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Ford wheel advice

jps - 11/6/13 at 05:48 PM

Having never bought/ changed wheels on a car before I need some advice.

I'm building a haynes roadster, sierra hubs (disc) front and back. Because of the rearwishbones I need 15 inch wheels. Some 15inch Ford Escort Gti wheels have come up on gumtree very local to me and I'd be happy with the look.

Stud pattern is ok, 4stud 108bcd, as is the offset, 35 and the info I've seen online suggests Sierra hubs are ok on anything in the 35-45 range.

All good so far, unless someone can tell me different.

However, the donor is fitted with 5.5 inch wide wheels, the Escort ones are 6.5. Will this cause any problems I haven't considered?

Is there anything else I need to consider before parting with my cash?

Not Anumber - 11/6/13 at 09:32 PM

so long as the offset is right these should be ok. There are plenty of Haynes Roadsters with 7 J rims which are regarded as relatively moderate. 6.5 J should be fine.

snapper - 12/6/13 at 05:52 AM

If the offset is the same then the rim on the wider wheel inner rim will protrude inwards 1/2" more and the outer rim out 1/2" more
If by any chance the inner rim hits any part of the hub a spacer will push the wheel out
You may need longer studs fitting if you fit a spacer.

dhutch - 12/6/13 at 09:33 AM

It obviously also somewhat depends what width tyre your are planning to fit, but 6.5 inch wide rims are commonly used on kit cars of our type and what I use myself.

Daniel

jps - 12/6/13 at 02:29 PM

quote:
Originally posted by dhutch
It obviously also somewhat depends what width tyre your are planning to fit, but 6.5 inch wide rims are commonly used on kit cars of our type and what I use myself.

Daniel

I haven't got as far as thinking about tyre widths yet. Really I'm building my roadster for
a) the fact that i'll have built a car and
b) b-road blats and possibly some touring,

So really, anything that fits on the wheels and isn't too expensive will work fine for me....

Not Anumber - 12/6/13 at 04:58 PM

These are lightweight cars and need lower tyre pressures than you will be used to - between 14 and 18 psi. There is plenty of tyre choice but the general advice seems to be not to go too wide at the front to avoid tramlining and to keep the steering fairly light at parking speeds. Ive got 195s all round on my Indy which are ok but I will be taking the advice given here and replace the fronts with 185s if i can get them when they wear down to the legal limit.

Ideally if you can it's best to go for tyres that are known to work well on lightweight cars. Toyo Proxies seem very popular for both road and track use.

dhutch - 14/6/13 at 09:41 AM

quote:
Originally posted by jpsSo really, anything that fits on the wheels and isn't too expensive will work fine for me....

dhutch - 14/6/13 at 09:45 AM

quote:
Originally posted by jpsSo really, anything that fits on the wheels and isn't too expensive will work fine for me....

Sounds fair up to a point, although I wouldnt put crap tyres on any car. A lot run semi-slicks (the A048 and R888) but as I used my car for autotesting this isnt allowed for that so I have a set of Yoko A539's in 185 width which im very happy with, similar tread to the T1R Toyo but available in 13" I think.

I paid 56quid a corner for the fitted and balanced at which you can complain.
One year/season in doing around 3k miles and 8 tarmac autotests I predict I should get 5 years out of them maybe.

I also have a set of A038's (predecessor to the A048) which are beyond the legal limit but work well on a track. These are 185 front 205 rear which is also common, but the 205 size is so much more expensive I cant really justify it.

As said, pressure need to be lower, I often run as low at 12psi on the rears when autotesting, and when I did a car trial in it once I let it down 'till it looked about right' and when I came to pump it back up it was on 6psi still looking ok.

Daniel