'39 Buick Century 15" wheel specs???????

[airbrushguy]

Does anyone know the width and setback dimensions of a '39's 15" wheels?

Also, how many rows would you say are in the '39's radiator?

Thanks

[Guest DaveCorbin]

Dear airbrushguy:

In regards to your question about how many bars are in the 39 Buick grilles, ther are in fact 2 answers. Buick started with what I call the "41 bar" grille. As they got complaints about cars overheating (39's are notorious for that), they switched to the "35 bar" grille (less bars, more air flow). Both the right and left side grilles should be the same, as the car will look "odd" if they aren't, but it would be tough to figure out why it looks "odd" if you didn't know this fact.

Regards, Dave Corbin

[Guest DaveCorbin]

Dear airbrush guy:

All of the stock 39 radiators that I have seen are 2 row units.

Regards, Dave Corbin

[JalopyBob]

The 39 Buick wheels are 16" not 15". Hope this helps.

[Glassesguy]

Centurys used 15 inch wheels from 1936 to 1942. Rim size was 15X7. Tire size was 7.00 X 15.

[airbrushguy]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Centurys used 15 inch wheels from 1936 to 1942. Rim size was 15X7. Tire size was 7.00 X 15. </div></div>

Yes, Centuries did have 15" wheels, but were they 7" wide? Also I'd like to know stock setback.

Thanks

[airbrushguy]

TTT

[1939_Buick]

If you use 16" wheels you will slightly better mph per engine rev

The 1942 shop manual has (pg 10-7

Series 40B

tires 16" x 6.50"

wheels 16" x 6.00"

722.7 revs per mile at 50 MPH

Series 60

tires 15" x 7.0"

wheels 15" x 6.50"

717.4 revs per mile at 50 MPH

No off set dimensions

Guess 1939 are the same.

Edited November 1, 2011 by 1939_buick (see edit history)

[danhar1960]

Wow !!! It seems you didn't you didn't get an answer the first time nearly 5 years ago so better luck this time. What do you mean by "setback" ?? I can't say I'm familiar with this term in this context. If you nominate some specific reference points maybe it can be measured for you.

Danny

[1939_Buick]

Assume is the off set dimension of hub (bolts) from the center line. Guess 15" & 16" are same

Just go a measure a wheel for the man, as those in the USA have not helped in the last 5 years !!

Edited November 1, 2011 by 1939_buick (see edit history)

[airbrushguy]

Wow !!! It seems you didn't you didn't get an answer the first time nearly 5 years ago so better luck this time. What do you mean by "setback" ?? I can't say I'm familiar with this term in this context. If you nominate some specific reference points maybe it can be measured for you.

Danny

Backspacing is what I need. The wheel width seems like it would be around 5-5.5", am I right.

This project has gone in a completely different direction since 5 years ago. Now I need to know the original width and backspacing of the wheels and when I searched I found my old post....still unanswered.

Thanks

[1939_Buick]

Backspacing is what I need.

Good sketch here as Wheels

Others

Car Bibles : The Wheel and Tyre Bible Page 4 of 4

Car Bibles : The Wheel and Tyre Bible Page 1 of 4

car rim dimensions - Google Search

Edited November 2, 2011 by 1939_buick (see edit history)

[airbrushguy]

OK...I need rim width and backspacing of a stock 39 Buick Century 15" wheel. Overall height of tire would be appreciated as well.

Thanks

[danhar1960]

Seeing as you have been waiting for nearly 5 years for an answer, if you can just hang on until the weekend I'll pull a wheel off the Century and do some measuring for you. (Unless someone else jumps in first).

Danny

[Guest Grant Magrath]

ANZAC's to the rescue!!

Cheers

Grant

[danhar1960]

Does anyone know the width and setback dimensions of a '39's 15" wheels?

Thanks

Hopefully this was worth the wait and answers the question. :)

Danny

(Team ANZAC)

[airbrushguy]

Hopefully this was worth the wait and answers the question. :)

Danny

(Team ANZAC)

OK...now I know the backspacing is 3 1/2", anyone know the width?

Thanks again Danhar

[danhar1960]

I haven't physically measured these but they are straight out of the '38 Buick shop manual.

(handy thing to have)

Rim diameter 15"

Rim width 5.50"

Hub bore 3 7/16"

Bolt circle 5"

Danny

[airbrushguy]

Thanks...very much!

[Guest Kejsaren]

hi guys

when we tried to put those spare tire covers on, we discover that the whels are to big, we can´t put them on???

the tire size is 7.00x15 as the should be, is there any differens between special and century covers?

thanks

Janne

[1939_Buick]

Janne

Welcome back. It is about time you started work again on a good car

By spare tire cover do you a the metal cover over the sidemounts spares? (Have a photo?)

Modern tires have different shapes to 1939 tires. Other people have had the same problems with tires too big for sidemounts

[Barney Eaton]

When I purchased my '39 (with side mounts) I knew very little about them. The first thing I noticed was the side mounts were missing the "cup" that the threaded rod goes thru. I started looking for those "cups". First lesson, the hole in the center of the wheel is different between the small cars (Special and Century) and the large cars (Roadmaster/Limited). I was able to find cups for the large cars but not the small cars. While working on this I discovered (1) because the previous owners did not have the cup, they used a torch to make one lug nut hole larger for the threaded rod. (2) somewhere in this process I also discovered that my side mount rims were not even Buick but smaller GM cars with something like a 4.75 bolt pattern and even smaller center hole.

The good news was there was/is a correct spare tire and rim in the trunk. I gave up on finding the correct "cups" and had thick metal brackets made that use two rim bolt holes to mount and the threaded rod goes thru that bracket so that the side mounts can be properly tightened in place. (I have extra brackets if anyone has a similar problem)

[Guest Kejsaren]

ok thanks for the info guys

i suspect the tiresize, i have the 7.00x15 and that one is 730mm in diameter by 210mm wide

i also have some older 6.50x15 and those are 700mm in diameter by 200mm wide.

maybe i have to byu 6 new smaller dimension tires:mad: