Corvair wheels on my Festy?

[Onree]

I've got a chance to get for close to free a set of four 13" by 5.5 wheels steelies from a dead 1964 Chevy corvair. Bolt pattern is right and the offset works out to zero.
Do these have any possibility on a Festy? Will zero offset work with skinny wheels like that?

The guy that has the car is moving, and it needs to be gone by Monday, Tuesday at the latest.

Is this worthwhile? Free, but a fair amount of work to get them off the Corvair.

Thanks for any guidance.

[getnpsi]

[QUOTE=BUSTIVA]
My wheels are 13x7 0 offset dirt track steelies. Fitted with 175/60/13s. I've also ran 215/5013s on them as well. But 13s are getting hard to find good sized tires for.

[Bert]

Just grand that they are correct bolt pattern but is the hub hole undersize/oversize and do they clear the calipers and the shock perches? Rather than second guess and go to all that trouble get out there and remove one wheel off the Corvair and try it on front and back of your Festy before you commit. Only risk that way is your time and effort.
My best piece of good luck was to discover that 4 hole Kia Rio wheels (I lucked upon alloy 14s) are perfect in every way. No muss no fuss and likely (if steelies) they'll be as close to free as you can get, or as in my case I accompanied the salvage tow truck to the recycler and retrieved the wheels in exchange for a cup of coffee and a donut.

[Spike]

When I bought the Sprint it had a set of either Corvair or some Mopar wheel. Really deep dish steel wheels (they weight like 55lbs with tires, it's insane for a 13 inch). They fit on the Festiva wonderfully, but of course they make it sloooooow.

If you can get them, get them! If anything, you have a nice set of Corvair wheels to sit in the corner of your garage/den and enjoy for years to come. Hopefully it comes with center caps/spinners.

-Joe

[lessersivad]

The Corvair wheels actually fit better than the early Falcon wheels (like I was running before the "$30 paint job") in terms of the lug hole size.

Clearing the calipers shouldn't be an issue. Center hole of the wheels will be larger (big deal, so are the aftermarket wheels I'm currently running).

I've actually been keeping an occasional eye out for a set of Corvair wheels. I would personally recommend getting them.

Install screw in wheel studs and run regular lug nuts and you should be good to go. Chances are the stock lug bolts would work but the studs/nuts make it SO much easier to mount wheels.

13" tires are still available and are reasonably cheap.

Just my 2¢.

[darkfact]

Hi Bert, is there any way you can show us what Rio alloys look like on a Festiva? Or at least a picture of the Rio alloys so I know what to look for. Thanks Bert.

[Safety Guy]

Keep in mind the Rio wheels will fit an Aspire hub swap perfectly, but not a Festiva bolt pattern. I think the Corvair wheels will fit the Festiva pattern and not Aspire.

The Kia Rio is essentially a distant "third gen" Festiva and carries on the Aspire's improvements such as the 4 X 100mm bolt pattern.

Karl

[Bert]

Hi Bert, is there any way you can show us what Rio alloys look like on a Festiva? Or at least a picture of the Rio alloys so I know what to look for. Thanks Bert.

I used to post pictures here all the time but revamp of this site about a year ago has stymied me outright. Send me a personal e-mail at bertvaningen53@gmail.com and I'll show you what Rio wheels look like on a Festy. There are prettier Rio alloys out there than the ones I got but beggars can't be choosers when they're right there, and gratis. Size is 5.5 x 14 and I mounted 155/65s on them.
Oh and I forgot, as Safety Guy says; ya gotta hang an Aspire undercarriage in there first. 4 x 100 opens up a world of possibilities plus you get easier to service and better brakes.

[darkfact]

I'm still on the search the perfect alloy wheel swap for the stock Festiva setup at least until I do the rear aspire swap and front Rio swap. I want 14" alloys from another car but haven't found anything local to me in 4x114.3. The "steelies" just aren't appealing to me.

[getnpsi]

If you want to do aspire swap within a year i suggest steelies and copper spray paint, or blaze pladtic dip paint in fast furious colors...or white. No use throwing money away. Check the baby moons thread, a great look, pinto hubcaps a forgotten favorite too...

[Safety Guy]

Here's a link to a picture showing some 1987 RX7 "phone dial" wheels. They were stock Festiva bolt pattern and offered only on certain RX7s for about two to three years, including '87.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2184562/1987-mazda-rx-7/

I have a set but I'm saving them. Shouldn't be too hard to find.

Karl

[getnpsi]

thank you karl. those cars are still plentiful in my area. I already bought some 15" wheels but i can always get those for a low price backup. some reason i thought it was the gen before those round ones that had the 4 lug our size. Picture worth 1000 words Ill keep an eye out for those girlie rx7's.