chaining other cars to it to make a few bucks, or help a buddy out.

 

Back to the original question.

Your car uses a 5 x 5" bolt circle. Stock wheels are probably 14 x 6. If you are going aftermarket, get at least 15" wheels since tire selection in the 14" sizes is bad and getting worse. You want about 15 x 7 with zero offset (that's equivalent to about 3.75" backspacing).

 

Thanks Joe,
I was debating exactly that. I'm interested in putting smoothies on it and the availability and pricing of 15 inch is waaaaaay better; not to mention better pricing. I was thinking about six inch in the front and seven inch in the rear and also was thinking about a one inch offset to make the outer profile of the tire stand out a little closer to the fender line to give the car a slightly more aggressive stance. I don't want to crowd the fender edges, just try to stand the tires a little closer. Is zero offset going to give me the equivalent of the original configuration or does zero actually sneak the outer edge of the tire a little closer than "stock" to the fender line?
Thanks for your feedback!

 

Sorry if I derailed the thread. Thanks Joe!

Anyhow, I'll be interested in seeing what wheels you end up with. I know the 15x5" does not leave a whole lot of options compared to other size bolt patterns.

Any clue where the best place to find these would be? I'm having trouble searching tire rack by bolt pattern size. I'd like to see what all is available for these cars as well.

-Jeff

 

No sweat Jeff, you didn't derail anything! I'm interested in Cragars simply because they tend to be less spendy than some other wheels and they do make a series of smoothies. Discount Tires markets for Cragar, but would have to do a special order to get 15" smoothies in a 5/5 configuration. Evidently smoothies are out of style these days, so they have to special order almost any smoothie I want. I'm not smart about offset and need to be careful about what I end up ordering...... I'll let you know if I learn anything about wheel availability though. May take a while....

 

Yup, your thoughts are correct. If you have the clearance to go a little further outboard, the deep dish look always looks good on these cars. My only question is about going narrower on the front. If you're using the same size tires, use the same size wheels. If you're using wider rear tires, the rule of thumb is that the wheel width should be within an inch of the tire tread width (not the section width, however).