Vitesse Wheel Offset Clarifcation - How Much to Remove ?

Lovel

Member
Spent the last few days trawling through all sorts of threads on the fitting of SD1 Vitesse wheels.:rolleyes: I have decided to go ahead and fit them but I am not going to try them on as I plan to just go ahead and machine the back face of the wheels due to the potential for clearance issues.

Would someone be able to confirm the optimum amount of material that I should remove from the back of the wheel. I have seen dimensions between 2.5 & 3.5mm mentioned by some in the past ?
 
Hi, Try fitting them first to see if there's a problem. It's all down to tolerances of the bodyshell and the wheels at variance. You will need to mount the tyres because it's the tyres that rub not the wheels, also try them in a different corner if there's a problem.

Colin
 
I haven't taken any off mine, and am running 205/65s. The O/S did rub a little if I cornered very quickly, but I modified the base unit when I had him off the road.

You will find that the grease cap on the front will need to be modified, or replaced with the SD1 items. I cut the rim of mine, and that worked well :)

Richard
 
I have just replaced a complete d-post assembly and some other panels, the panels being pattern won’t of course be in the same position after my handywork, and I am thinking that it could potentially be detrimental to the clearance hence thought I should go straight to machining the offset.

Yes planning to use SD1 front hub caps
 
My wheels arrived in post today, so will start to have a look at fitting issues, if any.

After reviewing the many threads on wheel nuts I vowed to myself that I would not ask the question on forum as it has been asked so many times in the past. I thought I had a plan based on Bartens thread with SN31 nuts, However..........:confused: , I find that the stud holes on these wheels measure between 0.711-0.715". I can get a 0.705" piece of bright bar a nice sliding fit in the holes. So now I am back looking at the 5001T nuts which measure 0.73" on the sleeve in the specifications. Has anyone taken a measurement of the 5001T nut sleeve area. I have a couple of them on order to try anyway, and I may just have to skim a few thou off them to get the fit I would like.

Additionally as an alternative has anyone considered just fitting tapered nuts with the Vitesse wheels? The taper of the nut contacts the stud hole bang on the middle, indeed there is a small taper on the stud hole itself that would help centralise the wheel. I was considering increasing the depth of that taper on the stud holes to increase the landing area?
 
Ok here’s a quick summary of what I achieved so far to fit the vitesse wheels and the nuts used.

I found the nearest fitting diameter was a socket which was as sliding fit in the back of the stud hole. Note that the front of the holes are quite distorted somewhat over the years of use. The most accurate way of measuring was from the back of the wheel.

The OD of the socket was 0.704” but the hole size could have been some .005-.010” more as it was difficult to measure the id of the holes without the correct tooling. These holes are original factory dimensions, 0.709-0.714” I reckon would be the official dimension.

To remove the internal burring on the front edge of the stud hole I used an H8 expandable reamer.

The new nut measurements on the body of the sleeve and the burring to hold the washer on before I machined them down. 5001T



I used a valve seat cutter to created a slight lead in and champher.

Setup the nut in a three jaw chuck and checked for trueness with dial gauge indicator. Achieved about .002” error.



Turned down to 0.701”. This meant that I have at least .006-.016” (including machining error) of clearance with the wheel holes and the sleeve section of the nuts which should hopefully be a reasonable accuracy for true running.

Nuts fitted hard against wheel, washers tight means that the wheel is being clamped sufficiently to the hub.

Note the nuts do not protrude through the back of the wheel, which is good!
9_E9_A3510_9450_4492_BBCE_4_DF2830_CCBF4.jpg
 
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Continued as last thread can only take 20 images max.

P6 & SD1 grease cap.

SD1 grease cap fitted.

SD1 grease cap protrusion through wheel.

Wheel centre badges, left unmodified, right modified and a little material moved to be able to fit with the front grease cap in place.

Rear wheel fitted. The wheels will be reconditioned eventually but I need to try and establish if I need to machine some material of the back of the wheel once I drive it.

 
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  • Some offset photos of near side rear d-post. The photos probably make it look closer than it actually is and it’s difficult to get the right camera angle. Looks a bit neat, but the tyre is clear when the suspension is compressed. I placed some weights in the boot and also jumped up and down within the boot to try and get the tyre wall to strike the tyre but it didn’t hit. Still tempted to take something off by machining the backside of the wheel. A previous repair on the d-post actually made the clearance less, so I think would have been ok if the original panel was in place. I recently replaced the right hand side full d-post including the inner skin and there seems to be sufficient clearance that I am more comfortable with, at least more than the left side.


 
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Hi, Don't forget to check the clearance of the back of the wheel/tyre and the chassis rail, if you take too much off it's difficult to put it back.

Colin
 
Hi, Don't forget to check the clearance of the back of the wheel/tyre and the chassis rail, if you take too much off it's difficult to put it back.

Colin

I looked at that from underneath and it looks like there is plenty space between the chassis rail to allow for 3mm or so.
 
To save the hassle of turning down the 5001T lug nuts. I found these snowflake lug nuts which according to their specification has 0.70" OD sleeve. Perhaps these would be the simpler option while still maintaining as little clearance as possible.
 
Just to finish off my story. I have decided to use the above snowflake nuts which are a perfect size for the original size holes in the vitesse wheels with no machining required. Diameter of sleeve on nut varies by approx. .001", so potentially can be .698" - .700", basically as per specifications. With the original hole in the vitesse wheels being .709"- .714" that leaves a clearance tolerance between the sleeve of the nut and wheel hole of .011"-.014"

Back of the wheel shown after skimming 3mm from the face. Note the sleeve of the nut still has a slight gap which means that the nut will clamp the wheel securely in place and will not bottom out on the standard 7/16" UNF stud.


Wheel fitted to rear. The snowflake nuts are 3/4" A/F which are smaller than the other nuts I was looking at and are more in scale with the wheel in my opinion.
 
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