Wheel & Tyre Sizes

[flipper123]

yeah i need another set of wheels as i want a set to compete in and a set for the road what condition are they in i really wanted a set of minilight styled one dished minator model, but i like the look of yours too

[v8 wanted]

tyres virtually unused ( car has done 540 miles), wheels in excellent condition, no signs of kirbing, rims fully intact, few small scratches here and there ( as any used wheel) but nothing that you can see without bending down to look closely at them.

[flipper123]

ok i will let you know. i have to make my mind up whether i really want the minilights

[v8 wanted]

quick update to my earlier post, I'm still unsure asto what offset to get, I'm going to go down to 15" wheels,

couple of shots of my rears shown below for comparison,

1st one is the present Caterham 16" wheel ( et19, 205 x40x16)




second one is one of my old Westfield wheels (et35 , 205x50x15)



clearly the offset is wrong on both wheels, the Caterham et 19 is sticking way too much rubber
outside the arches, the Westfield et35 is too far in. If reducing the offset number moves the wheel outside the arch then presumably I need something between 19 & 35, ie 23-28 ish ?
I've never heard of this size on Stylus. Any thoughts anyone ?

[stylussprinter]

It all depends how low you run your chassis . I ran 205x50x15 on 7 inch rims with ET15 offset for a few years untill lowering the chassis more mean't that the arches needed trimming . Also your spring heights and lbs will decide how much room you need between tyre and arch .
Originally mine was 140mm's front ground to chassis and 160mm's at the rear , on 185x60x14 with 6inch rims . Once I changed to the 15's the arches fouled a little under hard track conditions so I cut out 10mm's which removed that curled in arch lip . This was ok with 200lbs front springs and 180lbs rear without an ARB at that time. I then dropped the chassis to 120mm's front and 140mm's rear , also increasing the springs to 225lbs front and 200lbs rear . This still needed another 10mm's cut out of the arches . That left the tyre top slightly exposed so it was then that I first flared the arches about 20mm's .
So it's as simple as that , offsets and Tyres can be wider but spring and arches will need mod's Mine now sits just 85mm's off the ground at the front and 110mm's at the rear which has been a gradual series of mod's over several years on arches , springs etc . It has a hefty ARB , 285lbs front springs and 250lbs rears , obviously not using original length shocks and springs . You might think , as most do , that this set up gives a hard non compliant ride ---- not so ---- as long as the shock piston has spare travel under all circumstances the ride will be fine .

Hope that answers some of your questions

[v8 wanted]

Hope that answers some of your questions

Not really, my question was regarding offset based on the two sizes of wheel discussed in my last post. Chopping lumps out of the arches isn't going to help me choose what offset I need is it ?

[stylussprinter]

Well I tried to cover all possibilities but if you want the answer regardless of what spring weights etc etc then it has to be 14x6x185 with ET15 offset , in order to clear the lips on the standard arches .
Having said that there's no way I'd run a V8 on those.

[DH2]

You didn't say what width the rims you tried are - knowing the offset is prety useless without knowing the rim width...

[stylussprinter]

You didn't say what width the rims you tried are - knowing the offset is prety useless without knowing the rim width...

Well if you read above you'll see I said 14 x '' 6 '' x (185 tyre size) BUT ----- if you want to stick to 15 inch x 7 inch wheels with 205 Tyres , the offset would need to be more , say ET25 for 205's or ET20 for 195's .

Body arch lips can vary a lot depending what was cut off after removing from the mould so some trimming may be needed anyway.

You could try working it out yourself by removing the rear wheel , hanging a plumbline down from the top arch then measure from line to bolting hub face. Obviously deduct the lip edge mm's .
This is what I did for myself to order wheels after changing the 14x6 to 15x7 's .

[MattD]

You didn't say what width the rims you tried are - knowing the offset is prety useless without knowing the rim width...

Well if you read above you'll see I said 14 x '' 6 '' x (185 tyre size)

Yes but we dont know the width of the rims the 205 rubber is mounted on for "V8wanted"'s tests.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=501&hilit=offset

[MattD]

This seems very handy, as you can compare existing wheel rim, with proposed new one.
Its the rim you're talking about though, not the edges of the tyre mounted on it.

http://www.1010tires.com/wheeloffsetcalculator.asp

[DH2]

Yes but we dont know the width of the rims the 205 rubber is mounted on for "V8wanted"'s tests.

This!