5 Lug in Front and 4 Lug in Back, How Do I Get Matching Wheels?

Hi everyone, I looked through the forums and am still confused. Hopefully, someone can help. I am not mechanically inclined at all so sorry if my questions are stupid.

I have a 1970 Ford Maverick. I converted the front to disk brakes and now have 5 lugs in the front and 4 lugs in the back. I need to get wheels. I am hoping to get matching wheels for the back and front, but I can't seem to find a solution. I can't find matching rims that come in both bolt patterns. The front rims need to be at least 15 inches to fit over the new brakes, according to the place where I bought the brake conversion kit.

I have talked to several tire places. They keep asking me what the wheel offset is. I have no idea.

One tire place said that they can order an adapter to convert my back brakes from 4 lug to 5 lug, so that I can get matching rims. Even so, I still don't know which wheels I can get because of the wheel offset. Also, would the adapter affect the wheel offset?

I can't take the car to a tire shop because the front doesn't have any wheels right now.

I have been trying to figure this out for days and am so frustrated. I didn't realize converting the front brakes would cause such a problem. Can anyone point me to a wheel setup that would work, either with or without a brake adapter?

Thank you.

 

If it were mine I would get a 5 lug rear end and have them match. You can pick one up pretty reasonable and it would solve part of your problems. As far as the offset, it will depend on how wide the tires are and what width wheel you're going to run.

 

Definitely change the rear end to 5-lug. Were you gong to carry two spares tires/wheels?

 

I was thinking of changing the rear in the future once I get more money. I just spent one-thousand on the front brake conversion because I don't know how to work on cars and had to pay a mechanic to do the work. To do the rear I would have to spend another 1,000, plus buy wheels. So, I figured in the meantime, I would just use two spares.

 

Or put 4 to 5 lug adapters on the rear.

 

buy the...front wheels...you like and after the rear swap, buy the rear...

... $1000...what front brake conversion did you use?

...Frank...:Handshake

 

I bought the disc brake conversion kit from Brake Tech Solutions for $695.00 and paid a mechanic $300 to install them.

Maybe I will try swapping the rear myself so I can save money by not paying the mechanic.

 

I had the same issue that you are experiencing. 5 lug in the front, 4 in the back. I wasn't ready to change out the back and was given some 5 lug rims, so I used adapters for the rear. Here are the adapters that I used - http://www.ezaccessory.com/Wheel_Adapter_4_Lug_4_5_To_5_Lug_4_5_p/4450-5450t.htm

They will push your rims out 2 inches in the back, which gives you more room for back spacing. I run 15x7 rims in the front and 15x8 in the rear. You will need a torque wrench (or borrow one from a friend) to install the adapters). I also had to add shocks in the back because I have larger tires, but that is something you can search on here to see what size tires you can put under the rear to not have to have the shocks. Here is how mine looks with this done:

 

Thanks, that is exactly what I was looking for.

 

also note...you will have to run 1" spacers for your adapted rear rims when you do the 5 lug rear end swap for the tires to fit after the swap.

i don't know...what he means by..."had to add shocks
...these cars already have shocks from the factory...

Frank

 

Maybe he meant air shocks, you have to be careful with them though. The air shocks if to stiff will push through the trunk floor. I wouldn't use them personally, I would have the springs rearched or perchas an after market set with an extra spring added. JMO.

 

Would it not be a greater waste of money to buy rims, when you know you are going to change the rear end, some day? Just find 4 matching hubcaps, and save some money....
Why buy an old car if you can't work on it? That's the reason most people buy old cars to begin with...

 

Thanks Frank for the info on the spacers.

Dave, I know it sounds silly that I bought an old car and don't know how to work on it. I'm just a silly girl who had no clue what I was getting into. I really did not realize how many changes I would need to make to convert to disc brakes.

 

Hey Frank,

The adapters that I refered him to are also 2inch spacers, so the 1 inch spacers your speaking of are not needed.

In regards to the shocks, let me rephrase. I switched out my old shocks for air shocks, which my family has always used. Never had a horror story problem with them . I did this because my tires were to tall to fight in the wheel well of the maverick. Hope this helps clarify Good point though guys. I should have clarified all that for him the first time.

 

I hope you have no issues with the airshocks but I won't hold my breath. My car is an airshock horror story in it's self. I have a nice dent in the trunk floor and half of the shock cross member is gone all due to air shocks.