16" steel wheels for '67 Fury 3

[Furyus3]

I've recently re-aquired my first car, after 23 years, (pic below) and working to get it back on the road. Although it's rolling (sort of) on a mix of space savers and junk in the pic, I do have the original 14" steel wheels that I could put good tires on. But, I want to upgrade to 16" steelies if possible? Want to go 16" for more/better tire options and I like the look of a slightly larger wheel in those wheel wells. Need steel as I want to go with full moon racing disks (snap on style, not the kind with screws) like I had on it in in the '90's. I love the look and it wouldn't feel right any other way...
I'v looked in the obvious places and tried to find a good cross reference for other cars with same lug patern, offset, etc. and I'm not having much luck. I did search this site as well, but new here so not exactly sure best methods...
SO, anyone know where I can find pre-owned 16" steel wheels from another vehicle that will fit my Fury? Budgetarilly constrained at the moment so not ready to spring for anything $$$ and new.

Thank in advance!

 

[CBODY67]

Problem is . . . most of the 16" Ford wheels (which should have the same bolt pattern, possibly) are all designed for "front hubs" rather than "front wheel bearings", which is why their outer surfaces (where the lug bolts are) is pretty much near the outer edge of the rim. So year models can make a difference!

When the Crown Vics stopped having those nice "Wire Mag"-style factory aluminum wheels and went to the "flat" aluminum wheels, THAT's when things changed in their front suspension, from "front wheel bearings" to "front hubs".

There used to be a quite extensive website on Ford "Panther" platform cars which probably had that wheel crossover you seek. Not sure if it is still around, though. Had lots of modification inforrmation, even on auto-crossing those cars.

Just some observations,
CBODY67

 

[bronze turbine]

I've always thought 16" wheels would be the perfect size for a C-body, but I don't see many people using them. 15" looks OK, but 17" to me just doesn't look right. Forget 14"--no good tires available.
I'd be very curious to know which if any factory 16" wheels will fit.

 

[1970FuryConv]

Follow

 

[CBODY67]

The advantage of 16" and really 17" wheels is that you get so much MORE possibilities in tires at "not much more" cost compared to 14" or 15" tires. Only thing is the additional cost of the wheels. P235/55R-17 is the approximate size of the G78-14 tires the car came with. And those tires are a good bit less expensive than a popular brand of P225/70R-15 tires. Enough so that if you buy 4 tires in the 17" size, you save enough on the tires to buy ONE new wheel in 17" size, sometimes.

BUT if you want steel wheels and a larger diameter tire, then find some salvage yard 15" wheels (as in mid-70s Chryslers) and put some P235/75R-15 tires on them. That size will be available for many years into the future, considering all of the pickup trucks it went on.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[1970FuryConv]

The advantage of 16" and really 17" wheels is that you get so much MORE possibilities in tires at "not much more" cost compared to 14" or 15" tires. Only thing is the additional cost of the wheels. P235/55R-17 is the approximate size of the G78-14 tires the car came with. And those tires are a good bit less expensive than a popular brand of P225/70R-15 tires. Enough so that if you buy 4 tires in the 17" size, you save enough on the tires to buy ONE new wheel in 17" size, sometimes.

BUT if you want steel wheels and a larger diameter tire, then find some salvage yard 15" wheels (as in mid-70s Chryslers) and put some P235/75R-15 tires on them. That size will be available for many years into the future, considering all of the pickup trucks it went on.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

How would you buy 17" steel wheels?

 

[Furyus3]

Thanks for the info. 15" are my fall back option for sure. If by some fluke I find a 16" solution I will definitely share.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Stockton Wheel list up to 16, contact them.

Stockton Wheel - Products OEM Mopar - Mopar Police - Mopar Rally

Alan

 

[CBODY67]

How would you buy 17" steel wheels?

www.summitracing.com Search: 17" steel wheels 5x4.5 USWheel has many versions.

 

[Justin Plant]

wheelsnow.com can custom build most anything in steel. Their website used to be awesome, now you pretty much have to call them.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

There is a Ford wheel that you can probably use. CBODY67 is a little rusty on his Panther chassis history.

Ford made multiple changes to the Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, and Town Car during the 1990's and 2000's. The unitized front hubs showed up around 1991, a redesigned upper control arm around 1993, standard 16" wheels in 1998, and a complete redesign of the front and rear suspensions around 2003, resulting to a switch over to a front wheel drive style wheel.

They used a 16x7 steel wheel from '98 to approx '02 that would be worth trying on your car. It should be fairly easy to find one at a local junk yard to try on for size. It's still a rear wheel drive style wheel, though it's going to have a little more backspacing than an older rwd wheel.

The wheel shown below is the one that CBODY67 was referring to. You definitely don't want one of these.

The center hole on Ford wheels has always been slightly smaller than Chrysler. Sometimes you can carefully draw them on with the lug nuts and it will expand the hole to the proper size, and other times you need to run a die grinder around the hole a few times to open it up a bit.

Jeff

 

[Furyus3]

Thanks! I'll start looking for set of those and see how it goes.

 

[bnz84]

Here is my link to my 17" steel spare from a new charger - Spare Tire Option and wheel info

But here is some info on possible matches for 16". I say possible because you then really need to look at the details for each model individually either through this site or outside. In general this is a really nice wheel/tire website to put in your tool box. I have seen mistakes and its not good with older cars. Reference guide for car wheel and tire dimensions such as size, offset, PCD

 

[Furyus3]

Thanks!

 

[1970FuryConv]

Bookmarked. Double Thanks!

 

[Dan Wheeler]

Great stuff here. I have 16s on my 67 Sport Fury, but they are not steel. I like your car; we share many hard to find trim parts.

 

[Loadrunner]

I've got your wheels right here, but you can't have them ;]

Factory Mopar rims, 16" D100 wheels, a Forest Service option as seen here original on this D100 trailer with factory overloads, sits as high as a 3/4 ton, for ground clearance. These are 16" 5 on a 4.5" 2WD truck wheels, not W100 wheels which have a much larger bolt circle.

I managed to score a set of four of these for a '69 D100 I drove years ago, I worked in the woods and wanted the extra clearance, and I like tall skinny tires.

Tire size is standard everyday 10 ply Load Range E 235/85/16, these are old Bridgestones so they should outlast humanity...

I heart my truck ;]

 

[Furyus3]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing... and making it clear I can't have them. ; )
I'll include D100 wheels in my search.

 

[Loadrunner]

They are a complete unknown, but it was easy enough to find a set when I needed them back in 1990's. Check with competent wheel places, we have one here, but I fear many of those have been scrapped by now due to lack of demand.

I really like the 16" over the 15" in that bolt pattern, better tire options and it's kind of a neat looking wheel, which of course takes the poverty dog dish caps well to complete the look.