[rasilverbird]

I've seen a few cars with oversized (17" to 20") aftermarket steelie wheels with poverty caps, but I can't seem to find them anywhere. I thought American Racing had a set, but didn't see it on their website. Anyone know where they can be purchased? My car came original with 14" poverty caps, and I kindof like the look of the larger version of them.

[unruhjonny]

I have seen a couple cars done up like this;
They either use a custom (read: ingenious) way to attach a period correct 'poverty cap', or go to the extent of custom machining something to affix to the wheel, and look like an original cap.

[The Champ]

Actually, the 14" poverty caps will fit fine on 14, 15, and 17" rims. I know for a fact because I've used OE poverty caps on all three sizes.

The first photo is with 15's and the second is with 17's.

Same OE poverty caps.

The 15's were OE GM rims. The 17's came from Wheel Vintiques via Summit.

[unruhjonny]

/\ have you had any issues with WV steel wheels?

I ask because I haven't heard any good first hand reviews.

[rasilverbird]

Originally Posted by The Champ

Actually, the 14" poverty caps will fit fine on 14, 15, and 17" rims. I know for a fact because I've used OE poverty caps on all three sizes.

The first photo is with 15's and the second is with 17's.

Same OE poverty caps.

The 15's were OE GM rims. The 17's came from Wheel Vintiques via Summit.

Any close ups of the 17s?

[unruhjonny]

it would all come down to the centre section of the wheel - and if it is formed to accomidate vintage caps.
That seems like a smart move on the part of WV to me.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by rasilverbird

Any close ups of the 17s?

Cropped it tight for you...

They are WV Series 62. They are available in 14, 15, 17, 18 and 20" sizes.

https://www.summitracing.com/search/...9%2B4294947557

[rasilverbird]

Originally Posted by The Champ

Cropped it tight for you...

They are WV Series 62. They are available in 14, 15, 17, 18 and 20" sizes.

https://www.summitracing.com/search/...9%2B4294947557

Quite a price difference between the 14" and 17" versions...$90 vs $240!

Thanks for the link.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by rasilverbird

Quite a price difference between the 14" and 17" versions...$90 vs $240!

Thanks for the link.

You can get the 14's and 15's at your local salvage yard for even less.

The 17's are custom made in small batches.

[unruhjonny]

I will repeat, incase my post was missed;

In the context of WV 14x7" wheels, I haven't heard any good first hand reviews.
I was interested because I briefly considered going this route to have a full set of five 14x7" wheels;
Every single first hand account I have read suggests that after a time, they are replaced with nice vintage wheels - as they are more often than not deemed to be unbalanceable.
I ended up taking online first hand accounts to heart, and one by one found good used wheels.

I would assert that the higher cost wheels are probably better quality - because it seems to me that surely the cost of the extra metal could not solely justify the price jump.

[Formulajones]

I would assume the same could be said about quality on the Wheel Vintique 15" wheels as well, because they are priced cheaply like the 14's.

With that said I can comment on the quality of Wheel Vintiques. Dad runs a complete set of 15x8 and 15x4 steel wheels from Wheel Vintiques with his poverty caps. I balance wheels myself here with my own electronic spin balancer and the wheels balanced beautifully with minimal weight.

I will say, since I balance a lot of various wheel and tire combos, that 90% of the balance issues I run into are from the tire itself and not the wheel. Some of the cheaper brand tires just aren't that great and require more weight.

Dad is running Mickey Thompson drag radials on the rear and Mickey Thompson skinny radial front runners. MT's have always been a good quality tire that always balances with minimal effort for me.

[unruhjonny]

/\ well that's good to know.

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

I would assume the same could be said about quality on the Wheel Vintique 15" wheels as well, because they are priced cheaply like the 14's.

With that said I can comment on the quality of Wheel Vintiques. Dad runs a complete set of 15x8 and 15x4 steel wheels from Wheel Vintiques with his poverty caps. I balance wheels myself here with my own electronic spin balancer and the wheels balanced beautifully with minimal weight.

I will say, since I balance a lot of various wheel and tire combos, that 90% of the balance issues I run into are from the tire itself and not the wheel. Some of the cheaper brand tires just aren't that great and require more weight.

Dad is running Mickey Thompson drag radials on the rear and Mickey Thompson skinny radial front runners. MT's have always been a good quality tire that always balances with minimal effort for me.

This is good information that is often overlooked. Very few wheel/tire technicians will take the time to look at the balance of the wheel and tire separately, then mount them in a manner that produces the best balance with the least amount of balancing weights.

The costumer gets that wheel, see's several weight strips on the hoop or the rim and concludes the wheel is at fault. Sometimes it is, sometimes it's the tire, sometimes it's both.

I don't have WV's so I can't comment on their quality, but having dealt with both cheap wheels and tires in the past, my experience echoes Formulas in that the biggest issues I've seen were tire based, not wheel based.

[Formulajones]

Can't tell you how many times I've had a perfectly good wheel with a cheap tire and it wants a ton of weight. I'll sometimes deflate the tire, break the bead, and then rotate the tire 90 or 180 degrees on the wheel, and balance again. I'd say 50% of the time this helps. Just time consuming. But it's because of this that gives me one more reason I'd much rather prefer spending a little more money on tires.

[The Champ]

I can't speak to the quality of the 14's or 15's made by WV's either.

But I'm very happy with the 17's. Of course I went with a high quality tire - Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06's.

[rasilverbird]

Originally Posted by The Champ

Actually, the 14" poverty caps will fit fine on 14, 15, and 17" rims. I know for a fact because I've used OE poverty caps on all three sizes.

The first photo is with 15's and the second is with 17's.

Same OE poverty caps.

The 15's were OE GM rims. The 17's came from Wheel Vintiques via Summit.

Bumping this thread...what size tires did you go with?

EDIT: NM, found your other thread!