Magnum 500 wheels--looking for recommendations

[andy72]

My Mach needs new wheels.

It came with Magnum 500's, so I'm pretty sure I will replace with same.

I want to keep the classic muscle car look it had from the factory so I'm thinking

235-60 or 245-60's on 15X7 front.  255-60 on 15X8 rear.

Any thoughts?

Does anybody have and info to share?

Is there a better/best brand/manufacturer?

Quality chrome?  any rust issues?

Anything or ones to avoid?

thanks

 

[B229218]

I have been very happy with cast aluminum legendary wheels brand. easy to banlance and mounts like a new rim. Very high quality casting.

1. one piece no welds to break or out of round manufacturing.

2. cast just like o.e.m. today.

3. does NOT need to be balanced off the lug holes like chrome steel two-piece types.

4. ready to send to a Legitimate chrome shop if u want perfect chrome magnum 500 look with no peeling issues from welded center.

As to who to avoid, apparently, ALL different vendors selling steel chrome repops come from same source, wheel vintiques, very spotty quality control, Now u can get a lightweight billet from circle racing wheels, about 425$ per, but they look a little different from stock.

 

[RCH71]

I have the same ones and I am very happy with them!! 15x7 in front with 235/60R15 and 15x8 with 275/50 r15.

Sent from my SM-G9600 using Tapatalk

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Any chrome plated wheel, no matter who produces, will rust...... They cannot get the chrome to go back into the corners and tight places. They have even plated the rim separate from the center and then weld and that causes plating to flake. Some of the Shelby guys trying to get perfect correct 500 for them takes 8 wheels. sacrifice the centers on 4 of the rims on 4 to get the cores to make 4 complete out of 8. They were plating them apart then welding but also issues. 

If you do get them just keep the water hose off of them and wipe with a damp cloth to help with the rust. Wax of course will also help. 

If you were to plate the aluminum wheels you are going to have a fortune in non correct wheels. There is also the issue of air leaks with the plating, steel or aluminum. Ford had to do a recall on the newer little T-birds 2002 that had plated aluminum wheels. Had huge issues with air leaks. 

If you do get them find a tire shop that will mount them without putting a metal tool on the wheel lip. That is what cracks the chrome and causes the air leaks. 

When you get new tires do not use tire changer to peel the tire off the rim. Push the tire off the bead and cut the outer wire band on the bead with hack saw to get the old tires off. If you crack the chrome on the beads they leak forever. 

I have never been a fan of 500 because of no center hole either.

 

[Stanglover]

My aftermarket Magnum 500 are Wheel Vintiques. They are pretty good, but as David say, they are (all) prone to light rust on the back side.

If I were to replace all the wheels again, I'd go 235-60-R15 front and 245-60-R15 back. I feel they are plenty wide enough and you don't want too wide a tire up front anyway. I currently run 14's on mine as when I HAD to buy new rims, the tires were still too good to scrap, but kinda whish I had now!

When you get these, NEVER allow the shop to use an impact wrench on them and make SURE they use a wheel centering device to balance them. The center hole is just a stamping and NOT accurately centered. 

I had to replace all my old wheels that were on the car when I bought it because some yahoo had in the past, egg shaped the bolt holes with an impact wrench so the wheels never were centered on the hubs.

One more thing, if your car currently has 14's on it, you'll need to change the speedo drive gear. There is a chart available for this in the NPD catalog as well as other vendors.

Geoff.

PS, forgot to mention 7's up front , 8's on rear.

 

[72Mach168Cam]

The cobranda.com website sells complete sets. I considered this as a future option when my wife's Mach 1 is ready for wheels and tires. But after reading some of the posts, more research may be needed. I'll post a link for the set with 15X7 for the front and 15X8 for the rear.

http://cobranda.com/15x715x8mixm.html

 

[jeremycfr]

The cobranda.com website sells complete sets. I considered this as a future option when my wife's Mach 1 is ready for wheels and tires. But after reading some of the posts, more research may be needed. I'll post a link for the set with 15X7 for the front and 15X8 for the rear.

http://cobranda.com/15x715x8mixm.html

I need a go cart version of these.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[andy72]

I have the same ones and I am very happy with them!! 15x7 in front with 235/60R15 and 15x8 with 275/50 r15.

Sent from my SM-G9600 using Tapatalk

Could you post a picture of your car?

I'd like to see the 275's on the 15X8's...

 

[B229218]

I have the same ones and I am very happy with them!! 15x7 in front with 235/60R15 and 15x8 with 275/50 r15.

Sent from my SM-G9600 using Tapatalk

Could you post a picture of your car?

I'd like to see the 275's on the 15X8's...

Let me run to the garage for some pics

 

[B229218]

I have the same ones and I am very happy with them!! 15x7 in front with 235/60R15 and 15x8 with 275/50 r15.

Sent from my SM-G9600 using Tapatalk

Could you post a picture of your car?

I'd like to see the 275's on the 15X8's...

Let me run to the garage for some pics

 

[B229218]

I have the same ones and I am very happy with them!! 15x7 in front with 235/60R15 and 15x8 with 275/50 r15.

Sent from my SM-G9600 using Tapatalk

Could you post a picture of your car?

I'd like to see the 275's on the 15X8's...

Let me run to the garage for some pics

sorry about sideway view rofl

 

[B229218]

Any chrome plated wheel, no matter who produces, will rust...... They cannot get the chrome to go back into the corners and tight places. They have even plated the rim separate from the center and then weld and that causes plating to flake. Some of the Shelby guys trying to get perfect correct 500 for them takes 8 wheels. sacrifice the centers on 4 of the rims on 4 to get the cores to make 4 complete out of 8. They were plating them apart then welding but also issues. 

If you do get them just keep the water hose off of them and wipe with a damp cloth to help with the rust. Wax of course will also help. 

If you were to plate the aluminum wheels you are going to have a fortune in non correct wheels. There is also the issue of air leaks with the plating, steel or aluminum. Ford had to do a recall on the newer little T-birds 2002 that had plated aluminum wheels. Had huge issues with air leaks. 

If you do get them find a tire shop that will mount them without putting a metal tool on the wheel lip. That is what cracks the chrome and causes the air leaks. 

When you get new tires do not use tire changer to peel the tire off the rim. Push the tire off the bead and cut the outer wire band on the bead with hack saw to get the old tires off. If you crack the chrome on the beads they leak forever. 

I have never been a fan of 500 because of no center hole either.

ur correct about small corner problem areas. This should not be a problem with one piece cast rims, Wheels  rust if not plated first with copper, E.P.A. rules prevent most shops from using copper solution tanks, but a few are grandfathered in that still use copper tanks. The original magnum 500~s were all made for the big three by motor wheel corp. they riveted not welded centers to hoops after chroming, so no problems with corners, rivets became d.o.t. illegal, now welding only safe option.  still had balancing problems with lug centric issues as todays repops. Good point about chrome possible air leak issues, however. I used to have chromed bullit style cast aluminum rims for years and always held air, lucky I guess. I like u, Carolina, u one smart mofo :goodpost:

 

[RCH71]

I have the same ones and I am very happy with them!! 15x7 in front with 235/60R15 and 15x8 with 275/50 r15.

Sent from my SM-G9600 using Tapatalk

Could you post a picture of your car?

I'd like to see the 275's on the 15X8's...

 

[andy72]

Could you post a picture of your car?

I'd like to see the 275's on the 15X8's...

Let me run to the garage for some pics

Now I'm just being picky....Do you have a picture of the whole car so I can see

how the two tire sizes affect the stance, the rake of the car?

Looks like the 275 fills the wheel well pretty good on the rear?

On the Legendary wheel site, they only offer the "LW50" (magnum 500) wheel in 15X7?

You mentioned you have 15X8 on rear?  

I wonder if they stopped producing the the 15X8?

Thanks

 

[andy72]

I have the same ones and I am very happy with them!! 15x7 in front with 235/60R15 and 15x8 with 275/50 r15.

Sent from my SM-G9600 using Tapatalk

Could you post a picture of your car?

I'd like to see the 275's on the 15X8's...

Thanks! Looks great... The 235's on the rear of my car just look a little small...

 

[andy72]

Legendary Wheel website glitched. They do offer 15X7 and 15X8.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

On the plating. Copper is put on first to allow polishing easier and to help fill in imperfections. The real protection is the Nickel and the Chrome is just millionths of an inch thick and gives a brighter shine that the Nickel does not have. 

When wheels were riveted together we use to drill the rivets out reverse the rim and put back on and weld it up. You hear Chrome reverse wheels they are referring to the rim having a long angle in front instead of the step for the hub cap being there. It also widens the stance of the car slightly. 

Life is too short get the wheels you like and forget stock, lol.

 

[rvrtrash]

Just to throw out a thought, cast wheels aren't as strong, and are a little heavier, than forged aluminum wheels. Also, I have a set of factory optional cast aluminum wheels on one of my other cars, and the balance on them is really lopsided.

 

[Hemikiller]

Can't help with Magnum 500s, as they aren't my thing. I will say you can get a better price on them from Summit than Branda or many of the Mustang shops. 

15X7 - https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wvi-54-5712044/overview/

15X8 - https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wvi-54-5812042/overview/

Regarding tire size, I'm running 15X8 steel wheels all around  - https://www.summitracing.com/parts/WVI-62-5812044

255/60R15 front, 275/60R15 rear. No rubbing issues. Stock replacement 429CJ leafs, front sits a touch high since the coils are for a 351-4V car w/competition suspension, and it currently sports a 302.