pocket_rocket

Ok so ever since I purchased my car, something has not looked right to me. Today I had to move it to get to something in the garage and had a good look at it and think I figured it out..

How can I tell which wheels are rear and which wheels are front for my early offset phone dials?

A previous owner put all the same size tires on the car and also looks like switched the front and rear wheels.. ~Maybe during inspection?~ I want to get this straightened out. Something about it just does not look right and I am almost positive the rear wheel is on the front of the car.

Maybe a sharp eye from a phone dial expert can tell me based on this photo below or someone can tell me if there is a way to identify through markings inside the wheel or something.

Kurt R

Just pull the wheels off and look on the back. The fronts are 16x7, the rears are 16x8.

krystar

they say on them 15x6 or 15x7.

u can read the numbers on the tires also most likely 205/55/15 or 225/50/15

JohnKoaWood

Early offset rears are much deeper dish wheels than the fronts, hard to tell from a side shot, do you have a pic from an angle to the car so we can see the depth of the wheels?

Also, what might not be looking right could be the difference of the sidewall profile.. you said PO put same tires on all 4 corners...

if the widths are for the front, the rears would not look right on the rims... and if the correct width for the rears, the fronts won't look right...

you can see the depth difference here: (not my car)


OK I see the problem... from another pic you posted elsewhere...


look at the sidewalls... the fronts are too wide and the rears appear too narrow! go get new tires mounted, 205 fronts and 225 rears adn that should smooth out the over all look... as far as front rim on back or back rim on front... this pic shows the correct rims in the correct places... just the tires are all wrong!

pontifex4

As KurtR said, there is a stamp in the casting of each wheel with its diameter and width. Yours will read 16x7 and 16x8, as you likely know. Also, if the tires are the same width front and rear, the sidewalls will look different, which is what you're probably perceiving.

Jack the whole side of the car up at once and switch front for back if necessary. If it isn't time for a full new set of tires, it might still be worth considering getting a new set of rears, since stretched sidewalls make for a strange mix of over and understeer.

flosho

Looks like he has 225's all around. The tires look to be pretty new so you could probably just pick up the fronts i 205/55/16 and sell the others or keep them for later.

nkgosselin

You can just stick a ruler through the spokes to measure the rim width.

potent951turbo

It wouldn't be the first time something like this happened. My first 951 I got had both the rear wheels on one side of the car and the fronts on the other side.

ernie9468

First what sizes of tires you got on her (same sizes all around?) then the wheels (same sizes on all four?) Sending you a couple of pics with same size on four corners wheels but different tires sizes front & rear hope it will help------ wheels 16x7.5 -----tires 205-55-16 front / 225-50-16 rear.

pocket_rocket

This photo above is on the passenger side which seems to be correct. Its the drivers side that is screwed up. Here is the same picture from that perspective. Also seems like the wheels are stamped if what folks are saying is correct which I am sure it is.. So tomorrow I am pulling the left side..

Once I at least get the wheels correct on the drivers side I will then go about getting the correct tires. The car understeers something terrible now and I was thinking it was age and that I would need to do quite a bit of suspension upgrading but now it seems that it may be more due to the poor setup.. Wrong tires and wrong positions on driver side.. Thanks to everyone!
I will confirm tomorrow with what the stamping says...

ritzblitz

That's a tough angle to see it from.

I see you're in bucks county? Where at? I'm in quakertown.

Also, if you have the same tires all around, the car shouldnt really behave differently regarding understeer or oversteer.

pocket_rocket

Newtown here. If that is the case then the car is going to need some serious suspension upgrades as a part of the project.

ritzblitz

Yeah, the only difference is the track width, and with a wider front track (if you had the rears on the front,) the handling should be closer to oversteering.

Hopefully you feel a difference though once you work out the wheels. Alignment can make a big difference too. Nice garage by the way!

JohnKoaWood

Yes your front has the rear rim, and front is on rear, on the drivers side...

I would also get the tires corrected as you will notice remarkable change in handling characteristics...

mitfa911

Just by looking at the picture you defenately have the rears at the front. You can notice by the wheel lip. The front narrow wheels have less lip than the rears. You have 16x7 and 16x8. The 16x7 should be in the front.