Wire wheels to fit 4 lug bolt pattern

Been going crazy searching the web for wire wheels with 4 lug bolt pattern to fit my 87 Sebring. Lots of 5 bolt, lots of knock-off hubs, no 4 bolt. Anybody got a source. Thanks in advance. Rich

Hate to say it, but you might have to convert to 5 lug.  Here is a source for the rotors.  I'm sure there are others:

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The rear axles could possibly be redrilled along with the drums.  The MII pattern is 4 on 4.25.  Redrilling to 5 on 4.5 might not be doable due to one of the bolts overlapping.  It might be easier to redrill to 5 on 4.75 (Chevy pattern).  In that case you would need these rotors:

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Redrilling would require removing the old wheel studs and it would be a good idea to replace them with new ones.  If redrilling the original axles is not possible (I have never really looked too closely at this), then you would need to replace the axles.  Ford made lots of 5 on 4.5 8" rearends, but I'm not sure if there are any that have axles that will interchange with the MII due to the narrow width of the MII rearend. The 8" used 28 spline axles with small outer bearings.  These same axles were also used in 28 spline 9" axles.  This means that you could order custom length 28 spline axles from many locations that sell custom 9" parts and swap out to 5 hole (check with them before ordering).  The custom axles would need to have the same brake drum register as the MII axles and could be had in 4.5 or 4.75 bolt patterns.  The drums should be able to be redrilled easily. Of course, you could also upgrade to rear disc brakes at the same time, but this opens up another can or worms. Hey, that's what hot rodding is!

There should be a lot of wheels available for 5 on 4.75.  I think Jaguars used that pattern.  It would be cheaper to get a set of the Jag aluminum wheels that came on Jag sedans.  They are not true wire wheels, but don't look bad, IMO.  They are spoke look alikes.  You would need to make sure they fit the front, since that is usually where it's most difficult to fit wheels on a Sebring.

Just got a chance to do some research.  Jaguar XJ's did use 4.75 bolt pattern.

These are the wheels I was thinking of.

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I recently found those wheels on EBAY for less than $100 apiece. Can't guarantee that it will fit the front. You would need backspace and width measurements.

Hotrod-Thanks for your expert reply. Geeze, lots of moving parts (no pun intended). Not sure I want to go through that much. So I guess when I see Sebrings with the wire wheels, the build either included the right axles/hubs or someone went through a lot trouble to convert. Thanks again, Rich

Not neccesarily, but most these cars were built over 25 years ago.  The wheels or adapters were much more common then.  Some of ththe wheel manufacturers are out of business or dropped unpopular lines.  

There are companies that can build wire wheels to order, but that is a very small portion of the wheel market.  They are just not as popular as they once were.

Old thread I know, but exactly the information I need for my build.
Thanks, Hotrod, for the sharing the links and your knowledge!
For no more horsepower than my 302 is going to make (300-ish), and mated to a 4 speed automatic, I'm thinking the 8" rear, already installed on my chassis, is going to be fine once rebuilt with quality components and adding limited slip. Another factor in staying with the 8" is the fact that I'm not the young man I used to be, and horsing around a replacement rear axle doesn't sound as appealing as it once might have.  [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Once converted to 5 lug, I wondered how I'd source replacement drums. Good to know that re-drilling ones for the MII is an option. Would love to convert to rear disk but sourcing the appropriate master cylinder for a MII booster is probably not an option. That means I'd have to swap out the whole assembly which, as Hotrod says, would be a whole other can of worms.

There's a few things to consider here.

First, Ford used the 8" in millions of cars over the years.  The brakes varied for different applications of course, but I'll bet there are 5 hole drums that will interchange with the MII backing plates.  Many times car manufactures swap parts all over their line up.  The problem is locating the correct part numbers or year models for the drums you need.  The old time parts guys that knew this stuff are pretty much all gone now.  The pimple faced kid behind the counter now only knows what his computer terminal spits out.

The 8" all used small axle bearings and so did some models of 9".  The main info needed would be brake spacing on your current axle.  This is the space between the axle bolt flange and the bearing housing on the outer axle.  Armed with this info, you might could used brakes intended for a 9".  The 9" stuff is going to be more readily available due to that axle's extreme popularity.  

Redrilling axles is one thing, redrilling drums is another animal entirely.  Drums are thin in the bolt area and are made of brittle cast iron.  The 5 hole pattern does not fit very well over the 4 hole pattern and at least 1 hole would be in a bad location.  I would tread very cautiously down this path.  The drums are located by the raised drum register on the axle, but the holes keep it from rotating on the flange.  They take all the braking torque.  

Join an old Mustang forum and search their old posts.  Someone has bound to have done the 4 hole to 5 hole swap on a 60's era Mustang.  They used 8" rears mostly, 9" rearends are kind of rare for Mustangs.  The 6 cylinder 'stangs had 4 hole axles and the V8's got 5 holes.  There may be something to be learned from them.  If you can get some year models, even the crappy parts guys should be able to get drums.

Worst comes to worst, you could swap a complete Mustang rear brake setup onto your 8" if the brake spacing is the same.  Considering how popular old Mustangs are, just about any part should be available for them.

Also depending on brake spacing, you should be able to buy a disc kit for the rear, but unless you are driving it really hard, like an Auto Cross, you probably won't gain a whole lot of stopping power.  The main strong point of discs is their ability to shed heat which helps them avoid brake fade.  For general cruising, drums will work fine.

If you did want to go with discs, the Master Cylinder shouldn't be too hard to source.  Might even be able to reuse the one you have now.  It probably has a residual valve built into the rear brake circuit that would have to be removed.  Should be a simple job.

Since you will be contacting someone for the axles, ask them about brakes.  They may have the parts or the info.

Late edit: There were some V8 MII"s. I don't know it they had 5 hole wheels, but if so, that would be a possible year model source for drums as long as the drum diameter was the same.

Good advice on the drums. I will definitely research and try to come up with 5 hole drums from another application. Like you say, worst case is I'll just swap the entire brake set.
The PO used a 1978 MII Ghia V8 as his donor vehicle and that's the axle I'm working with (4 lug). I'll research the Cobra II to see if it came with 5 lug.
I wish I had a Maverick 5 lug 8" rear. At a half inch more narrow than the MII, it would be a perfect fit.
If i'm wishing though, I may as well wish it were an MX setup lol.

Hope i can save you some time. The MII V8 was 1976-78. All had 4 bolt wheels as well as the next generation of the Fox body.
Unless you're running a whole bunch of torque with fat tires, the 8" will work.
Have mine for over 20 years with a 351W and limited slip.

Jerry & Lisa Mills wrote:Hope i can save you some time. The MII V8 was 1976-78. All had 4 bolt wheels as well as the next generation of the Fox body.
Unless you're running a whole bunch of torque with fat tires, the 8" will work.
Have mine for over 20 years with a 351W and limited slip.

Thanks for the information and oh how I wish I could stay with 4 lug.
As this is a "new" build, I'm having to source wheels.
20+ years ago, when these kits were new, 4 lug wheels were much more common. There are just not very many choices for new 4 lug wheels these days and any used ones I'm seeing are just junk.
Another reason for converting is that I'm going to convert the front disks to 11" and there don't seem to be any 4 lug 11" kits available.
I've found someone on FB Marketplace, about 4 hours away from me, that has a 5 lug Maverick rear for a very reasonable price. If I don't come up with something closer, I may be making an 8 hour round-trip parts run soon.

Hi all...... i have a similar problem with my spoke inserts, im missing 2 of them and cannot find exactly the same or anything close...... This ebay seller in Australis has many old school designs in the era of our cars.... most can be drilled to suit most stud paterns, i am replacing my original rims with 15" as in this item number... 223665344264..... Pricing is reasonable and with the value of the us dollar it might be reasonable cost wise...
Have a look at the other styles he has[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
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Regards Robert Owen