Hi guys,

I'm sure this question has been asked before but just thought poeple might have new knowledge about this topic.

I'm on my way on starlet conversion and while i'm sorting out the wiring, time to look at the wheels.

Minilites are fairly common these days so I want to go with something a bit different

First Question: Do I have to stay with 13" rims? seen cars in the UK running 14s or even 15s on recent sized rubber ( not 35 series or something!) This would open up a whole range of rims to play around with
I dont think PCD would be a problem since we can turn up some adaptors to suit 4x100. Obviously something has to be done aboutthe rear radius arms but an adaptor to move the whole hub back by an inch can be made ( I've seen this done before on a mini with 15" wheels)

second question: what is the lightest weight rim I can buy without having to sell everything I own reducing unsprung weight is one area I'm looking at. I read archangel's diary and I have to agree with the comments about the super 'lites'

Been looking at this wheel from a company called DYMAG from UK. When I visited the web site I knew I was asking for trouble! these guys make custom wheels for super cars and even F1 teams! eek. Anyway.. inquired about their 13" magnesium rim which is supposed to be super light weight. The guy quoted me 350 pounds per rim! before stud pattern is drilled! I dont think my car is worth that much include shipping etc and i'll soon be living in a cardboard box!



I've heard about the Volk TE37 & Enkei Sport ES Tarmac but havent been able to find any prices on them? Would anyone be able to help me on this??

One rim I came to know in 15" variety is the StarCorp Racing Lite which is a magnesium alloy and is sold in Aus for about $200 a rim.


They weight only 4 kg each. I know this cuz me girlfield bought a set!

Any information from anyone would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Pubs

I know that they are light but you do not want magnesium wheels on a road car. They only have a short life and are very prone to corrosion. That is why the Dymag wheels have the grey coating. (I can't remember what the coating is called but it is cool stuff!) Uncoated magnesium wheels look crook and when a dog pees on them they will corrode before your eyes!

Unsprung weight is something to worry about on a race car but on a road Mini you will never tell the difference. There is too much heavy suspension that is also unsprung that the lightweight wheels will make little difference.
Any adaptors that you fit to change the stud pattern will increase the unsprung weight. There is no point spending lots of dollars on expensive big lightweight wheels if you need to fit a heavy adaptor to run them.

thanks for the info. Yeah the new magnesium alloys all have a coating of some kind.. otherwise they would corrode very easily. Seems pointless to spend so much money on magnesium wheels i know..

But with respect to wheels, what are my choices then really?? 14" ?? I dont want mini lites..

Can get down a decent set of rims from UK with drilled mini PCD for a reasonable amount of money I think.

Any suggestions?

cheers

Pubs

Hi there

I have been looking at wheels too. and 100mm PCD would be much easier to get wheels.

I cant see why this wouldn't work but some engineering types may be able to point out why it wont.



See the pic I have drawn up. i measured the stud on a mini hub the other day compared to the starlet hubs. The mini ones are about 9(ish) vs the starlet ones at 12(ish)mm. If you were to set the drive flanges up and precisely bore out the mini stud holes to 12(ish)mm based on the revised PCD of 100mm you should have enough meat to then put in metric studs.

OK what have I missed? If this works I'm gonna get a set of Metro drive flanges and swap to 100mm PCD.

Madmorrie

Good Work mad morrie!

yeah I thought about this too. I dont see why we cant do this. Only problem comes when sorting out wheels for the back.. especially if this means you have to tamper with the drum ( the drive flange inside the drum can be modified the same way I reckon)

I'm looking at installing rear disc brakes from some other car and also moving the whole assembly back a bit so I can fit bigger wheels. Dont know what the engineer is going to think of this idea though!!

Got a quote from a shop in UK who will drill out the mini PCD onto a set of 14x6. Offset is available for ET00 to ET56. The bRand is Compomotive and price seems ok ( 130 pounds per wheel)
Stuckey wheels in Victoria ( I think ) are the agents for compomotive in Aus. I've emailed them about this model.. we'll see what they say



Cheers

Pubs

Mmmm, nice. i didn't think they still made compomotives.

On the rear wont you be limited by the physical length of the radius arm? I'm pretty sure that is what is going to limit the size of tyre I run on the 1100. I've had 14s on it before so was going to look at 15s, but will probably end up 14 again. hopefully tyres will be more readily available if the profile os not ridiculous. Like for a mini it would have to be 35 series rubber??

Madmorrie

14's i think go on fairly easy, lots of cars in the uk run them.
if your worried about unsprung weight, and the leingth of the radius arms, why not ditch the rear subframe and run a beem axle?

mad morrie: what are those wheels on your 1300?(i have a 1300 also)

_________________
speed costs....how fast do you want to go...

Jbeenz

If you mean the wheels on the yellow 1100 then unfortunately thay are only photoshopped on. They were RS watanabes Which I found somwhere on the net. I did find a set of 15inch 3 peice watanabes at a wrecker in Adelaide a month or so back which i was tempted to get, but wheels will have to wait for a while I think.

As a cheaper option I was going to run MX5 mags (they are 100mm PCD). 1 spoke short but close, and much cheaper while still being a good quality and quite light. I will have to wait to see what engineer thinks about changing PCD.

Cheers

Madmorrie

Nice rim - would look good in 14"

Cheers
Tricky

_________________
"Not Speeding Officer..........Qualifying"

It does look pretty good. Check these out:



Made from compomotive too 13x7. Can get them in any PCD and lots of different offsets. Stuckey tyres can get them in for around 350 bucks a pop. Weigh only 4.9 kg

I recently learnt that the moke trailing arms are actually a wee bit longer than the standard mini ones. Has anyone have any experience fitting them into a mini??. This way we can fit 14" or 15" wheels for sure with decent sized rubber.

With the correct offset, I think it would be aright. I see a lot of body mods though Not too sure how the wheels bearings would hold up though

Thats a question for my engineer.

jbeenz : do you any pics of the beam axle setup at the back? would save a lot of weight

Cheers!

Pubs

A couple of questions people before you got it all wrong...... Topic is posted up in conversion which means we are talking about wheels on a mini with more power...... Depending on what power you are pushing out you should be looking at Tyres before wheels....... E.g forget putting 14"s on anything appart from a rusty construction wheel barrow.........Why you ask???? the answer is tyres..... You cannot get anything to give you enough grip while shifting gears or conering for that matter without paying a small fortune and waiting for the next ice age to get them in the country....... Stick with 13"s for price or 15"s for bling..... My 2 cents................

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah I heard 14" tyres are relatively hard to come by.. in that case, 15's would be good. Yes the post is in car mod section becasue this is a clubman with a 4efte engine. I think if the stud pattern is converted to 4x100, 15" price for rims would come down significantly because of mass produced models. Then again, how many of them can you choose the offset with?

Its good to get peoples opinions about this.

Cheers

pubs

theres lots of different beams out there, most of the uk companies make somthing to suit, i think alot of miglia's run them?

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speed costs....how fast do you want to go...

Borgy,

I beg to differ - I am running 14 x 6 Enkei's on 4 Paw, and I threw the same question at Russell Stuckey, from Stuckey Tyre Services in Victoria. His reply:

Thanks for your email. We have 3 tyres that you can consider:
1. Dunlop 175/60R14 FM-R D76J modified @$207
2. Dunlop 185/60R14 DZ02G @$255
3. Dunlop 195/60r14 FM-r D01J @$270
All these tyres are street legal competition tyres and are suitable for normal road use in all conditions.
Regards,
Russell Stuckey
STUCKEY TYRE SERVICE
www.stuckey.com.au
828 sydney Rd Brunswick 3056 AUSTRALIA
+613 9386 5331

All of the above are considered high-performance rubber for the 14". And of course, there are many others like Conti's, Hoosiers etc.

Cheers,
Tricky

_________________
"Not Speeding Officer..........Qualifying"

Tricky,

Thanks for the info. What Enkei's are you running? Would you please be able to post a pic of it?

Cheers

Pubs