My wheel connumdrum – ALL advice, consolation…even pity accepted!

[FirstGenZq8]

I have a 92 Chevrolet S-10. V8, 6 speed. 5X120.65 PCD, 70.3 hub bore.

GM’s 5X120.65 bolt pattern is the weakest PCD of all time. I want a USED set of 3PC wheels. Finding used wheels that will work for my specific application is TOUGH.

I’m looking for a mesh style wheel. BBS RS, CCW LM20, Work VS-XX, etc. I prefer “Y’s”, not “V’s”. I’d be OK with a 5 spoke wheel. Work Equip, Leon Hardiritt Kloster, OZ Mito 3’s, etc.

I’d like 17’s or 18’s. I’d prefer 18’s.

FRONT: I'd like 8” front wheels with 0 offset. Would be OK with up to 9.5” with +5.

REAR: I’d like 10” rear wheels with 0 offset. Would be OK with up to 11” with –13.

I don’t want to run spacers or adapters anymore. DONE with them.

I consider BMW 5X120 wheels all the time, but usually the widths/offsets aren’t optimum for me. And that .65mm difference bothers me. Correctable with wobble nuts though. 72.5mm or 74mm BMW hub bores are easily correctable with hub centric rings.

I bought a set of BBS RS 211 faces, only to find out that the perimeter bolts scrape on my C5 corvette calipers. Rears fit fine. But don’t want to run 6mm or 13mm spacers or adapters on the fronts. Pretty sure even 17” RS faces would have the same problem. Back to square one.

I found a set of OZ Mito 3’s that I considered picking up, but the main factor that has me leery of OZ wheels is the high cost of replacement lips/barrels; higher than replacement RS or Work lips/barrels for some reason. And I’m not sure their wheel face bore is any bigger than the BBS RS’es.

Recently I’ve been considering 5X114.3 wheels – it seems like 3 out of 4 forged/split wheels are 5X114.3. I find more often that used 5X114.3 wheels are more near the 0 and negative offset range I’m looking for. This would necessitate me changing my bolt pattern with a bolt pattern jig 5X120.65 to 5X114.3 – no problem. But a lot of 5X114.3 wheels have hub bores smaller than 70.3. Bleh.

To summarize, I’m looking for any of the following:
A) A magic set of 5X120.65 wheels that meet my above FRONT/REAR specs
B) A set of 5X120.65 faces for $600 or so and I can buy lips/barrels to meet my specs
C) A set of 5X120 wheels that meet my specs and run wobble nuts
D) A set of 5X114.3 wheels that meet my specs and have a 70.3 or greater hub bore

Like the title says, any advice that you can provide is so very appreciated. Have I missed anything? Thank you SW!

[KyleAnderson]

Redrill/insert 5x114 to 5x120, and have the center bore enlarged? That should run around $300.

You need high brake clearance, so what you need to start asking for is back pad height. Some refer to it as disk (lo-, mid-, or high-disk). It's the measurement from the hub mounting surface to the bolt flange.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

Why no adapters? I wouldn't have any hesitation running adapters if they bring the back of the face of the wheel out away from the brakes far enough that they clear. In terms of load on your wheel bearings, it'll be just the same as if you were to run high-disk wheel faces in the first place, and with most adapters, the hub bore becomes a non-issue, since the adapter can be machined to any hub bore your heart desires.

BTW, 5x108 and 4x140 are WAY weaker than 5x120.65.

[1badg35]

why not just swap two of your rs211 faces for some 5x114 high pad 16" faces as stated above. most people would straight trade them, myself included.. we can steel seat them to 5x120 if needed, so as to not need much work. center bore adjustment in this case would be easy as they are currently 66mm cb, needing to only be opened up to 70.3, seems to be the best of all worlds.

the 211 faces have a 72.5mm center bore, so it'll need a hub adapter for the center bore adjustment, pretty cheap and easy fix though for the rears.


what size are the studs or bolts for your setup? 12mm diameter studs i assume, but would need to know this to truly know if a standard 5x120 patterned bmw wheel would work without having to bore it out ever so slightly

[zoo]

I actually wrote a short reply earlier but my browser crashed.

0.65mm difference would not bother me in the slightest, especially with tapered nuts.
Spacers/adapters do not load the bearings in any damaging way. There are cars that run wide spacers from the factory(Porsche 930 for example).

As stated above, PCD change should run about $250. Bore change would add a bit to the cost.
You have plenty of options in 5x120 though.

[FirstGenZq8]

Thank you, guys.

Do any of you know what BBS RS wheels produced in the 5X120 or 5X120.65 PCD have medium or high disk pads? I'd rather try to find some high disk 120 or 120.65 pads than have to redrill and rebore some virgin 114.3 RS'es. But, 1badg35, I might take you up on your offer in time.

Sam, I'm not worried about bearing life. I've had adapters for years and I just don't want them anymore. I've always considered them to be a band-aid. And I know 5X120.65 isn't the weakest bolt pattern of all time - I'm just jelly of 5X114.3 is all.

I've got 12mm studs, so I think 5X120 wheels would bolt up fine to my 120.65 truck.

[zoo]

This seems like it was made for you(except its high positive offset).

http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/rch/pts/4839049274.html

[1badg35]

no, on the 16" faces (12.25" bore exposed) there isn't a high pad bmw offering thats a larger pad than the 211 pad to my knowledge which is a fairly standard 19mm pad height approximately. 005, 006, 007 are all similar, 061 is flat backed but a bit lower.. the reason for your easiest option being 114.3 faces this being that the 5x114 counterparts needed to fit for example r32gtr brake specs or similar which were 4 pot brembos for quite a while. i don't personally know of any german offering doing brakes like that in the '80s/'90s.

(need to confirm this) but i believe the rs178 faces (16" face with 17" halves) has a high pad and is 120.6 if i recall correctly, but i would need to take a look in the shop to see if thats the face I'm actually thinking of. If someone could take a picture of the back of their rs178 wheel and add it to this thread that would help a lot

if not, i don't mind swapping a pair of faces with you, and ill just charge you for the steal seat work which isn't all that significant on 2 faces.. and honestly the steel seats are the safest way to do this


i agree with your comments about adapters too. i personally shy away from it, just another part that could fail.. basically you take a hub with 5 studs, and are converting it to 10 points being relied on (the 5 that attach to the hub, and the 5 that are pressed into the adapter. just means double the unnecessary parts...

[FirstGenZq8]

1badg35, looking a little closer into my RS's, it looks like they have +/-27mm of pad clearance:


Even with two 8mm spacers stacked up, my perimeter bolts hit my caliper:


With these 12.25" bore 211 RS faces, it looks like I'd need something like 50mm of pad clearance in order for the perimeter bolts to not hit my calipers. Are there any 5X114.3 RS faces with that big of a pad face that you could swap me?

zoo, I checked into those ARE wheels, and I fear that they have the same small bore issue as the BBS RS's I have. But THANK YOU for looking out for me! If you come across any other interesting finds, please do share!

I've never thought of my 13" corvette brakes as needing high disk wheel clearance. The calipers themselves don't protrude outward like most BBK's I've seen. I think I might need to start looking for wheel faces with 13" or 13.5" and greater bores. If the bore diameter increased just a smidge, would i be correct in characterizing my wheel needs as low to mid disk? Can anyone point me in some new directions as far as used 3 PC wheels that fit the 13" bore or greater criteria?

[FirstGenZq8]

I also just tried a 17" style 5 face, and even IT wouldn't work . Even with two 8mm (16mm total) spacers the perimeter bolts hit the caliper. bleh.

I measured the style 5 face and its bore was 14.5". So I'm thinking I need to quit worrying about bore and focus on finding wheels with medium/high disks - everybody think that's right?

[HotRodMatt]

5x108 The struggle is real...

[zoo]

focus on finding wheels with medium/high disks?

Yes.
or spacers.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

So I'm thinking I need to quit worrying about bore and focus on finding wheels with medium/high disks - everybody think that's right?

Yes.
or spacers.

I agree completely with Mr. Zoo. Were I you at this point, I would pick a spacer size that would be the maximum I was willing to run (i.e. the thickest before you start getting into bolt-on spacers, at which point you might as well run adapters) and then look for wheels with back pads that will work with that thick of spacers or less. CB can always be corrected if need be.

Otherwise, if you're looking for the perfect combination of PCD, CB, and backpad, you may be searching for the rest of your life.

[1badg35]

as said, if you need them, there are rs faces out there that have far higher pads... the ones to the bottom left of the pile are 211 faces, the ones on the right are rs289 for example

[Icana4dit]

The rs289 faces will definitely clear with no spacer, I just built a set of rs289's for an evo 9 and they cleared with no spacer at. Evo 8/9's brakes stick out much further than those.

The rs289 faces have 50mm of brake clearance give or take a few mm.