Quote:
Originally Posted by DMMuir
I'm looking to keep it pretty original.
Painting the 15's the correct color (Which is ?????)
Finding 16's like it should have that I can put radials on.
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DM …..On a '40 Ford, the "correct" color is what matches body color. From '41 thru '48, "correct" is body color with three white pin-stripes right outside the cap area, like this original spare (and Ford script tire) out of a '41.
Any 1940 through '48 Ford 16" wheel will bolt-on to your '40, and will also accept the stock hub caps.
ANY of these wheels WILL accept and run with TUBELESS tires....MANY guys here will attest to that. Your car will steer and drive so much better with the radials. As long as your beads are clean and smooth, the edges around the hole for the rubber air valve are solid with no pitting, and you apply a thin coat of some sort of sealer like JB WELD over each of the 12 rivets heads located down in the drop center of each wheel as a precaution, these wheels do not leak. '40 and '41 wheels are 4"-wide between beads. The '42-'48 wheels look identical outwardly, but are 4-1/2" wide between beads and make it just a little easier to fit 16" tires all the way up to 7.50-R16s. You can tell the (4-1/2"-wide) '42-'48 wheels by the angles of the two vertical surfaces that go down to meet the 'drop-center' surface where the rivets are. The '42-'48s have one VERTICAL surface toward the outside, with a somewhat SLANTED surface toward the back side of wheel, whereas on the '40 and '41 wheels, those two vertical surfaces are straight parallel with each other. Note the subtle rivet heads which you ought to seal just for insurance, although they virtually never leak. DD
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