Reatta Wheels

[Guest Mike7112]

There appear to be several cars that come equipped with 5x114.3 or 5x4.5 wheels. Any recommendations on which have the proper offset and have been successfully used on a Reatta?

[Ronnie]

I also would like to have the answer to your question.

I hope this tread will end up being a complete list of wheels that have <span style="font-weight: bold">actually been used</span> on the Reatta. Photos, sizes and details would really help.

[Barney Eaton]

You can do a search on "wheels" and get lots of information.

When GM went front wheel drive, the made the bolt pattern on their BIG cars 115mm. So you can go back to about 1985 and find wheels that will fit the Reatta. The early wheels are all 15", starting arount 1990, 16" wheels started appearing.

Cadillac and Pontiac Bonnevilles had some attractive wheels. I don't remember any Oldsmobile wheels that I would want.

[Guest F14CRAZY]

I love my '99 Mustang GT 17''s. RWD offset, so I guess they stick out a tiny bit more, but it looks good that way

[jonlabree]

I kinda like my 2005 Rendezvous wheels my self.

All chrome with the Reatta emblem in the center.

[Guest MauiWowee]

Yep, I like those as well as the Lucerne wheels. And they are Buick, by GM.

[Guest EDBSO]

'96 Riviera rims actually used on my '88 with no problems.

225-60-16s mounted

[DAVES89]

When you go to a bigger wheel how do you recalibrate the speedo? If I was to switch I wouldn't want to worry about speeding?lol

[jonlabree]

Then don't worry about it....

[Guest TommyH]

The difference larger wheels make on a Reatta is insignifigant. The car was calibrated to normal(ish) sized wheels, and unless you have like a toyota tercel, with its 12" wheels, going to 17 wouldn;t affect it harldy at all. The most you would see on a Reatta with 20s would be 5mph faster when goin 105. Ex. SPeedo says 105, really, you are going about 110. Get it?

[Guest EDBSO]

All your answers are here to have an accurate Speedo

link here

[Guest F14CRAZY]

Don't worry at all about the speedo calibration...I ran 18''s and the speedo read 1 mph faster than I was actually going, at the most

[Barney Eaton]

You do need to think about the tire size when you change the rim size. Example.

The 1988-1990 car had a 15" rim and ran 215x65r15 tires.

In 1991 they went to 16" rims and ran 215x60r16...see the difference. If you are not into tires, then they all look black and round.

If you changed from 15" to 16" and just changed the rim size

215x65r15 to 215x65r16, your speedometer would be off 3% or 2 mph at 60.

The web site posted above gives you plenty of information to make a good decision on which tire size to select when you change rim sizes.

Example, if you went from the stock 15" rims to 18" rims, what tire size would you select? A 245x40r18 is the closest I could find and that would affect the speedometer reading 1%

[olbuickman]

I went from the stock 15" aluminum wheels to the 2007 Lucerne chrome wheels, on a hard turn my front wheels rub just slightly on wheel wells. With these 17" wheels and tires I run on the speedometer 62mph while my hand held Garmin Gps shows 60mph. With several coats of Zaino sealant on the wheels they are a dream to clean.

[Barney Eaton]

olbuickman..what size tire are you running?

a 225/50r17 would give the correct speedometer reading.

[jonlabree]

Barney; My 225x55x16 are very close also.

Clocked by my son who is with the IL Highway Dept.

[olbuickman]

Barney, I am using 235x55xr17 on the Reatta. Frank

[Richard S]

The original issue, I think, was whether we could interchange the 114.3 with the 115 or 4.5s wheels on our hubs. As far as I know, the answer is yes. The other thing to watch out for is the center hole. Lots of wheels with the right bolt pattern have smaller center holes. I am with F-14. The Mustang 17s fit very well and the slightly greater [lesser?]offset allows the use of a slightly larger tire. This is because the inner fender plastic liners are curved. If the tire is too large, the inner tread scrapes the plastic liner. If you move that same tire outbound a bit, you might eliminate or minimize the rubbing.

[Guest Mike7112]

Barney,

A lot of responses as well as other Reatta sites still reference the 5x114.3 size which I believe are what the current Mustangs use. You indicted that 5x115 is the correct size; can you please confirm? Thanks again for your help.

[Barney Eaton]

I would not use the Mustang 4.5 bolt circle wheels.

(1) First there is .021 difference in the bolt circle between a 4.5 and 115 mm. To the average person that is hardly nothing, but I worked 38 years in the manufacturing business and depending on what you are measuring, that is a lot. Anyone remember the IBM punch cards? they were .007 thick, .021 is three card stacked together.

(2) There has been no talk about the center locating boss.

The industry uses this boss to locate the wheel and take the load off the studs. If the Mustang or any other 4.5 bc wheel has a center hub(boss) that is more than the .021 in diameter larger than the Reatta hub, then the wheel studs and lugs are taking ALL of the road forces.

I do not have my head in a hole, and realise that many aftermarket wheels have large (universal) center holes and the studs and lugs support all the loads....however, all the good wheels, and racing wheels are made to match the hub.

On the tire subject, I am running 245/50r16 tires on Reatta 16 in rims (1991) They do not rub, but did make the speedometer inaccurate, by about 2%

The only reason I have them on the car....they came with some 16" rims that I was using on a ElCamino project.

I sold the car and rims but the buyer didn't want that size tire. I did the math and it looked like they would work on the Reatta....the only unknown, would they rub?

I had one mounted on the Reatta rim, then I put it on each side of the front and drove the car around the neighborhood.. turning and trying to hit dips that might cause them to rub. After doing the testing, I had all of them mounted and they work fine.

[Guest Mike7112]

Barney,

Everything you stated makes perfect sense. I'll stick with your advice and start looking for a nice set of 16s or 17s in the 5x115 pattern.

[Reatta45]

Barney you are so right… I have seen wheel and stud failures, Definitely not good…

Another thing to remember is use a torque wrench to tighten the lug nuts, 91 specs 100 ft. lbs. very important to have them uniform and equally torqued. KennyV.

[Guest F14CRAZY]

I don't mean to disrespect anyone at all, but the Mustang 17'' hub center holes fit the Reatta hubs perfectly. I've run them for over 10k miles and have not noticed any adverse effects on the studs or wheels

[Guest crtnrds]

I like wire wheels on a roadster/convertible. What do you folks think?

[DAVES89]

Those wheels really dress up that ride. You must wear a tux when you go cruisin

[Barney Eaton]

Crazy....I have no idea the size of the Mustang center or for that matter, the center hole diameter of any vehicle.

I was just pointing out that this could be a problem if it is oversize.

I also have a soft spot for real wire wheels, I especially like the straight lace design. Your car and wheels look great.

[DAVES89]

Barney,

I think the whole car looks great. In my humble opinion, if you are going to swap out wheels, spoke/wire wheels is the way to go. I had the factory wire wheels on my first 2 roadmasters and I think the look better then the brushed aluminum wheels I have on my 3rd Roadmaster

[Tacoma]

CRTNRDS

Please tell us more about your wire wheels and tires. Brand, size, cost etc. The tires look like Vogue's. They really are very nice looking, and after seeing them on your Vert, I, and possibly others will consider wire.

Thanks

Jerry

[Guest crtnrds]

Thanks for your opinions.

Yes, they are Vogue tires & the wheels are 16" Daytons made for a Cadallac. I got them on ebay for $1500 including shipping. (tires & wheels) I like the look but wouldn't want them on a daily driver. They are a pain to clean. The best way I've found is power washing then blow dry with an air compressor or leaf blower.

[Blue90]

I needed to get new tires before the winter rains started so I decided it was time to get those 17" wheels I wanted. I found a set of take-off chrome wheels from a 2006 Lucerne CXL. My local tire shop was nice enough to try a few different sizes for me to see how they looked and fit. I decided on Toyo Tourevo LS, 215/55 R17 (the largest size that would fit without rubbing in the fender wells). They are rated at 94V, treadwear 400, traction AA and temp A. They are excellent in the rain and quiet on the highway.

[Guest F14CRAZY]

You gotta wear em F14 style (no hubcaps)

[Blue90]

OK, what am I doing wrong trying to post a photo?

I clicked File Manager, Browse, selected a file, clicked Add File, Done Adding Files, Submit. All I get is this little box with a X in it.

F-14 I can't keep up with your style.

[Guest TommyH]

get a free account at photobucket.com

upload your pictures

copy the DIRECT link(its labled)

type <span style="font-weight: bold"></span>

its pretty smple.

[Blue90]

Thanks Tommy I'll give it a try.

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w36/redgiebrown/Reattanewwheels001.jpg

[Guest MauiWowee]

Congratulations on being able to post your pic. I do love the Maui blue with the matched trim. If anyone should run across a set, let me know!

The wheels look great, plus they are Buick and not something non-GM,

like FORD..............

[Guest F14CRAZY]

a little bit of everything

[Blue90]

Now that I have 17" wheels on my Reatta I realize I'm still driving around with a 15" spare. Does anyone know of a 17" donut that would fit the Reatta hub?

[Guest F14CRAZY]

What I did, mostly because the stock spare won't fit over the Aurora front calipers, is went to a junkyard and asked for a '96 Aurora spare . Note though that it won't fit in the spare tire well

[Blue90]

Thanks F14. This weekend I'll check out my local yards for a '96 Aurora spare.

[Guest F14CRAZY]

It'll be a 16'' spare, so it should be pretty close to matching the circumference of your 17''s