A few months ago I stumbled upon a movement. While searching for a wheel that would fit our Nissan Murano Crosscabriolet, Thomas and I happened upon a set of 2000s-era Ford Mustang split tri-spoke wheels. 114.3 mm bolt spacing? Check. Big enough center bore? Check. 17 in wheels with just enough offset? Perfect. So I bought the wheels from some someone nearby for $200, only to learn that I had just bought four icons.
Known to the initiated as “Tri-Bars,” these incredible alloys were available on 1990s SN95 Ford Mustangs.
Check it out:
But it wasn’t the Mustang that made the Tri-Bars so legendary. In fact, if you ask many folks on the “OEM Wheels on Other Makes & Models” page, they’ll say things like this:
So weird how they look good on just about anything, but the sn95….
And
Tri bars look good on everything but what they came on
This is literally the best wheel Ford ever produced…
Here’s a Honda Civic on Tri-Bars:
Someone on the “Tri-Bar All The Things!” Facebook group even found a Toyota Previa on Facebook marketplace sporting the Tri-Bars:
Wasn’t everyone doing this with the C4 Corvette wheels 10 years ago? I didn’t like that either.
Hell yeah DT! Full disclosure I am a gigantic wheel nerd/wheel hoarder/wheel enthusiast, so I fully support more niche wheel content on Autopian! Wheeltopian?
I think you should start a weekly article called “Wheel Wednesdays” where you feature an iconic wheel design each week. Could be OEM, aftermarket, or something like this where it’s a wheel design that finds it’s way onto tons of other cars. If you need a writer LMK! I could talk about wheels for days.
Easy pitch next week: C4 Corvette Sawblades/Saladshooters.
What wheels would you put on a 2020 Nissan kicks?
I don’t think the best set of wheels in the world could help make that thing cool.
The offsets were too high for the SN95, but perfect for everything else. Offsets make or break a wheel on a car.
The center cap is key…Apologies to the CrossCab, but they look decidedly janky without them.
What?? No.
If it were to bring back interest in wheels whose design is based on the form, without requiring painting then cutting back to metal, I’m for it. I don’t dislike ‘diamond-cut’ categorically, but jeez, there are other things in this world.
Looks kinda good on a lot of things, actually looks perfect on that WRX though!
They do look really good on that Previa and Probe
A set of new wheels can make any car better looking. (and vice versa) Those 3 stars are nice and I agree that they look good on anything but what they came on. That could also be because they came on the SN95, that they don’t seem special there.
Speaking of wheels…. I took the aftermarket rims off our dead 98 Outback because they seemed to fit my daughter’s 07 PT cruiser (to replace the basic steelies). They seemed to bolt up so I took them to the tire shop. Apparently, the brake calipers interfered with the air fitting so it was just time wasted.
Is there a good resource that helps with compatibility of rims? When I see a set for sale, I’m too green to even know what they would work on.
There are some handy calculators out there that will show you how widths and offsets change things (along with tire size), but I think you’d need to know old and new to make that work (which is easier to dig up on some cars than others). The alternative is to dig through forums, but I don’t know how deep the PT Cruiser fans go with with wheel swaps and frankly I’m afraid to find out.
The Cruiser sits now after I gave her my 2012 Passat TDI SEL. She’s pretty smitten with that car and it has decent looking 5 stars and VW forums are pretty epic.
Our ’05 Acura RL, though, could maybe use something more interesting than the factory alloys.
I have found this website to be particularly good:
https://www.wheel-size.com/size/chrysler/pt-cruiser/2007/#region-usdm
Thanks! I will have to check that out.
The specs were weak on the SN95, the fitment was terrible.
I won’t say I love them, but they can work in the right context.
So funny to find out this is a thing. I built a model ’80s 911 sometime in the early 90’s and really didn’t like the “steel wheels” look of the Fuchs alloys, so I put tri-bars on it from a mustang kit. I mean, the pony looked close enough to the Stuttgart shield for a 12 year old. I can’t remember if I bought the mustang kit just for the wheels. Wish I could find that model.
They don’t look good on most cars, but they look different and they’re readily available.
Found it! This photo has gotta be around 20 years old. In the background is the former Jack Murphy / Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego which was demolished in 2017. Still have the same car today.
https://imgur.com/a/XgIyyoY
Fantastic! It makes the LTD look like a fantasy/video game version of an 80s sedan.
I feel like these wheels permanently exist in the trash bin of my mind, like I just subconsciously dissmiss them as soon as I see them.
But some of those pics, especially the Previa, are quite intriguing. I never thought these could look cool on anything, but today I learned that they can.
I still don’t think they look amazing on the Cross Cab with all that sidewall, but seeing them gave me a chuckle. They’re actually the perfect choice for that thing.
They look good…on Japanese cars. What people are actually enjoying is the retro ’80s feel they give when paired with wedge-ish/futuro styling.
The three spoke wheels that actually look good on Mustangs are the 16″ replicas of the Fox TRX wheels that were an option on the SN95 base models. I always thought they were a nice little nod to the past that few people understood, like a lesser version of the unfairly hated horizonal taillights of ’94-’95.
Hmmmmmm… No sir, I don’t like it.
Mr. Horse
Nope, these were fugly on Mustangs, and putting them on other things doesn’t improve them at all.
The only good three-spoke wheels are on Saabs.
They may be cheap, but belong in the scrap pile. Someone at Ford had a strange fixation on tri-bar wheels going back to the 79 Fox body TRX wheels, then these plus the ones they had on the 97-98 F-150, the designer must have retired after that.
They now make 16″ replicas of the TRX wheels too, so those have come back somewhat.
Everyone who thinks those look good is objectively wrong.
Finding small groups who like them and believing that means it is true is a demonstration of how the internet breaks our brains.
Tribar has all the things, like 3,500 members, and the most traffic it has had recently is David asking for permission to use photos.
3,500 is not actually a lot of people when you think about the pool it pulls from, but our brains are not used to a world as big as the digital one, so 3,500 people *seems* like a huge group of people.
I find this funny because 20 years ago you could barely give Mustang tri-bars away. I know because I literally did. I traded some parts with a guy and ended up with a set of these wheels on some autocross tires. I was only interested in the tires to race my car on, but it turned out the rubber was hard and the tires were basically junk. I ended up giving away the set because at the time nobody would pay anything for these wheels.
I think Tesla wheels may be the modern equivalent. 18″ Model 3 wheels are good looking without the covers and I’ve seen them swapped onto lots of 5×114.3 cars. Unfortunately the center bore is too small to fit my cars.
I think I may have a set kicking around in the barn I gave up trying to get rid of them back in the day. I also have a set of the 16” pony wheels somewhere. They look like crap on the sn95.
Wow! They really do look good on everything else but SN95s, haha!
The Honda Civic looks like a SAAB. It has been a long day.
Anyone put these on a 10th Gen Accord?
Now this has me thinking about what other Mustang wheels I could try throwing on it since I want to drop to 17’s anyway… Bullitts anyone?
I saw some on a civic the other day and my brain died
Dammit they are right. I do think they need center caps though. Maybe some custom ones if the Mustang logo isn’t your thing.
Bondo the logo and Spray paint center.
Agree. They are a clean enough design to work well on those roundish cars and not draw your eye too much – but then look like trash on the GS top-shot. It looks like they were thrown on with some crummy snow tires for the winter.