Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Why 4 lug?

Why do contiques have a 4 lug bolt pattern, my probe had 5 and this has more power?

Ford saves a lot of dough by using the four bolt pattern. Let's see, 1 bolt and lug nut per wheel X 4 wheels per car X cars sold... LOL, I have no clue why.

What does power have to do with it?

As long as there's a comparable amount of material cross-section being loaded (i.e. larger threaded diameter for the 4-lugger), it should make little difference strength-wise whether there's 4 lugs or 5.

However, practically, the argument could be made that it's easier to sequence and equalize the torquing of a 5-lug hub...and if you lose a nut on the 5-lugger, it's less noticeable.

FWIW, strength isn't really a problem with the lugs. In a curb/sidewalk excursion of mine quite a while back, my lugs experienced a combination of extreme shear and bending...but it was the control arm and wheel that suffered the damage.

As long as you're not stripping threads or losing nuts, don't worry about having only 4 lugs.

Wasn't so long ago that Mustangs had 4 lug wheels.

Karl

GRRRRR! Don't remind me. I'm going with the SN95 spindles and brakes next year on my '91 LX so I'll have a larger selection of rims to choose from not to mention just plain better brakes.

George

Yep.

I ran my 90 SI on two lugs for a few years.NO PROBLEMS.I fixed it later on though.They are a ***** to get new ones in!

You'd probably be surprised at how close you are to the real answer. That's pretyt much it exactly. Ford makes THOUSANDS of cars each year. Plus another couple thousand replacement parts, plus when they cross platforms.

So you have THOUSANDS of cars, times 4 wheels. All those nickels and dimes add up to bigger bonuses for the brass. It's all standard business. Just like the anecdote about Delta removing one olive from their martini's served in first class. Supposedly saved them $44K in one year... you get the point...

If it works on the mustang, why not use it on other cars?

The 'stang has the same bolt pattern!