My poll......

[Armond 10]

Here is a shot of my US Indy mags, 15" polished on the left and 14" original machine finished on the right. What finish would you use on the wheels? I am having a hard time deciding. I searched for over a year to get these exact same wheels and sizes my old high school car had. I can re-machine the 15" back. They were pretty rough but turned out nice either way. My originals were machined. My kids are split and my wife doesn't seem to care!

 

[mustangmaniac2 10]

My vote is for the 14" original machine finished

[flight96 14]

I like the original machined ones...JMO

[kllerbee 10]

machine finish.

This reminds me of the old ...."Tastes great"......"Less filling" commercials

Edited August 7, 2009 by kllerbee

[jkskinsfan 19]

"polished"

[Angel 24]

i had those wheels on my coupe. polished 14 up front, 15 out back. they look tough either way. AR makes some called ansen sprint. they make them in 17" too. ive never seen the 17" on a car though.

[GT350 16]

polished

[jonnybee 10]

Machined finish

[Fordrevhead 29]

Machined

[69RavenConv 286]

Machined.

[Topless69GT 28]

Machined

[bnickel 10,004]

i say machined too

[Pakrat 1,043]

You should have put in an actual poll Armond, it would be easier to track the votes.

 

Anyway, my thoughts are if you spent the better part of a year just trying to match what you originally had instead of buying a newer current look alike than it would be a shame to not keep your old original finish too. Unless of course you are straying from other original styling cues of your old car or would have polished them back in the day and never got the chance to then no need to stay authentic now.

[bnickel 10,004]

i have had both on my car at one time or another, when i originally got mine they were the factory machined finish i decided i wanted them to be shiny and afterwards i wished i would have just polished the lip instead of the whole wheel. i spent a long time with some fine grit sandpaper, steel wool and scotch brite pads trying to replicate the original finish and was eventually able to get something that looked pretty close.

 

the reason i didn't like the polished finish once i had done is that wheel seems to lose depth or something once it's actually on the car and has a tire mounted on it i guess it's the shape of the wheel or something.

 

i remember having to get a flat fixed once and they broke one of my front ET slots, even back in like 89 or 90 it was still extremely difficult to find a replacement that matched, i actually ended up with one uni-lug version and one standard bolt pattern version but they matched other than that.

thank god they didn't break one of the Fenton's i had on the rear i would have never found a replacement for those...anyone ever seen a 14x9 fenton slot mag? and i don't mean back in the 70's when they were popular either.....

[stangme428 33]

machined :tongue_smilie:

[unfrozen1969 11]

machined

[Armond 10]

Thanks for all the input. Back when I first got the wheels in 1977, I wanted to polish them up, but I was not sure how to go about it back then, so I left them. After much thought and others opinions I have decided to leave them original. Once I get them mounted with the new T/A's I bought I will post a pic of them on my driver. Thanks!

[bnickel 10,004]

are these going on your "new" GT coupe? can't wait to see the pics if so...

[Pakrat 1,043]

Geez, are GT's popping out of the woodwork lately or something?

[Armond 10]

These are going on my driver coupe. Not a GT, if I go back and recreate my high school car as I am thinking about, I needed to find the correct rims and I would never do this to my R code GT coupe. I have owned the R code since 1990. It is in storage and awaiting my attention. Yes I'll show pics when I get them mounted. It is a strange one, 6 banger with factory disc brakes. Shot interior with a excellent rust free body. I have a 351W and a top loader and a 9" to be put in when I can get to it.

[bnickel 10,004]

that's right, i forgot the GT was an R-code but i didn't realize you'd owned it that long.

 

this wouldn't be the first six popper i've seen with discs, though. there used to be a car here locally that was a factory 250 car with power discs, ac and power steering too, even had an automatic with a factory console too.....pretty cool little oddball car.