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1976 eldorado rims

Started by 76 cadillac bob, May 04, 2017, 03:47:40 PM

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76 cadillac bob

HELP!! my 76 front wheel drive ELDO 5200+ lb car ODD lug nut configuration,  weird off set requirements and limited wheel well space will not allow me to get custom chrome wheels made. My tire/ rim supplier locally is going crazy trying to get custom rims made. NO ONE can do it. she is checking with Crager to see if they can. Has anyone, or does anyone know of a place to get CUSTOM chrome rims for this year car? There has to be someone....We have been searching for three months.
Thank you all
Cadillac Bob

bcroe

Yes the first FWD Eldo/Toro wheels have big offset to allow for the half shaft CV
joint.  Not a big runner, you may not find any others that fit properly.  If you must
have chrome, perhaps you could get an extra set and have them chromed.  Bruce Roe

The Tassie Devil(le)

Having original rims chromed will require them being disassembled, chromed, and re-assembled.

There are aftermarket Aluminium wheels around, but I don't think that they have been made for years.

Western and Appliance made them, and I have Westerns on my '72.

Bruce. >:D

PS.   But, I have a set of Appliance wheels for sale.
'72 Eldorado Convertible (LHD)
'70 Ranchero Squire (RHD)
'74 Chris Craft Gull Wing (SH)
'02 VX Series II Holden Commodore SS Sedan
(Past President Modified Chapter)

Past Cars of significance - to me
1935 Ford 3 Window Coupe
1936 Ford 5 Window Coupe
1937 Chevrolet Sports Coupe
1955 Chevrolet Convertible
1959 Ford Fairlane Ranch Wagon
1960 Cadillac CDV
1972 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe

76 cadillac bob

Are the rims for sale rated for the weight of my car 5300 lbs and front wheel drive? that is the other issue. I may try and go back to hub caps but my rims tend to reject them.  B

The Tassie Devil(le)

I have sent you an email.

But, the reason your wheel trims are coming off is because you aren't using the correct CAX Wheel Weights.

Bruce. >:D
'72 Eldorado Convertible (LHD)
'70 Ranchero Squire (RHD)
'74 Chris Craft Gull Wing (SH)
'02 VX Series II Holden Commodore SS Sedan
(Past President Modified Chapter)

Past Cars of significance - to me
1935 Ford 3 Window Coupe
1936 Ford 5 Window Coupe
1937 Chevrolet Sports Coupe
1955 Chevrolet Convertible
1959 Ford Fairlane Ranch Wagon
1960 Cadillac CDV
1972 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe

Steve Lomas

Quote from: 76 cadillac bob on May 04, 2017, 07:48:47 PM
Are the rims for sale rated for the weight of my car 5300 lbs and front wheel drive? that is the other issue. I may try and go back to hub caps but my rims tend to reject them.  B

Ha, yes - I've lost a couple, fully inflated tires still bulge quit a bit with the weight and can push them off when cornering.    I lost one at an intersection in the dark, and found it the next spring while walking the dog-   some mice had made it into a very stylish winter home!

Anyway- I use a couple of twisty ties as back ups on them now, - with pedestrian's safety in mind!

76 cadillac bob

I am thinking weights need to be installed inside if that is possible? my wheel guy here in San Marcos Ca is not THAT knowledgeable about older vehicles but I am giving him a chance..watching carefully. I am considering refinishing existing rims using my restorer, he is genius on this sort of thing.it may be more expensive but would solve the problem and provide decent resolution without alot of future hassle. I had a hub cap hit me in the drivers door from a car going the other way and it is scary, I was in an Explorer at the time many years  ago. Left a nasty slash in the paint, glad that was all.

I will be back to you shortly, off to get car as starter was replaced, going to review all options, and please keep those cards and letters coming, all of this is very helpful  I am learning alot.
CB

TJ Hopland

I would say very little chance that installing weights just on the inside will get you a smooth ride.    The machine may say its good but most likely 60 mph on the highway will tell you otherwise. 

I read somewhere that a mid 2000's Grand Cherokee wheel will work on these cars.    I stopped at a junkyard one time and asked how much for a set, I don't remember what they said but it was way out of my budget at the time. 
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason

A Gurski

#8
Ah yes...the eldo chrome wheel search.  I did it before purchase. No luck for months.  There are very few aftermarket versions out there.    Luck had it I found a car where where the previous owner had the stock wheels chromed...I think.  There is also lore that some dealers offered chrome rims at time of purchase with significant upcharge. 

With the addition of an aftermarket center cap it looks pretty sweet I think.  (Drivers rear cap in trunk after saved from a ditch)

P.s.  Since this picture I have located and devised a method to attach stock front body filler lower chrome trim to front body fillers.  I am so glad I did!  The discontinuous trim drove me nuts.
Alan

TJ Hopland

I'm not a Toronado expert but you see lots of chrome wheels on 66-70's.   If they were not standard they had to be a very popular option.
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason

76eldo

Be careful with Toro wheels.  Some are meant only for drum brakes.

Those ARE Toro wheels in the pic.

For my money the factory black caps look the best.

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

Tpicks55

Quote from: A Gurski on May 21, 2017, 08:06:13 AM
Ah yes...the eldo chrome wheel search.  I did it before purchase. No luck for months.  There are very few aftermarket versions out there.    Luck had it I found a car where where the previous owner had the stock wheels chromed...I think.  There is also lore that some dealers offered chrome rims at time of purchase with significant upcharge. 

With the addition of an aftermarket center cap it looks pretty sweet I think.  (Drivers rear cap in trunk after saved from a ditch)

P.s.  Since this picture I have located and devised a method to attach stock front body filler lower chrome trim to front body fillers.  I am so glad I did!  The discontinuous trim drove me nuts.

Can you share what you did with filler trims attachment as I'm doing a 75 soon.  Thanks
75 Eldorado Convertible
94 Deville Concurs
2019 Lincoln Continental
2016 Cadillac XTS

A Gurski

#12
Tpicks55,

Sorry for the delay.  With regards to modding and reattaching the front body filler lower chrome trim. 

Summery: I cast and molded epoxy resin into the trim to make it "solid" than used 3m plastic trim adhesive to glue them on to the body filler.

I will discuss one side only for clarity.

1.  I removed the rubber mounting brackets from the chrome pieces as they are useless.
2.   I cut off the chrome bolt mounting tabs after the rolled "lip" of the trim leaving the part of trim that returns to the body filler.

With both pieces prepped I moved on to prepping the car.

1. I covered the attachment location of the body filler generously with clear packaging tape to act as a bond breaker.
2.  I mixed a batch of West System Epoxy.  105 Resin, 207 Hardener and 407 Filler until I had a very thick paste.
3.  I over filled the back hollow of the trim  pieces with this filler mixture.
4.  While uncured I positioned and pressed the filler filled trim against the body/packaging tape.  Male piece first then female.
5.  I used painters tape to hold the trim pieces in place while the epoxy cured.
6.  I cleaned up the excess squeezed out filler while uncured.
7.  Let cure overnight
8.  After cure I gently pried the parts from the car with the packaging tape acting as a bond breaker.
9.  Now the formally hollow 2 piece trim was 1 piece and solid and molded exactly to the body lines of the body filler.
10.  I Removed any extra squeezed out epoxy that I missed while uncured with a knife and removed the bond breaker packaging tape from the body filler.
11.  Lastly I used 3m plastic trim adhesive to glue the epoxy(which is a plastic) filled trim to the plastic body fillers and again held in place with painters tape until cured.

Walla.
Alan

A Gurski

Brian,

Aren't the toro stock wheels and eldo stock wheels the same for the 1976 vintage?
Alan

67_Eldo

I was thinking about the Toronado-like chrome-wheel look -- my folks' 66 Toronado had the chrome wheels back in the day -- but as others have pointed out, it is hard enough finding regular Eldorado wheels, much less chrome ones.

My wheels were re-welded, sandblasted, and painted gloss black. Originally I was going to put the stock hubcaps back on, but my hubcaps are *really* chewed up. So, for the moment, I have shiny black wheels with black-wall radial tires on a white car.

I thought that black wheels + black tires would leave too much of a gaping voids in the wheel wells. But now that it is all together, I sort of like it.

I'm going to experiment with using my 3D printer to create some center hub caps to cover the spindle nut. We'll see.

PS: As you can also see, weights had to be used on the outer rim to properly balance things.

Tpicks55

Quote from: A Gurski on June 03, 2017, 08:00:24 AM
Tpicks55,

Sorry for the delay.  With regards to modding and reattaching the front body filler lower chrome trim. 

Summery: I cast and molded epoxy resin into the trim to make it "solid" than used 3m plastic trim adhesive to glue them on to the body filler.

I will discuss one side only for clarity.

1.  I removed the rubber mounting brackets from the chrome pieces as they are useless.
2.   I cut off the chrome bolt mounting tabs after the rolled "lip" of the trim leaving the part of trim that returns to the body filler.

With both pieces prepped I moved on to prepping the car.

1. I covered the attachment location of the body filler generously with clear packaging tape to act as a bond breaker.
2.  I mixed a batch of West System Epoxy.  105 Resin, 207 Hardener and 407 Filler until I had a very thick paste.
3.  I over filled the back hollow of the trim  pieces with this filler mixture.
4.  While uncured I positioned and pressed the filler filled trim against the body/packaging tape.  Male piece first then female.
5.  I used painters tape to hold the trim pieces in place while the epoxy cured.
6.  I cleaned up the excess squeezed out filler while uncured.
7.  Let cure overnight
8.  After cure I gently pried the parts from the car with the packaging tape acting as a bond breaker.
9.  Now the formally hollow 2 piece trim was 1 piece and solid and molded exactly to the body lines of the body filler.
10.  I Removed any extra squeezed out epoxy that I missed while uncured with a knife and removed the bond breaker packaging tape from the body filler.
11.  Lastly I used 3m plastic trim adhesive to glue the epoxy(which is a plastic) filled trim to the plastic body fillers and again held in place with painters tape until cured.

Walla.

Thanks Alan that looks great I will do the same on mine.
75 Eldorado Convertible
94 Deville Concurs
2019 Lincoln Continental
2016 Cadillac XTS