Wheels Question - Fair Price and Size

[Periwinkle]

Sorry in advance for the vagueness of this questions. I had to take a break from working on the truck as I had to sell my place and move last year.

I've found some rims locally available that are apparently 1992 OEM 15-in aluminum 10-hole that have been "re-done". 5x5.5 bolt pattern. The seller is asking $850 CAD with local pickup. I really can't tell what a reasonable price is for just the rims. The photos do look quite good but I also have no idea how to verify if they are legit (and kind of don't really care). I just want something a little classier than the chipping paint steelies that came with the truck.

For my 2WD 84 with door tag saying P215/75R15SL - 15x5.5K my understanding is that these should fit but it's difficult to know for sure.

Is this a decent deal or should I look somewhere else for aftermarket wheels?
If I decide to put a 3-5in lift on the truck eventually, can I move up to a 33 or 35-in tire on these wheels?

Any random thoughts appreciated!

Photos:

[ArdWrknTrk]

I'd expect to pay $150 USD, but those center caps sure do look nice!  👍

$200 premium is kinda expected in Canada, and wouldn't put me off if those were what I wanted.

[85pig]

Any idea on the width?  If they're 15x8, you can get 33s on them, maybe 35s.  

And I agree - I'd love to have a couple of those caps.  

[thelastkeg]

For the southern US that seems quite high to me.  But I also don't know what is meant by re-done, and it's not every day that wheels like that pop up for sale.  If I paid that much I'd be worried sick about damaging them.  Personally, I've gotten to where I really like smooth steelies, and if I could find a set for a 4x4 I'd be running them over the stock wagon style on my 86.  I have steelies and dog dishes on my 85 F250, and I bought a great used set of steelies to put on my 95 whenever it's turned into a bullnose.  They will also have some sort of dog dish hubcap.  It's apples to oranges, but I paid $100 for a near perfect condition set of black steel 2wd wheels and it came with driver quality full wheel covers.  

But if you like them, and you've got the money to spend on them, then they're worth whatever you're willing to pay.  As far as fitting on your truck, they will fit fine.  Someone else here will chime in, but I think only the early bullnose F100s had a smaller bolt pattern than the typical 5x5.5 that lasted on F150's until the 1997's came out.  

[Periwinkle]

I asked for some additional photos. Based on these, it looks like maybe 7.5 in actual width, 8.5 in overall width?

[Periwinkle]

Appreciate the context! I would be willing to do some searching in the states near the boarder too, just not even sure where to start to be honest. I'm going to do a bit more research and might try to haggle a bit but I doubt the seller will haggle much as they've already dropped the price from their original ask of $950 CAD for the set.

[Periwinkle]

Thanks for the southern context! Yeah I'm not really sure what "redone" means either, assuming he had them professionally cleaned. They almost look like they're coated with clear coat or something based on the photos. I could probably sand and refinish the steelies my truck came with but this is definitely in the neighbourhood of the style I'm shooting for at the end of the road. The price seemed quite high to me too but I really have no basis or context. It's a lot, especially needing the actual tires and mounting still too.

[thelastkeg]

And for what it's worth, this is what 33's look like on the stock 1986 F150 wheel, with no lift.  These wheels I think are the Type 5 and 7" wide.  They rub a little bit on the sway bar or something up under there at full lock, but it's not too bad at all.  Would look better with a small lift but I probably won't ever do that.  This is a 4x4 so it sits a little higher in the front than a RWD I assume.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Those seem stock width and nicely refurbished! (polished, lacquered, center caps painted)

Remind me where you are?

[Periwinkle]

I'm in Hamilton so the Niagara Falls border is around a 1-hour drive. I asked for a little more context (very grateful the seller is willing to answer my questions) and the following is his description of them overall:

"15 inch aluminum 10-hole factory OEM rims and new aftermarket center caps originally off 92 F150. 5x5.5 bolt pattern. Had tires mounted and installed on the truck. Decided to go a different way 0km never made it off the hoist with these rims on the truck."

Hard to tell from the grammar but sounds like the center caps aren't original but I can't 100% tell based on the back-end of that sentence.

[Periwinkle]

Interesting, looks good! Yeah I'm torn because I think I'd like a small lift but nice to know I could probably get away with 33s without a lift until I'm ready. Definitely would rather buy something now that I don't need to replace later (goes for both wheels and tires). Thanks!

[mat in tn]

those pictures make the wheels look as though they have been painted silver and not merely clear coated. that would be a major put-off for me. 100$ wheels with 25$ worth of paint and 100$ lmc caps seems more fitting for a driver.
however, access to parts in a rust belt area has its costs.

[Periwinkle]

Honestly that was my concern too. From the photos they don't look like polished aluminum but rather there is some pearlescence or flake in the paint. I'm torn because I feel like I would rather have non-mint wheels but I've been struggling to find this style of aluminum Ford wheels with the smaller holes and really love the look. But with the paint it feels like the value is actually less than polished aluminum. Maybe I'm crazy but I might pass because it's a lot of money and I'm not 100% sold on them.

With that said, if anyone has a lead on rims like this but aluminum in any condition, I'm very interested.

[Periwinkle]

Update: I ended up finding some much cheaper wheels. My truck is going to be a user-grade truck, probably the furthest thing from a show truck. I found the same wheels not "re-done" much cheaper so I picked those up yesterday. The guy is a retired mechanic working on his own bullnose and went for more of a modern wheel style so he was selling these. I'm actually contacting him now to discuss a bit of welding rust repair because I've realized the anxiety of doing this myself has been holding me back from working on the truck so it makes sense to get someone else to help so I can keep moving forward.

This is what I picked up for $400 CAD (opposed to the $850 CAD the refinished ones cost). Looks like a bit of corrosion but I don't need 'em perfect. Looked at the refinishing procedure in the wheels tab but it looks a very labour intensive and I don't have any powder coating setup so I'm happy with user-grade wheels. Still much nicer than the rusted steelies on the truck.

[Nothing Special]

Periwinkle wrote

....  If I decide to put a 3-5in lift on the truck eventually, can I move up to a 33 or 35-in tire on these wheels? ....

If you do choose to go bigger on the tires I'll give you Gary's advice:  check out the recommended wheel width for the tires you are thinking about getting.

In all likelihood the tire manufacturer won't recommend a 7.5" rim width for a 12.5" wide tire (kind of the standard width for a 33" or 35" dia tire).  But there are also narrower tires available.  33/10.50-15 isn't that uncommon and would work well on those rims.  There are probably other options as well.

[Gary Lewis]

Yep, what he said.  Too wide of a tire for a rim will cause steering problems that you can't resolve with toe, castor, camber, or air pressure.

[Periwinkle]

Appreciate the advice Bob and Gary! I'm just jumping in to understanding this more and will explore if I want to go lifted or keep things relatively stock sizing. That's great context and good to know, I definitely have more learning to do!

[Gary Lewis]

Good to plan ahead.  I'd go to Tire Rack and check out the tire(s) you are interested in.  In the spec's you'll find the wheel width range.  You don't want to be outside of that, and it is best to be in the middle if you can.

[mat in tn]

one of the things I like the most about these wheels is how light they are. they should be able to hold 30x9.5 very well. maybe as much as 31x10.5 but I would not exceed that.