Ford Wide 5 vs VW Wide 5 Wheels

R

Ross6860

Senior Member
Are Ford Wide 5 wheels the same pattern as VW Wide 5s?

VWs are listed as 5x205 I assume 205mm diameter bolt circle.

I found wide five to standard Ford adapters, but they are listed as VW to Ford, not Ford to Ford.

If these adapters will work it's a lot easier than having wheels custom made from original wide 5 centers.
 
Nowhere near. Ford wide 5's are on a 10-1/4" circle.

English ford wide 5's (Pop, Prefect, Anglia) are close to vw, but not exactly the same.

Mart.
 
Ross6860 said:
Are Ford Wide 5 wheels the same pattern as VW Wide 5s?

VWs are listed as 5x205 I assume 205mm diameter bolt circle.

I found wide five to standard Ford adapters, but they are listed as VW to Ford, not Ford to Ford.

If these adapters will work it's a lot easier than having wheels custom made from original wide 5 centers.
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What do you have and what do you want to end up with? I assume the VW to Ford adapters you are looking at are late ford (not 5 on 5 1/2)

Charlie Stephens
 
You are probably looking for something like this so that you don't have to use a wide five wheel:

http://dickspadaro.com/wheel_adapter.htm

I am in no way associated with Dick Spadaro, and do not use these adapters, so other might be able to chime in on quality and function of this part.

Also, Mart mentions something regarding the English Wide five which makes it sound like it is different.
 
My book agrees with the above.
VW Beetles 1952-67, Kombis 1955-70 & some Type 3s had the 5 x 205mm. After that the Kombis had 5 x 112mm & Beetles 4 x 130.
I would be interested to know what the old Ford Pops, Defects and Anglias had? Surely 10 1/4" would be too big for those little brake drums.
What about the 1960s Pontiacs? Some of them had wide bolt circles.
And for the Aussies, FXs and FJs had 5 x 6 3/8".

Whew. HTH

Manuel in Oz
 
CaliforniaBorn36 said:
You are probably looking for something like this so that you don't have to use a wide five wheel:

http://dickspadaro.com/wheel_adapter.htm

I am in no way associated with Dick Spadaro, and do not use these adapters, so other might be able to chime in on quality and function of this part.

Also, Mart mentions something regarding the English Wide five which makes it sound like it is different.
Click to expand...

Wrong way. That's so you can use Wide 5s on a standard hub. Lots of them out there. No one goes the other (that I know of) way except the VW ones I found.

Charlie Stephens said:
What do you have and what do you want to end up with? I assume the VW to Ford adapters you are looking at are late ford (not 5 on 5 1/2)

Charlie Stephens
Click to expand...

I have Wide 5 hubs (1936 Tudor)

Looking to go to a more modern tire/wheel combo

There is a solution, but like anything on these cars, it ain't cheap.

Wheelsmith will build whatever you want on a Wide 5 center. They state with the correct backspacing that a 7" wide rim will fit in a '36 with no fender or suspension interference. This is probably the way I will go when I get around to it.

There's a member that sells Wide 5 centers already pulled. Perfect. I don't need to sacrifice good wheels.
 
Manuel said:
What about the 1960s Pontiacs? Some of them had wide bolt circles.
Manuel in Oz
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The Pontiacs were wide eights, no where near wide fives.


Ross6860 said:
Are Ford Wide 5 wheels the same pattern as VW Wide 5s?
Click to expand...

Interestingly, they are related. John Tjaarda was a European designer working for Briggs. He developed the "Briggs Dream Car" for Ford. That was a rear engined monocoque show car. Ford dumped the entire project when Briggs got too close to Chrysler. The design was very influential in the original design of Germany's People's Car.
 
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The Pontiacs were wide eights, no where near wide fives.
​

I did't say they were 5s. I was just asking about all the wide bolt patterns [PCDs] I could think of.

Has anybody discovered the bolt pattern of the old UK Fords eg Prefects, Pops etc?
I would like to put them on my list.

Cheers,

Manuel in Oz
 
Ross6860, If you wish to opt out of your wide 5 wheel bolt pattern, you have a problem if you have mechanical brakes. You cannot exchange 1935 small bolt pattern front hubs with the 1936 hubs as the spindle snout lengths are different. You cannot use 1940-48 hubs as the brake surface offset is different. You cannot purchase adapters as the snout design interferes with the smaller bolt pattern.
 
DICK SPADARO said:
You cannot exchange 1935 small bolt pattern front hubs with the 1936 hubs as the spindle snout lengths are different.
Click to expand...

Which spindle is longer? I was told they interchange, and bought a set of 35 drums to put on my 36 but haven't done the work yet. Now I'm hoping I can make spacers or modify something to make it work.
 
To Yoyodyne, although 35/6 cars and Pu carry the same king pin, the spindle design is different. the 1935 spindle has a longer snout measure from the face to the end than the 1936 spindle. Roughly 35 spindles are 6" long and 36's are 5 1/2" long while the drums may bolt on you will have to check the bearing crush and determine if the castle nut will tighten correctly.
 
DICK SPADARO said:
Ross6860, If you wish to opt out of your wide 5 wheel bolt pattern, you have a problem if you have mechanical brakes. You cannot exchange 1935 small bolt pattern front hubs with the 1936 hubs as the spindle snout lengths are different. You cannot use 1940-48 hubs as the brake surface offset is different. You cannot purchase adapters as the snout design interferes with the smaller bolt pattern.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.

I have an Early V8 Garage juice brake kit that came with the car.

It looks like this winter's project will be installing the hydraulic brakes.

The wife likes the stock wheels and wide whites, so maybe just Coker radials are in the future.
 
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