wheels problem

[TheJ]

When I saw the pictures of the wheels that's what I had in mind. But a problem arose, the wheels have a couple of deep scratches that will not get buffed out. I thought that if I got some aluminum or metal filler and fill them in and paint them they would look like new. I was never a really big fan of the chrome or shinny look on the 73's cause of the crappy urethane front bumper. In my mind a monochromatic paint scheme would look killer. Don't get my wrong the lug nuts, center caps, billet grille and a few trim pieces are going to be shiny.

 

[Bill73Ragtop]

Many years ago American Racing and Cragar and a few others made what they called universal fit wheels that made the manufacturing of the wheels cheaper thus making them more affordable. When you purchased the wheels you also needed to buy a universal lug set which included the shank style nuts and a couple of different washer sets that you could rotate or swap to fit your bolt spacing exactly. Those look like they might be the universal fit style though it's hard to tell for sure.

I agree, I remember these types of wheels back in the day; you do need a special washer for them.

Second on that. I had a set of those same wheels I ran on my 71 Mach back in the 80's. The washers were elongated. I think I still have some floating around in my spare nuts / bolts / etc collection.

 

[lastfairlane]

Hi J

Ive had these type of wheel years back and yes they were

a cheap way of making mags to fit different cars

the set I had came with oval washers which gave

me 120mm spacings to suit Holden (Chev)

or 114 spacings to suit Ford pattern ( sorry about the metric)

but in 38 years Ive forgotten the imperial equivelent

the Govt forced us into metric back when my car was new

also the nuts were the barrel type ones with extended length

but still 13/16th nut size some things dont change here

thanks John

Never trust a dog to hold a sandwich for you

 

[TheJ]

Hi J

Ive had these type of wheel years back and yes they were

a cheap way of making mags to fit different cars

the set I had came with oval washers which gave

me 120mm spacings to suit Holden (Chev)

or 114 spacings to suit Ford pattern ( sorry about the metric)

but in 38 years Ive forgotten the imperial equivelent

the Govt forced us into metric back when my car was new

also the nuts were the barrel type ones with extended length

but still 13/16th nut size some things dont change here

thanks John

Never trust a dog to hold a sandwich for you

That's ok about the metric luckily I own both a GM and a Ford. The Ford bolt pattern is 5x4.5" and the GM pattern is 5x4.75". I got round washers with the set of lug nuts I got and they seem to work. It's hard to say without driving with them on.

Thanks for the comment.

 

[turtle5353]

yeah those are just a uni- lug rim. I had several sets of these over the years and they do need the special shank nuts and washers. keep an eye on them though because they do have a tendancy to come loose. just retorque them every once in a while and you will be fine.

Kevin

 

[MotoArts]

When I saw the pictures of the wheels that's what I had in mind. But a problem arose, the wheels have a couple of deep scratches that will not get buffed out. I thought that if I got some aluminum or metal filler and fill them in and paint them they would look like new. I was never a really big fan of the chrome or shinny look on the 73's cause of the crappy urethane front bumper. In my mind a monochromatic paint scheme would look killer. Don't get my wrong the lug nuts, center caps, billet grille and a few trim pieces are going to be shiny.

Depending on how deep the scratches are, just sand them out with progressively finer paper, then buff with the compound on some kind of motor (need the speed to get 'em nice). Even if you just round the rough edges of the scratch out then buff, it will look great. Everybody's opinion is different, of course.

I think a lot of the "mirror" look depends on the quality of the aluminum. My old Superiors wouldn't mirror up no matter what I used or how hard I tried. They would get nice, but not mirror.

I think you'll be fine with yours.