new wheels

[ianminki]

hi help pls
im looking to get some new wheels for the car and struggling with sorting out my offsets. the wheels that are on at the moment 6.5j x15's the make is kn but I am unable to find the offset's marked on the wheels.as far as I am able to make out the car is mk2 escort live axle so presume the front is escort hubs I have made some alterasions to the headlights so when I turn the wheels don't rub the light backs but was thinking of gowning down to 14 inch rims to give more clearance at the front between wheels and light's
thanks regards ian

[DH2]

hi help pls
im looking to get some new wheels for the car and struggling with sorting out my offsets. the wheels that are on at the moment 6.5j x15's the make is kn but I am unable to find the offset's marked on the wheels.as far as I am able to make out the car is mk2 escort live axle so presume the front is escort hubs I have made some alterasions to the headlights so when I turn the wheels don't rub the light backs but was thinking of gowning down to 14 inch rims to give more clearance at the front between wheels and light's
thanks regards ian

Hi Ian.
It is usually stamped on the inside face of the wheel hub somewhere. But you should be able to calculate it. A Google search for wheel offset calculator gives lots of choices to help. You can measure it on your existing rims.
What I would then do, is measure against the bodywork versus the axle hub face, as the bodywork can be slightly different fitting on each car. Drop a plumb line down the outside of the wheel arch to get an idea of what offset would fit OK within the arches.
It can be a bit mind bending, but work through it logically and you should be OK.
There are probably some photos of the escort front uprights in my build thread or website.
Oh also don't forget to measure any centre spigot to ensure the match the wheels you are looking at. Loads of ford figment wheels available - 108mm PCD.
Dave

[stylussprinter]

hi help pls
im looking to get some new wheels for the car and struggling with sorting out my offsets. the wheels that are on at the moment 6.5j x15's the make is kn but I am unable to find the offset's marked on the wheels.as far as I am able to make out the car is mk2 escort live axle so presume the front is escort hubs I have made some alterasions to the headlights so when I turn the wheels don't rub the light backs but was thinking of gowning down to 14 inch rims to give more clearance at the front between wheels and light's
thanks regards ian

Ian , if you measure from the bolting face of your hub to a spirit level upright against the wheel arch and it might be , for instance , 90mm's . So whatever wheels you buy need to be 90mm's from it's bolting face to the outer rim plus around 10mm's for tyre bulge.
Therefore if you choose 7 inch rims(177.8mm's)the bolting face to inner rim will be 77.8mm's . So this would then be a negative offset of 11.1mm's .
IE. Always measure from the bolting face of the wheel out to it's outer rim THEN subtract that from half the total rim width = offset.
Imagine that the wheel centre can slide in or out of the rim (as opposed to being welded or whatever) then it's simple to understand what offset is ---- you'd bolt up the wheel then slide it out to the wheel arch edge -- then you'd measure the outer rim didtance

[ianminki]

hi rob and dh2
thanks for that info . now that I have taken all wheels of I have found the size and offsets I have seen some wheels that I like but the offset is et 35 my current is et 15 according to wheel company the ones I have are not ford standard I know i'm gowing to have to space them out but what ide like to know is what is the stander offset for a stylus my current wheels are tyre 195/50/15 wheels 6.5jx15 et15 the wheels im looking at are tyre195/50/15 6.5j with offset et35 theses kit cars are not as easy as u think they are but im lovin the problems im finding lol like rob just love the stylus.
thanks againe regards ian

[stylussprinter]

Ian , due to individual builders and builds being slightly different there is no real STYLUS standard offset , partly of course , because wheel widths chosen vary , so an ET15 on a 6j will be different to a 7j . Hence my explanation of calculating offset in the previous post. The other really important point is ---- don't fit spacers at the front You can do what you like at the rear . If you want to buy , say , a 7.5j wheel then measure from bolting face to either plumbline or spirit level touching the wheelarch --------- that will be the measurement to subtract from the rim width+tyre bulge , to arrive at the offset

[norma]

Why not fit spacers at the front Rob? Are you concerned about leverage on the springs?
I've just got some alloy hubs with oversize bearings that add 10mm each side & I was planning to go to zero offset wheels to get around 25mm extension per side, is that a big no-no then?

[stylussprinter]

Why not fit spacers at the front Rob? Are you concerned about leverage on the springs?
I've just got some alloy hubs with oversize bearings that add 10mm each side & I was planning to go to zero offset wheels to get around 25mm extension per side, is that a big no-no then?

It's fine to go your route but spacers give all sorts of problems on the front. With zero offset and the hub width all you will be doing is changing the leverage , as you have said ie. slightly softer suspension. You may notice the steering effort change and of course slip angle will be moved.
If you find that you don't like the feel of it you can always up the spring rate 20lbs Kevin in Southampton runs zero offset

[ianminki]

hi rob & dave
New wheels now fitted still 15" but tyre's 185/55/15 instead of 195/50/15's fit is much better and wheels on the front fit on the spigots properly now. Clearance in the arches is fine but at it's limit to outer of arch. Here is a link to the photo's https://www.dropbox.com/sh/is7azbn0x615tnf/5IXbVIdD8R
regard's ian

[stylussprinter]

hi rob & dave
New wheels now fitted still 15" but tyre's 185/55/15 instead of 195/50/15's fit is much better and wheels on the front fit on the spigots properly now. Clearance in the arches is fine but at it's limit to outer of arch. Here is a link to the photo's https://www.dropbox.com/sh/is7azbn0x615tnf/5IXbVIdD8R
regard's ian

Have you measured the chassis height from underneath the driver's seat ally to steel join plus under front chassis rail
The front appears to be very high compared to the rear . Set the rear 25mm's higher than the front Ian ---- it looks from the photos rather high all round . Wheels look great

[ianminki]

hello rob
no not done that yet as it was getting a bit cold in garage I was more interested in front wheels not catching inside front on full lock . still have some resetting to do . as well as ride height I need to reset the speedo as well. as the different tyre size alters the speedo by 7mph according to a offset calculater chart whitch is done quite easy on my setup. as for tyre psi I
have been running them 18psi and seams ok is this about right for my car
thanks regards ian

[stylussprinter]

hello rob
no not done that yet as it was getting a bit cold in garage I was more interested in front wheels not catching inside front on full lock . still have some resetting to do . as well as ride height I need to reset the speedo as well. as the different tyre size alters the speedo by 7mph according to a offset calculater chart whitch is done quite easy on my setup. as for tyre psi I
have been running them 18psi and seams ok is this about right for my car
thanks regards ian

I'd say yes (18 psi ) at the max with your light weight Ian for road . Possibly add 2 psi at rear only if boot and passenger occupied.
Having a bike engine you could drop to 15 psi on track tyres R888 etc.