NASCAR Wheels

[SCRWDRVR]

I've been looking for info without to much luck on when wheels changed in NASCAR. They started with stock steelies then went to a 5 hole wheel and I believe to a 9 hole wheel then finally to a 8 hole wheel. Does anyone know a time frame of when these changes took place? I'm working of several 80's era cars and want to have the correct wheels for them.

[64Comet404]

Steelies went to about 1972-73, then five slot wheels until about 1980. Five hole and nine hole wheels came in around 1979-80, and the five-holes were used to around 1988. There are no real hard and fast dates on the earlier wheels, because I am certain you can find pictures of later cars running earlier wheels (independent teams trying to make every last cent count). I believe the five holes disappeared because so many were chrome-plated, and NASCAR banned chrome wheels due to difficulties in detecting cracks in the metal. 

[SCRWDRVR]

48 minutes ago, 64Comet404 said:

Steelies went to about 1972-73, then five slot wheels until about 1980. Five hole and nine hole wheels came in around 1979-80, and the five-holes were used to around 1988. There are no real hard and fast dates on the earlier wheels, because I am certain you can find pictures of later cars running earlier wheels (independent teams trying to make every last cent count). I believe the five holes disappeared because so many were chrome-plated, and NASCAR banned chrome wheels due to difficulties in detecting cracks in the metal. 

Thanks, I've noticed a lot of pics of the older cars with newer style wheels but it appears they are restored cars. I'll rely on pics of the actual raced cars then they should be as accurate as I can get then...

I recently started a build of the Salvinos 83 Lemans and noticed the car on the box (real car) has 5 hole wheels on it but the kit comes with 9 hole, I'm also building Davey Allison's rookie car 87 T-Bird and that kit came with 5 hole wheels but every pic of the car I find has 9 hole wheels so I'll just swap the wheels on the 2 kits... Thanks again...

[Force]

Yes a bit diffuse when they changed and some teams used older wheels longer than others.
Back in the 80's all the Monogram Ford NASCAR kits came with 5-hole wheels and the GM cars like Buick, Olds, Pontiac and Chevy had 9-hole wheels all chrome plated, and I believe that changed sometime in the 90's to the 8-hole design they use today...most likely sometime around when chrome plated wheels was banned.
One thing is clear, the wheels they use now will disappear when the next genearation (generation 7) cars comes in 2022 and they will go to 18 inch BBS aluminum wheels with center bolt. 

Edited January 4, 2021 by Force

[SCRWDRVR]

24 minutes ago, Force said:

Yes a bit diffuse when they changed and some teams used older wheels longer than others.
Back in the 80's all the Monogram Ford NASCAR kits came with 5-hole wheels and the GM cars like Buick, Olds, Pontiac and Chevy had 9-hole wheels all chrome plated, and I believe that changed sometime in the 90's to the 8-hole design they use today...most likely sometime around when chrome plated wheels was banned.
One thing is clear, the wheels they use now will disappear when the next genearation (generation 7) cars comes in 2022 and they will go to 18 inch BBS aluminum wheels with center bolt. 

Ok that tells me where to find a wheel I may want also, Thanks...

I'm not a fan of the center bolt wheels I think it takes some of the pit stop change out of it...

[Force]

Yes, and all the other changes they plan to do with the next generation cars they will do away with everything that was left of what was special and significant to NASCAR racing and made it stand out from other racing series, so NASCAR Cup will be like most of the other saloon car racing series...but on ovals...kind of boring if you ask me. 
Well enough ranting and back to the subject.

Edited January 4, 2021 by Force

[robdebie]

Those Monogram 5 and 9 spoke wheels are actually very nice underneath the chrome, and even better when you sand down the backs so the spokes are opened up. I was quite surprised.

One strange thing was that the 9-spoke wheels were a tad smaller: 17.5 instead of 17.7 mm. This meant that my 5-spoke tires were a loose fit, I could fit two layers of paper between the wheel and tire.

Rob

 

[SCRWDRVR]

1 hour ago, robdebie said:

Those Monogram 5 and 9 spoke wheels are actually very nice underneath the chrome, and even better when you sand down the backs so the spokes are opened up. I was quite surprised.

One strange thing was that the 9-spoke wheels were a tad smaller: 17.5 instead of 17.7 mm. This meant that my 5-spoke tires were a loose fit, I could fit two layers of paper between the wheel and tire.

Rob

 

I have never opened them up I've always just put black paint in there.... I'll ave to try that on these builds. What did you use to sand the back down?

[64Comet404]

1 hour ago, SCRWDRVR said:

I have never opened them up I've always just put black paint in there.... I'll ave to try that on these builds. What did you use to sand the back down?

I use a cutting ball in my Dremel, just go between the outside of the rim and the inner circle, until I can see light through the holes. After that, I finish the job with files and sanding sticks.

[SCRWDRVR]

2 minutes ago, 64Comet404 said:

I use a cutting ball in my Dremel, just go between the outside of the rim and the inner circle, until I can see light through the holes. After that, I finish the job with files and sanding sticks.

Perfect, thanks for the info....