New Minilites don't fit the disc hub. What to do?

[brads70]

I found a place to mill the wheel for $60 a wheel. Summit has a ton of center caps, looks like several will work. Ebay also has a huge selection.

Tonight I'm going to pick out and order a center cap, and then take the wheels in to be milled a bit larger than the cap diameter.

My biggest concern is what the wheel's paint will look like at the edge of the hole after milling. I guess we'll know in a couple of days!

If you start boring from the painted side first while covered in masking tape that will give you a better chance of it not flaking off. Does minilite not have caps, so they will match the rears?

[Ford.P51]

Minilites next size up on caps was a 79mm diameter, which is 3.1 inches or so. I found a nice cap on Summit last night that was a 2.9 inch diameter, and a cap of the same style was available for the current hole size. The total for the set of 4 was only $22, so not too bad.

I'm hoping that keeping the hole size as small as possible will minimize the difference in appearance between the front and back wheels. If its noticable then I guess I'll have the rear wheels milled as well.

[dodj]

Sounds like you need a set of rotors that will fit, or turn the hub down.

Wonder how much a hub can be turned and still be safe? I'm sure some could be taken off, but how much is too much?

[Ford.P51]

The hub question really concerned me - brads70 scared me away.

Well two wheels are being milled right now, guess I own those bad boys. No returning them now. The good news is that its $60 for the pair, not each wheel. If they turn out OK cosmetically I may do the rear wheels as well just so they are identical.

[boydsdodge]

You say that the wheels fit the rear axel hub but not the front hub.
That is very weird , then i read that HP2 has found differant size hubs on brake discs. Weird again, I have never seen it but all is posible today. (must be real cheap Chineese rotors)
If it were me I would find a set of correct rotors clean off the powder coat and have a wheel that is hub centric.
I am going to reread this whole post again something is off, this isnt the first set of Minilite has made for a mopar.

[cudazappa]

You say that the wheels fit the rear axel hub but not the front hub.
That is very weird , then i read that HP2 has found differant size hubs on brake discs. Weird again, I have never seen it but all is posible today. (must be real cheap Chineese rotors)
If it were me I would find a set of correct rotors clean off the powder coat and have a wheel that is hub centric.
I am going to reread this whole post again something is off, this isnt the first set of Minilite has made for a mopar.

That is also my thoughts... but not having a caliper or micrometer measurement to verify differences, my mental picture is fuzzy.  Also wouldn't be the first time of me reading about issues with the Chinese rotors. 

Also, I spent some time about 3-4 years ago making Conquest 16x8s fit my Challenger.  The center cap portion turned out to be what would hit the snout of the disc rotor.  (the replacement, not the original!).

I then went to upgrade rotors, and went to 17" wheels.  the Conquest wheels are now currently on my old 79 300  (the car is in indefinite storage, and they still don't fit the rotors right)

[Super Blue 72]

You say that the wheels fit the rear axel hub but not the front hub.
That is very weird...

I think, could be wrong, that he has drums out back.  I think the hib back there is smaller as I've heard of fitment issues on the disc brakes, not drum.

[cudazappa]

I think, could be wrong, that he has drums out back.  I think the hib back there is smaller as I've heard of fitment issues on the disc brakes, not drum.

The hub is shorter in back, but it should be the same diameter.

[Super Blue 72]

The hub is shorter in back, but it should be the same diameter.

Ahh, gotcha, thanks. 

[Ford.P51]

Sorry been away, haven't been online in a couple of days.

To recap and answer the questions - the car was an all drum setup. The wheels fit the rear drum hubs without issue. The wheels almost fit the original front drum hubs - it appeared to me that some very minor clearancing would have been needed to bolt them up.

The real issue was the car was switched to a 73-76 A-body front disc brake kit. Parts are most certainly cheap Chinese parts. One thing I did not mention before, I went down to Advance Auto and measured another rotor, it had the same hub diameter. So there seems to be some consistency in the rotor hub diameter.

As an update, I found some center caps on Summit that were available in both the original hole size, and in a larger size to fit over the hub. I ordered the center caps and had the wheels milled out to 2.95". Wheels fit just fine now. I'll post pics shortly. It'll be a month or so before I buy tires though, I've already blown enough $$$ this month.

The Minilight people have been really helpful by the way, they have offered to refund me half of the machine work costs. And their engineers lets me know how big they though the center cap hole could be before becoming a problem. All in all I'm very happy now that I've got something I can bolt up to the car. I hope noone took this thread as a bash on Minilight - the wheels are beautiful.

[brads70]

That's great of Mimilite to offer that!    and they are beautiful rims! Can't wait to see them all mounted!   Glad it all worked out in the end!

[Ford.P51]

Thought I'd finish out this thread with some pics.

Here's the bored out wheel


With the new cap


And the test fit, cap and wheel now fit over the hub


I'll start a new thread when we get some tires.

[Super Blue 72]

   Looks nice!  I'm jealous, I like those rims! 

[brads70]

Looks great Looks like the paint help up well too!