Mercury wheels

lowbudget

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I'm over here in Kuwait bored and I noticed a 90's Mercury Grand Marquis with 16 stock alloy wheels. It had 225/60/16 tires on it. From my limited Web research The hub bore is larger. My question is will these work on a Fifth Ave? The tire size can be changed as needed for clearance. It's a big rear wheel drive so offsets should be close. TIA
 

Aspen500

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You are correct, the center bore on the Grand Marquis wheel is 70.5 mm where your 5th Ave is 57.1 mm, the bolt circle is the same. At some point they went to metric studs (12mm) from 1/2" studs, but don't remember when (think it was after the '90's though). Either way, at the most you'd need to open the holes up just a hair. The offset and backspacing is similar to a 5th Ave until they changed to the aluminum front crossmember/ coil over suspension with rack and pinion steering in the late 2000's (then the wheels are totally different).
They'd be OK as is but ideally you should get a set of hub centric rings.

Gorilla Hub Centric Rings 70-5710

gor-70-5710_xl.jpg
 

lowbudget

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Thanks I never new those rings existed. I remember back in the 70's a Mopar wheel would bolt on a Ford but not the other way around.
 

Oldiron440

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The change for Ford/Mercury was in 2003 then they used sealed wheel bearings larger offset wheels etc..
 

Aspen500

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Thank you. I should know that, having been a Ford dealer tech from 1986-2007 (when the dealership closed).

Realized I may be wrong on the Mercury center bore size. One site says 70.5mm, another says 63.3 mm. If it's on the internet, it has to be true (bonjoir). Guess you'd have to measure an actual wheel with a dial caliper to be sure which centering rings you need. In any case, it is larger than a Mopar center bore.
 

Oldiron440

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The wheels for the 03 and later cars might not fit a standard wheelbearing hub, at least the center cap. The 03 hub was flat compared to the hub/berring dustcap of the conventional hub.
 

Aspen500

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Once they went to the coil overs and R&P steering versions, the wheels are all backspacing. What I mean is, the wheel center is almost flush with the outer edge of the rim. It's like a 7" wheel with a 7" backspace. Anything built before 2002 though will fit an F/M/J body and I'm pretty sure the offset and backspacing is the same or very close to a stock F/M/J body wheel as well.
 

Opticon77

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"High positive offset" is what the kids call it. Something like +35mm and up. Offset being the relationship of the mounting surface relative to the centerline of the barrel. Positive meaning it's on the spoke side of that centerline.

It's a useful way to measure the position of the mounting surface because the measured relation to centerline (affecting scrub radius) doesn't change with the width of the wheel like it does with "backspacing".
 

Miradaman

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Just an addendum. I had an 81 Miranda, and tried to put the 80's-90's 10 spoke Jeep wheels on there. They bolt on, but have too much backspace
They caught on the A-arms, and the car wouldn't even move.
 

Opticon77

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That's the better problem to have (offset too high) because a number of different style wheel spacers exist in the aftermarket.

I've been using Adaptec 19mm thick aluminum hubcentric adapters on my Chevy Sonic for years now without a problem. They helped me lower the effective offset and adapt from a strange Australian 5x105 to the more popular 5x100 bolt circle.

6147TMnFuRL._SX355_.jpg


Adaptec is nice because you send them the dimensions (Thickness, bolt circles, hub outer diameter, lug hardware) and they'll build you a set to spec.
 
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