18'' Wheels on your A? What size tires are you running? Post Pics!
First, let me say that I am not willing to run a wheel on my car that does not have the correct bolt pattern. I think it is unsafe and I just can't see risking the work and investment I have put into a car on something like that.
That said, I have been watching this type of topic (LX bolt patterns) for some time as I have been planning to using some 17" OEM wheels of some type, and I have been trying to figure out what the truth of the matter is. I've seen where people have said that the LX cars use a 114.3mm bolt pattern, unless it was an SRT8 which had a different one. I've also heard that the LX cars all have a 115mm bolt pattern, regardless of the trim. I could have sworn that I have seen LX wheels with the bolt pattern size cast into the back of the wheel that said 114.3x5 and that I have seen TireRack.com list wheels with that pattern. Either way, it seems like there is plenty of confusion so I thought I might do some "hands on" research of my own.
So, using car-part.com, I found that a local yard had a 17x7 aluminum wheel from a 2005 Chrysler 300. Of course when I got there they could find any, so I couldn't look for the bolt pattern cast in the back like I wanted. I had to settle for a 17x7 steel wheel off a 2008 Charger and a bolt pattern gauge. When we tried the 115mm gauge, it didn't fit very well, but the 114.3mm or 4.5" gauge did fit. I've included a picture from my phone, should have snapped one of the 115mm attempt. While the 114.3 fit well, the 115 rode up on one side when the other one was centered.
Ok, so from that, I am pretty confident that a 2008 Charger has a bolt pattern of 4.5", but I wondered if that was just the milk-toast small v6 variety only. So I hopped onto NapaOnline.com and RockAuto.com to compare some parts. Looks like the Charge hub doesn't change regardless of trim level, even the ground pounder SRT8 uses the same hub, at least up to 2008 anyway. Interestingly, I even found a Centric rotor that shows a 4.5" bolt pattern size in the info. So, from that info, I would guess that all LX cars use a 114.3mm or 4.5" bolt pattern.
So, why do most places show a 115mm bolt pattern? My guess is that it is a rounding error. Just like has been talked about here, people are under the impression that 115 is close enough to 114.3 that it doesn't matter, plus 115 is easier to type. The funny thing is that instead of the truth being that the pattern is 115 and people are using it on a 4.5" hub because it is "close enough", it is actually a 4.5" bolt pattern and people are being mislead that it is a 115mm bolt pattern wheel.
I say find some wheels of your own and check the pattern. I'm pretty sure you will find them to be a 4.5" bolt pattern wheel.
First, let me say that I am not willing to run a wheel on my car that does not have the correct bolt pattern. I think it is unsafe and I just can't see risking the work and investment I have put into a car on something like that.
That said, I have been watching this type of topic (LX bolt patterns) for some time as I have been planning to using some 17" OEM wheels of some type, and I have been trying to figure out what the truth of the matter is. I've seen where people have said that the LX cars use a 114.3mm bolt pattern, unless it was an SRT8 which had a different one. I've also heard that the LX cars all have a 115mm bolt pattern, regardless of the trim. I could have sworn that I have seen LX wheels with the bolt pattern size cast into the back of the wheel that said 114.3x5 and that I have seen TireRack.com list wheels with that pattern. Either way, it seems like there is plenty of confusion so I thought I might do some "hands on" research of my own.
So, using car-part.com, I found that a local yard had a 17x7 aluminum wheel from a 2005 Chrysler 300. Of course when I got there they could find any, so I couldn't look for the bolt pattern cast in the back like I wanted. I had to settle for a 17x7 steel wheel off a 2008 Charger and a bolt pattern gauge. When we tried the 115mm gauge, it didn't fit very well, but the 114.3mm or 4.5" gauge did fit. I've included a picture from my phone, should have snapped one of the 115mm attempt. While the 114.3 fit well, the 115 rode up on one side when the other one was centered.
Ok, so from that, I am pretty confident that a 2008 Charger has a bolt pattern of 4.5", but I wondered if that was just the milk-toast small v6 variety only. So I hopped onto NapaOnline.com and RockAuto.com to compare some parts. Looks like the Charge hub doesn't change regardless of trim level, even the ground pounder SRT8 uses the same hub, at least up to 2008 anyway. Interestingly, I even found a Centric rotor that shows a 4.5" bolt pattern size in the info. So, from that info, I would guess that all LX cars use a 114.3mm or 4.5" bolt pattern.
So, why do most places show a 115mm bolt pattern? My guess is that it is a rounding error. Just like has been talked about here, people are under the impression that 115 is close enough to 114.3 that it doesn't matter, plus 115 is easier to type. The funny thing is that instead of the truth being that the pattern is 115 and people are using it on a 4.5" hub because it is "close enough", it is actually a 4.5" bolt pattern and people are being mislead that it is a 115mm bolt pattern wheel.
I say find some wheels of your own and check the pattern. I'm pretty sure you will find them to be a 4.5" bolt pattern wheel.