Let's say I wanted to pick up 1 or 2 15" chrome rims here and there, until I had a set for my 68 GS. First question, what is the most common to find, 6" or 7"? (I'm talking 5x4.75 A-body of course) Secondly, do you see rims for sale very often in less than full sets? I seem to see sets of 4 more often than singles or pairs for sale. I just trying to figure out if it would be a practical idea for me to get a full set one rim or 2 at a time. o No:
David, I believe all the 5X4 3/4-15" Buick Rallye wheels were 7" wide. The 15 X 6's were big car wheels and were noticably different in appearance from the A body wheels. Try your local boneyard. Buick put them on alot of different years and models. I never had any trouble finding them, I used to pick them up for 25.00/wheel, polish and repaint them. Good luck.
Cool...learn something new here every day. I thought 15x6 would have been the std. As for my local boneyard, there are precious few A-body Buicks there, but I may have seen chrome wheels on a couple very crusty 70 'larks there last year. Not much left of them, but there were some rims. I'll have another look when we're thawed out here.
Wow!! $25 a wheel!! I must be pretty lucky. I don't think I've ever paid more than $15. These wheels came on alot of larger Buicks. I got a couple from a mid 70's regal. You can also find them on the lesabres and centurys . I think the Park Avenue's have the larger 5x5 pattern. Junkyard tip: Usually the one's that have mud on them sell for less. The ones that are greenish colored, too.
They look the same to me. My friend seems to think the backspacing on the original GS wheel is 1/2" different. Then I called him crazy. We've both used these wheels with success. And they look right on the car. I'm not sure about identical to a GS wheel or WG or whatever. Then again I've never seen a bonified GS 15" wheel. I just got a set for $10 each last week. I don't know what they're from but, I intend to clean them up and paint the black area black again. Three of these are OK for a driver and one is pretty nice.
David, Like Joe said, the rallye wheels came on mid seventy Regals and some larger cars. The wheel that was on the 70 GS was a WG. It has a wider shoulder that you could actually rest a quarter on. The mid 70's rallye wheels had a narrower shoulder, you could only fit a dime. Other than that they look the same. There are small differences in backspacing, but all the wheels have between 4-4 1/2" of backspacing. You should have no trouble finding these wheels. Now WG's, that's another story. I have Wheel Vintiques repros on my GS. The only thing that is incorrect on them is the center section and spokes(the part that isn't painted) is chromed. On factory Buick wheels it has a brushed appearance. The 15 X 7 wheel vintiques closely approximate a WG "shoulder". They are pricey though, about 135.00/wheel.
i've never seen an old buick in my closest yard, but they had a pile of wheels with all makes of ralley wheels. i found 2 buick 15x7's that i go for 5 bucks a piece. one just needs cleaning, the other has a big dent in the rim i didn't notice, though. oh well, maybe i'll make it a coffee table.:gt: they had a few 14x6's, too, but i didn't bother since i already have 4 stacked in my shed.
Thanks for all the info, guys. I'll have to take a closer look at some of the mid-70's cars at the yard this summer. The pickings are slim though.
I bought a set of 4 wg wheels off of ebay last summer. I paid 80 dollars for the set and it included pretty decent center caps. I had to repaint the black areas but the chrome was good. I was surprised that they were actually wg wheels when I got them as the seller hadn't listed them as such. I was also surprised that I was able to get them that cheap from ebay since they usually get bid high. I must have caught everyone snoozing on that deal! Brian :grin:
