ProComp Series 69 and the 74 Charger

[Rebel74]

Just got a set of ProComp Series 69 wheels for my 74 Charger SE. Got a pair of 15x8s and a pair of 15x10s. The rims fit the car.

BUUUUUUUUUT.......

The center caps DO NOT. The center caps that come with the Series 69 wheels are about 3/4 to 1 inch TOO SHORT (shallow). The grease cap sticks out too far, so the cap doesn't sit flush and the wheel cannot be mounted with the caps installed. (These are plastic push-through caps). I called ProComp and they said what came with the wheels is what they have. I guess they just don't have different sizes. They told me to call Excaliber. Excaliber told me they have a replacement/equivalent cap. So I ask them the dimensions. All they could tell me was the bore size. No length. "I can only tell you what is on the screen, I have no additional specs." I guess the guy was just looking at the first page of google results???

4 hours later of googling and binging and yandexing I found nothing except a custom 3d printing company that makes plastic "spike center caps" for like 100 bux.

After rummaging around the intardnet for another hour or so I found Summit has some that are 83mm bore and 91mm in depth (height, length, whatever). 13 bux each plus change (not bad, considered they are supposed to be "metal", but likely not heavy metal, probably just nu-metal or some other cringe). They aren't going to match the finish of the rims for sure, and they will have that wonderfully awesome "summit" logo on the face. Woo hoo. But they'll (hopefully) fit. At least I won't be driving around with naked hubs, ya know? Can't let anybody see my grease caps. That would be disgusting, amirite?

I swear, the absolute lack of everything remotely normal these days drives me batty. We're definitely in the end time can't-get-sh*t-done generation.

 

[Rebel74]

So, got the wheels and rims on today. Noticed that the tires on the passenger side are further to the outside of the car than the tires on the driver side. Both front and back. Tomorrow I will measure the backspace of the wheels to make sure ProComp didn't send me some two different sets of wheels with different backspacing. I honestly have no idea what else could cause this phenomenon, unless the whole body was originally mounted to the chassis offset towards the driver side????

 

[Rebel74]

So I have had 1 body man, and 2 different shops that specialize in suspension look at the car, took measurements, etc, and nobody can figure out why the wheels are all offset to the passenger side by about 3/4-1 inch. Next stop is another body shop that has one of those fancy frame alignment machine thingies to see if they can figure out what's going on.

 

[rikkitik]

I had the same (cap) issue with a set of Jeg's SSR's (Prime re-labeled). It seems to be a stupid mistake on their part. They're 15" wheels.......that means that the supplied caps won't clear the spindle hubs on probably 98% of the cars they will be ordered for.
Then, they vary the bore size between Jeg's/Prime/Summit, which further limits the cap selection.......
As to your offset issues, my car ('71 Challenger), has 3/8" gap in the drivers side (f & r), and I had to trim the inner lip on the passenger side.
Realistically though, the error is only 1/2 of the total. Unfortunately, these cars tolerances were in fractions, not thousandths........
Your does seem a bit extreme though. If you halve the total, does it seem more reasonable? Probably not if it's that far off. It only makes it a bit more understandable.....(unfortunately).
I had an '02 Z06, it had 3/8" gap on one side, 1/16" on the other........But Corvettes have never exactly been "paragons" of quality control........lol.

 

[Rebel74]

I had the same (cap) issue with a set of Jeg's SSR's (Prime re-labeled). It seems to be a stupid mistake on their part. They're 15" wheels.......that means that the supplied caps won't clear the spindle hubs on probably 98% of the cars they will be ordered for.
Then, they vary the bore size between Jeg's/Prime/Summit, which further limits the cap selection.......
As to your offset issues, my car ('71 Challenger), has 3/8" gap in the drivers side (f & r), and I had to trim the inner lip on the passenger side.
Realistically though, the error is only 1/2 of the total. Unfortunately, these cars tolerances were in fractions, not thousandths........
Your does seem a bit extreme though. If you halve the total, does it seem more reasonable? Probably not if it's that far off. It only makes it a bit more understandable.....(unfortunately).
I had an '02 Z06, it had 3/8" gap on one side, 1/16" on the other........But Corvettes have never exactly been "paragons" of quality control........lol.

I got the car back to the house today. I figure I'll just figure stuff out on my own with the help of the forbbodiesonly experts and Uncle Tony over on Youtube. Looking at the car, it really isn't that noticeable unless you are looking for it. What ticked me off today (ha!) was noticing the rear window trim is not flush and secure against the glass. I would assume it is supposed to be otherwise seems like water would just get all under the trim and rot things out? I thought the trim was supposed to be embedded in some kind of glue like stuff so that it forms a seal against the glass? Maybe I thought wrong?

Anyway, I also noticed the rear end seems like it wants to vibrate or shake right as you start to give it gas. I think it's in the actual rear end and not just somewhere on the frame in the back, feels like something going on with the rear axle or driveshaft or something.

Nothing like a cool looking money pit to sink your finances into, eh?