Patrickh904

Is there any way i can figure out what my offset measurements are? Is there a website that gives a listing by the make model and year of a vehicle's offset? I want to buy a set of tires and wheels that are a 5 lug pattern but they are coming off a chevy, obviously my truck has the same 5 lug pattern but i heard since the set came off a Chevy then they wont fit on my ford?
Any ideas? Greatly appreciated.

Kattumaram

I doubt that the Chev wheels will fit, different lug pattern diameter and probably different stud diameter as well; if the diameters are the same, then the spindle bore must be equal to or larger than the spindle diameter or the wheel will not go on the spindle. If the bore is oversize, then you have to rely on the lug nuts to keep the wheel centered or make a special spacer to fill the gap and keep everything centered up.

Pull a wheel off your F150 and measure the distances from the inside and outside tire beads to the hub mounting surface. The difference in the measurements is the offset. If the inside measurement is the greater, then the offset is positive; if the lesser, it's negative. Most wheels have a positive offset of about 1/2 inch, but the distance can vary quite a bit. I'd say that any offset from (-)1/2 inch to (+)1/2 inch would serve, but a final fit for clearances is required.

The geometry of the suspension, the tire diameter and the offset will determine scrub radius, the difference between the center of the tire contact patch on the pavement and a line drawn through the top and bottom ball-joint centers to the pavement.

Bear in mind that a large increase in negative offset will make steering a bit squirrely in wet conditions. The increase in outboard scrub radius tends to pull the front of the wheels outward. If one wheel looses traction, then the truck will steer in the opposite direction. An inboard scrub radius will tend to steer the truck in the direction of the wheel with loss of traction. If the scrub radius is zero, then the tires tend to squirm from side to side.....they like a little loading inward or outward to maintain straight-line stability.