Is the center piece on the 14" and the 15" rally wheel the same??? Also, are they made of stainless steel, or just steel, or??? I found a place that says they can put that center into any size wheel I want....if I could make a set of 15's using these centers that would be cool (and much cheaper then repro as well) plus I could make my own offset etc. Thanks Tim
:Smarty: I can only answer your centercap questions so here it goes. The centercaps are interchangeable, i have the 14" caps on my 15 x 7 buick rallys. The only difference is that the original caps go around the center hub, while the 14" caps sit flush with it. If originality is not your concern, then go for the 14's they look better and are ALOT cheaper then the originals. To my knowledge the caps are chrome, a little polish and they look good. The other advantage is that the 14's are still available through GM, so they would be the easiest to get. I've bought 4 caps for mine at a swapmeet for 10 bucks! people are just giving them away!! I hope this answers at least 1 of your questions! Larry
I'm pretty familair with centercaps, I am talking the actual center of the wheel (the five spokes with the the blacked out part)....I have lots of rusty 14"s with the good center, so am thinkig of having these centers cut out and inserted into new chrome outer rings to make 15" rallye's... They do it all the time to widen wheels, just not sure if the 14" have the same center as the 15's or not..... Thanks Tim
wheels I think Tim is talking about the center part of the wheel, He mentions creating his own offset. In that respect, I don't think so, after all the ring of the wheel is 15 in. in diamater so the center would also have to be 15 in diam. to fill it.(theroectially) not taking into consideration the dip in the center of the ring for tire mounting purposes. Best way would be to have someone mesure the center part of the 15 and compare it to the 14. But I do think they are different. Then you also have the drum 14's and the disk 14's to consider too. o No: But it would be cool, and if so let me know prices as I have 14's I am not using:TU:
Jeff, if you have a 14 and a 15, lay them side by side (hell, even pictures will work)...the only difference between the two that I can see is that the 15" has a wider "wall" of chrome than the 14....hard to explain (would be like two plates of different outside sizes, then put a pop can in the middle of both) (its obvious the bolt pattern is the same). Thats why you can't make a 16" really wheel, it would look a little strange. I think the centers are the same, might have to try it just to see. later Tim
I dont have both sets of wheels, I think the Wall you see is the part of the ring that is there for the tire bead to slide into during mounting, the only way it would work is if the 15 in. wheels "groove" for the tire bead was deeper than the 14 in. and then by the exact difference in diamater between the two outer rings. We need to get some mesurments done. I have other 15in wheels on my GS now(84 T type aluminum) but we wouldn't be sure if they are the same as the vintage 15's for mesurments. Anybody with 15's out there that can take a mesurement of the center section for us??
wheels timr: find a rim without the centre hub that has a drop centre with a diameter of 14 inches but with a rim tire size requirement of 15 inches . gerry 72gs350
Stay tuned.... I currently have 14 x 7's on my car, and have a set of 15 x 7's coming. When they get here, I'll measure both and let you know. I did talk to the people at Wheel Vintiques a while ago, and they indicated that the center of the wheel is indeed identical, and they can be installed into either 14 or 15 inch outer rims. 16 inch outer rims are apparently (according to them) unavailable for such a purpose. Steve.
Tim, I did some research on this very subject a couple of years ago. In my ventures & talking with Stockton wheel I'm about 99% sure they are one in the same. I was going to have some rears made up. Stockton wheel kept telling me they had some 14's laying around to make up my new 15's. It dawned on me that they had the same centers, the 15" wheel has more steel rim to fill in the centers. Here is the diameter measurement of a 15" wheel center if you want to reference it to one of your 14's - 12 5/16" from where it welds to the rim surface to rim surface. Just to let you know I ended up going with Wheel Vintiques because they had the offset I was looking for and the price was about the same. Wes
When i spoke with Stockton they informed me that the 14" and 15" Buick Ralleye wheel both shared the same wheel center.
