Wolfrace Wheels - Wheel Spacing
- Thread starter falconho
- Start date
Hi Falconho
Easyest way to answer this one is to copy in a post I did earlier (below).
The problem is the width between the side of the boot well and the rearward extension of the D post under the leading edge of the rear wing. This D post extension carries the sealing rubber for the rear door aperture, so it is difficult to dispose of entirely, although you can ease matters by getting rid of the rear second skin and some judicious work with a mallett.
It seems many people with alloy wheels have done the above plus used unde-diameter tyres to achieve the necessary clearance. Note also that as the suspension moves the rear track changes slightly because of the action of the rear de dion - so a bit of clearance is essential!
I started out trying to use Interceptor wheels, albeit the GKN 5 spoke variety from the later MkIII's. To my horror (after a very expensive refurb) they wouldn't fit under the rear arches and I had to sell them on in favour of the SD1 Vitesse wheels I finished up with.
I've now done the trial fitting of my modified SD1 Vitesse 15" wheels to the car and so can report on offsets!
And the news is that they are comfortably clear of both the unmodified D post double skin section and of the boot side portion of the wheel arch. !!!!~~HOORAY~~!!!!
I'm afraid there will be quite a long wait before I can report on whether cornering loads shift the suspension around enough to give any rubbing problems! Bearing in mind that Denovo's were 205 section and the amount of clearance, I don't expect any issues though.
These wheels are fitted with 205/65 X 15 94V Pirelli P6000 Powergy tyres. These tyres are correct for rolling radius but you should note that they have a marginally narrower tread than many tyres of this section.
I have measured up the modified wheels and get a dimension across the outside of the wheel of 190mm and a depth from the inner rim edge of the wheel to the contact face to the hub of 148mm. By my calculation that gives an offset of 53mm into the car. The figure for the offset is unaffected by the rim size (it is relative to the centre line of the rim) so this dimension could be quoted when buying any width rim to give an exact central location within the wheel arch.
I don't reckon it would be wise to try going above 205 section. You might just get away with 215, but it would need a trial fitting first and for the wheels to be absolutely exact to this offset.
The wheels were produced by first carefully measuring the exact offset of the unmodified wheels. Each wheel was then individually machined to give the quoted offset by skimming the raised "boss" that seats against the hub. Between the five wheels we had (three from a car set of five, and two odd individuals which replaced wheels from the set which had damaged stud holes - looked like they had been run with the nuts loose and the whole wheel had been moving on the hub - that's V8 power for you!) THREE DIFFERENT OFFSETS!! Clearly Leyland quality control left something to be desired! Hence the individual machining which took off around 3.5mm.
For comparison I have also measured the Jensen Interceptor alloys originally intended for the car and sometimes seen fitted to P6's. Their offset came out at 30mm - so they would need around an INCH taking off to achieve the same offset. I really couldn't contemplate that much strength loss! Equally it illustrates the level of butchery required to the D post to allow them clearance when unmodified.
If you were really committed to the Jensen's, I reckon you could lose 5mm from the wheel, perhaps 5 mm by skimming the face of the hub, leaving around 15mm to gain by single skinning the double skin section of the D post. That sounds just feasible, but rather a lot of effort! Another possible dodge would be to shorten the half shafts very slightly to pull the De Dion tube in slightly narrower - best to try on a scrap one first though as I'm not sure how much tolerence there is inside the tube slider.
I don't have an offset figure for the standard steel wheels, but note that they probably don't run exactly central in the wheel arch. Nor do I have one for either the P5 (15") or P6 (14") Rostyles. Anyone out there with any minus their tyres - could you measure them up and post please.
I do know that the P5 Rostyle was a bit too far out for 205's, 195's are really about the limit. In any case the rim width is really too narrow for 205's. One possible solution if someone really wanted the P5 Rostyles would be to have different rims fitted to the wheel centres. This would be quite easy to do at time of rechroming and I know of at least one firm that does this sort of thing (albeit for lorry wheels).
I hope that adds to the fund of knowledge! Lets see some more data for the various types of steel wheel and also for those Jeep Cherokee wheels?
Hope that assists
Chris
Easyest way to answer this one is to copy in a post I did earlier (below).
The problem is the width between the side of the boot well and the rearward extension of the D post under the leading edge of the rear wing. This D post extension carries the sealing rubber for the rear door aperture, so it is difficult to dispose of entirely, although you can ease matters by getting rid of the rear second skin and some judicious work with a mallett.
It seems many people with alloy wheels have done the above plus used unde-diameter tyres to achieve the necessary clearance. Note also that as the suspension moves the rear track changes slightly because of the action of the rear de dion - so a bit of clearance is essential!
I started out trying to use Interceptor wheels, albeit the GKN 5 spoke variety from the later MkIII's. To my horror (after a very expensive refurb) they wouldn't fit under the rear arches and I had to sell them on in favour of the SD1 Vitesse wheels I finished up with.
I've now done the trial fitting of my modified SD1 Vitesse 15" wheels to the car and so can report on offsets!
And the news is that they are comfortably clear of both the unmodified D post double skin section and of the boot side portion of the wheel arch. !!!!~~HOORAY~~!!!!
I'm afraid there will be quite a long wait before I can report on whether cornering loads shift the suspension around enough to give any rubbing problems! Bearing in mind that Denovo's were 205 section and the amount of clearance, I don't expect any issues though.
These wheels are fitted with 205/65 X 15 94V Pirelli P6000 Powergy tyres. These tyres are correct for rolling radius but you should note that they have a marginally narrower tread than many tyres of this section.
I have measured up the modified wheels and get a dimension across the outside of the wheel of 190mm and a depth from the inner rim edge of the wheel to the contact face to the hub of 148mm. By my calculation that gives an offset of 53mm into the car. The figure for the offset is unaffected by the rim size (it is relative to the centre line of the rim) so this dimension could be quoted when buying any width rim to give an exact central location within the wheel arch.
I don't reckon it would be wise to try going above 205 section. You might just get away with 215, but it would need a trial fitting first and for the wheels to be absolutely exact to this offset.
The wheels were produced by first carefully measuring the exact offset of the unmodified wheels. Each wheel was then individually machined to give the quoted offset by skimming the raised "boss" that seats against the hub. Between the five wheels we had (three from a car set of five, and two odd individuals which replaced wheels from the set which had damaged stud holes - looked like they had been run with the nuts loose and the whole wheel had been moving on the hub - that's V8 power for you!) THREE DIFFERENT OFFSETS!! Clearly Leyland quality control left something to be desired! Hence the individual machining which took off around 3.5mm.
For comparison I have also measured the Jensen Interceptor alloys originally intended for the car and sometimes seen fitted to P6's. Their offset came out at 30mm - so they would need around an INCH taking off to achieve the same offset. I really couldn't contemplate that much strength loss! Equally it illustrates the level of butchery required to the D post to allow them clearance when unmodified.
If you were really committed to the Jensen's, I reckon you could lose 5mm from the wheel, perhaps 5 mm by skimming the face of the hub, leaving around 15mm to gain by single skinning the double skin section of the D post. That sounds just feasible, but rather a lot of effort! Another possible dodge would be to shorten the half shafts very slightly to pull the De Dion tube in slightly narrower - best to try on a scrap one first though as I'm not sure how much tolerence there is inside the tube slider.
I don't have an offset figure for the standard steel wheels, but note that they probably don't run exactly central in the wheel arch. Nor do I have one for either the P5 (15") or P6 (14") Rostyles. Anyone out there with any minus their tyres - could you measure them up and post please.
I do know that the P5 Rostyle was a bit too far out for 205's, 195's are really about the limit. In any case the rim width is really too narrow for 205's. One possible solution if someone really wanted the P5 Rostyles would be to have different rims fitted to the wheel centres. This would be quite easy to do at time of rechroming and I know of at least one firm that does this sort of thing (albeit for lorry wheels).
I hope that adds to the fund of knowledge! Lets see some more data for the various types of steel wheel and also for those Jeep Cherokee wheels?
Hope that assists
Chris
hermione149
Member
Will this help 
.....http://www.wolfrace.net/ahistoryofwolfrace.htm
.....http://www.wolfrace.net/ahistoryofwolfrace.htmI'm selling my Rover SD1 Vitesse 15" alloy wheels
Complete with centre caps
7:32 pm Post subject:
see fleabay 250170955668
going going gone
someone's going to get a bargain
Complete with centre caps
7:32 pm Post subject:
see fleabay 250170955668
going going gone
someone's going to get a bargain
Depends what size tyres you want to fit! If you are happy not to go the whole hog out to 205 section then 15" SD1 Vitesse could be used as is, I'd guess that maximum section would be about 195. Another option is 14" SD1, both series 1 "S" wheels and series 2 VDP/SE wheels. Again you probably won't get out past 195. 14" Minilites are relatively common but expensive - they were made contemporarily with the car, or you could ask Minilites for the correct offset new ones - again expensive. Jeep Cherokee wheels are also possible, but personally I don't think they suit the car, and again the offset isn't quite right so you're unlikely to manage more than 195.
If you are prepared to use a significantly smaller rolling radius tyre (ie lowereing the overall gearing of the car - more revs at a given speed, misreading speedo etc etc) this helps to keep the tyre away from the critical area of the D post and you can use a bigger section. I personally wouldn't do this as I think the car is undergeared before you start!
Any more offers?
Chris
If you are prepared to use a significantly smaller rolling radius tyre (ie lowereing the overall gearing of the car - more revs at a given speed, misreading speedo etc etc) this helps to keep the tyre away from the critical area of the D post and you can use a bigger section. I personally wouldn't do this as I think the car is undergeared before you start!
Any more offers?
Chris