Ditching My Hubcaps, Replacing With 14” Steelies!

[joshkrahn]

Beautiful car. I have a '70 Granada that looks just like yours (from 50 feet, in the dark, after a long night at the bar).

 

I picked up a set of e30 steelies a few years ago, but haven't put tires on them yet.

 

Which center caps did you use? 

 

I subscribed to your channel, and hope to see more '02 content. Great job!

 

Josh

 

PS> those BBS are too fussy for an early car – I'd stick with the steelies ?

[iinca]

looks fabulous!

 

Better than those "hideous" hubcaps haha! The 'caps people pay high dollar for in pristine cond. lol.. and win awards at shows with.

 

 

[Swiss 2002Tii]

Is there a 5th 5Jx13 steelie you could part with?  Ironically enough, need one to complete my hubcap retrofit! ?

[JohnS]

Slap some Pirelli CN36's on the 13" wheels and then see how you like them ☺️

[PaulTWinterton]

I remember ditching my 13 x 5" rims and covers.  I hated them so much.   Wheels and tires are such a personal thing like shoes and socks.  I wanted to dress my car in the coolest aftermarket alloys and rubber. 

 

Who'd have guessed that 30 years later I would have to search for the very wheels and caps that I discarded...and pay $$$ before blasting, painting and clearcoating to bring them back to new condition. 

 

I like your taste in wheels but don't ditch your original steelies and caps.  You never know. Your car looks like it could win a concours (with the correct wheels). ?

 

Note: I don't use my original wheels but I could. 

[WPGB]

Just now, PaulTWinterton said:

I remember ditching my 13 x 5" rims and covers.  I hated them so much.   Wheels and tires are such a personal thing like shoes and socks.  I wanted to dress my car in the coolest aftermarket alloys and rubber. 

 

Who'd have guessed that 30 years later I would have to search for the very wheels and caps that I discarded...and pay $$$ before blasting, painting and clearcoating to bring them back to new condition. 

 

I like your taste in wheels but don't ditch your original steelies and caps.  You never know. Your car looks like it could win a concours (with the correct wheels). ?

 

Note: I don't use my original wheels but I could. 

I love your story, and I appreciate your perspective. I’ll end up keeping the hubcaps...just far away from the car for the time being ?

 

Thanks for weighing in!

[NYNick]

2 hours ago, Swiss 2002Tii said:

Is there a 5th 5Jx13 steelie you could part with?  Ironically enough, need one to complete my hubcap retrofit! ?

I've got 5, 5.5 x 13's. Interested?

[WPGB]

3 hours ago, Swiss 2002Tii said:

Is there a 5th 5Jx13 steelie you could part with?  Ironically enough, need one to complete my hubcap retrofit! ?

Sorry, but I don’t.  Looks like someone else does though.

[Mike Self]

4 hours ago, Swiss 2002Tii said:

Is there a 5th 5Jx13 steelie you could part with?  Ironically enough, need one to complete my hubcap retrofit!

If you can't find a BMW wheel in a 5Jx13 (not slotted, for a roundie), Opel station wagons used the same wheel--plain, no slots or styling, and the BMW hubcap pops right on.  There should be plenty of these in Switzerland or Germany. 

 

That's how I upgraded the wheels on my '69 from the original 4 1/2J x 13's--$5 each from a junkyard.   They used to be common here, but that was 30 years ago.  

 

mike

[Swiss 2002Tii]

6 hours ago, NYNick said:

I've got 5, 5.5 x 13's. Interested?

Thanks Nick, I just need one.  I had 4.5J's extended an inch to 5.5", but the fronts bind on the bigger Tii calipers.  I have one  5J, looking for a second 5J to extend 1/2" for the fronts.

Mike's comment about Opel wheels is likely the solution! (and I wouldn't have to arrange an int'l shipment)

[Conserv]

6 hours ago, Swiss 2002Tii said:

... I had 4.5J's extended an inch to 5.5", but the fronts bind on the bigger Tii calipers.  I have one  5J, looking for a second 5J to extend 1/2" for the fronts...

 

 

Sorry for the hijack, WPGB! Although I’ve never considered the original wheel covers hideous, I’ve always liked the almost-Alpina-steelie appearance of the e30 steelies with center caps! Yours certainly look good.
 

So, SwissTii... WPGB’s rims are 4.5’s. I say that because (1.) that was the standard steel rim on all round taillight non-ti/tii’s and (2.) WPGB’s original rims don’t appear to exhibit the extra 1/2” “dish” of 5” ti/tii rims.

 

I’m particularly interested in your tii caliper fitment issue because I’m planning the same: widening 4.5” rims to 5.5” rims, for my tii.  First, are your tii calipers stock, e.g., you haven’t added caliper spacers to accommodate ventilated disks? Second, what offset (ET) did you choose for the new 5.5” rims?

 

The stock 4.5” rims are ET35 while the stock 5” rims are ET26. I was actually thinking about ET28 for the widened (5.5”) rims, but I’m very curious to understand why yours didn’t work with the tii calipers. Knowing the ET would help. I’m wondering if the solution to your fitment issue is simply to move the center disk to a better location on the barrel, in essence, correcting the ET. Because a barrel has some taper to it, reducing the ET (i.e., shifting the barrel away from the center of the car) might solve the caliper interference issue.

 

Below are the Wheels Database entries for the 4.5” and 5” Lemmerz rims (I wish I had the backspace for the 4.5” rim).

 

Thanks and best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

Edited December 6, 2019 by Conserv

[Conserv]

Will,

 

“Standard fitment” of a 7 x 15, ET25, rim to an ‘02, often entails rolling some fender lips. The need varies based particularly on (a.) your choice of tire — some are more square-shouldered than others — and (b.) your individual car — they started out with small car-to-car variations and those variations increased over the last 50 years as the cars flexed, hit things, rusted, had panels replaced, etc. Thus, two “perfectly-restored” ‘02’s may fit a given tire-rim combination differently.

 

There are lots of threads on this forum that discuss this particular issue with 7 x 15, ET25, rims, with discussions of the tires that fit best — if you wish to avoid rolling fender lips (which, as I suggested above, is not always avoidable).

 

Gorgeous ‘02 by the way, even with the hideous wheel covers... ?

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited December 6, 2019 by Conserv

[WPGB]

18 hours ago, joshkrahn said:

Beautiful car. I have a '70 Granada that looks just like yours (from 50 feet, in the dark, after a long night at the bar).

 

I picked up a set of e30 steelies a few years ago, but haven't put tires on them yet.

 

Which center caps did you use? 

 

I subscribed to your channel, and hope to see more '02 content. Great job!

 

Josh

 

PS> those BBS are too fussy for an early car – I'd stick with the steelies ?

Josh -

 

First of all, thanks for subscribing!

 

Secondly, there’s a link to the centers, hubs and wheels in the description under the video on YouTube.  They’re available at ECS tuning, but I bought them from the same guy I bought the centers from.

 

I hear you about the BBS wheels, but that’s what’s great about wheels/stance set ups.  To each his own; and what I love about them is how easy it is to transform the look of the car quickly and easily by changing out the wheels.

[WPGB]

33 minutes ago, Conserv said:

Will,

 

“Standard fitment” of a 7 x 15, ET25, rim to an ‘02, often entails rolling some fender lips. The need varies based particularly on (a.) your choice of tire — some are more square-shouldered than others — and (b.) your individual car — they started out with small car-to-car variations and those variations increased over the last 50 years as the cars flexed, hit things, rusted, had panels replaced, etc. Thus, two “perfectly-restored” ‘02’s may fit a given tire-rim combination differently.

 

There are lots of threads on this forum that discuss this particular issue with 7 x 15, ET25, rims, with discussions of the tires that fit best — if you wish to avoid rolling fender lips (which, as I suggested above, is not always avoidable).

 

Gorgeous ‘02 by the way, even with the hideous wheel covers... ?

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Steve,

 

FAQ has been a GREAT resource for fitment info as the journey with this car and the wheels has unfolded.

 

Unfortunately, the issue lies with a problem with the car itself that I am going to have to get sorted.

 

I will share that issue in an upcoming video.  It’s actually a surprising and aggravating problem, especially with a car of this caliber...

 

Please subscribe if you’re so inclined. 

 

You like that video teaser? ?
 

- Will

 

 

[Swiss 2002Tii]

2 hours ago, Conserv said:

I’m particularly interested in your tii caliper fitment issue because I’m planning the same: widening 4.5” rims to 5.5” rims, for my tii.  First, are your tii calipers stock, e.g., you haven’t added caliper spacers to accommodate ventilated disks? Second, what offset (ET) did you choose for the new 5.5” rims?

Again, apologies WPGB, but most likely this thread will surface for wheel topic searches, so it's probably useful content....

Conserv, to your question, I had a set of 4.5Jx13s extended towards the inside of the well as below:

 

They turned out beautifully, and I was delighted, as I had sourced and cleaned up some really decent hubcaps.

But then I tried to back out of the garage.... couldn't budge.  Thought I had something in the way, thought I had mis-adjusted my emergency brake, checked everything.  Tried again and got a nasty scraping feeling.  It felt like it was being held at the front, so I threw my jack under the car and tried to spin a wheel... nuthin'!

 

I pulled the front wheels and discovered that the wheel was binding against the caliper bolts.  You can see how deep into the well that these scratches are.

 

I started shimming... one washer, three washers,  still binding.  I added a nut that took me out to two cms;

As you can see, I am running standard Tii hub and calipers.

 

I thought about some judicious grinding, but I would be taking the caps of off of the hex screws in the calipers.

 

I laid a straight edge across the wheel and measured from center and judged the contact point in the well.  As far as I could reasonably measure, I would need something like 6 cms stand-off from the hub plate to clear the caliper!

 

You can see how differently the alloy spoke wheel is shaped on the inside facing the caliper/hub.  It's a much wider, rounded interior surface.

 

So the theory is that if I extend a 5Jx13 by a half inch, I'll be good, and have the advantage that the fellow modifying the wheels will have a Tii on hand to test them on before we get too far down that road!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2019 by Swiss 2002Tii
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