Mag/alloy wheels 14 inch/15 inch

[Drakman]

I am going through the search for alloy wheels to suit the  Moke.  It seems the only wheels available here are Performance Superlite style wheels.  The cost looks to be $1000 per set of 4 or there abouts for those.

I personally like the look of the Mamba and ultralite style wheels.

Would there be any interest in 14 or 15 x 6 inch alloy wheels in 101.6 PCD , ET 25.     185/70/14 and 185/60/15  would have almost the same scrub radius as std wheels.  They would be 2 mm out from the suspension and would be 13 mm wider on the out side.  I doubt there would be any significant extra load on the wheel bearings with these sizes.

Standard 13" circumference with 175/70/13 is 1807 mm , Dia is 575 mm
                                                185/70/14 is 1931 mm , Dia is 615 mm
                                                185/60/15 is 1894 mm , Dia is 603 mm
The above are just sizes i have been looking at.

I am asking because a supplier in the UK has told me he can set up a run of wheels BUT, (there's that bloody but again) i need to get 80 wheels (20 sets).  Obviously cost is going to be the deciding factor here and at this stage i have no idea what that cost will be, I'm just putting it out there to gauge what interest, if any, there is in alloy wheels in sizes you can still buy tyres for?

With the popularity and cost of Mokes going up all the time, it seems strange that wheels are so hard to find.

Cheers
Dave

[Maystro]

Hi Dave,

I'm looking for a set of  15x7 mags for my Moke, anything which is a little different and is not Minilites.  Just because it is a Mini we shouldn't have to have Minilites? 

Surely their is a manufacturer in Australia? 

Brad.

[Drakman]

Hi Brad,

Not sure if they are actually made in Australia but "Performance wheels" in SA do a few different wheels in 15".  They buy or make them as  blanks and drill whatever PCD you want.

I ended up getting some old Sampson Engineering wheels that were made in SA and had the PCD changed.

I still look for wheels, other than Superlites though.

Cheers
Dave

[Maystro]

Thanks Dave,

I was looking at Performance Wheels as my last resort. 

If I'm going to put minilites on, I would at least want  to have something a little bigger.  Would 15x8's have a clearance issue on the inner guards?  I don't mind about them sticking out because I have some widened guards lined up by my welder friend. 

The ET is -12 to +10.  This means nothing to me.  I know they can do the 4 inch PCD.

Brad

[Maystro]

Hi guys

Does a ET 0 to +25 means the wheel sticks out further and looks deeper and should have less problems with clearance on the inner guards than a wheel that has a ET of -12 to + 10? 

So what would be the ideal ET for a 1981 Moke.  I'd like to know what the the ET is for a standard metal Moke rim so I can get a comparison.


Brad

[moemoke]

I've been googling this today to try and understand the different offsets.

ET is a German phrase einpresstiefe (insertion depth) which indicates the distance between the centre line of the wheel and the mounting face
so a negative ET has the mounting face closer to the brake disc or drum (deep dish wheel) and a positive ET has the mounting face
closer to the outer face of the wheel (most front wheel drives).

Now just need to know what a moke wheels ET is. I think it's negative but not by much.

[Terry]

Hi,

33mm

Terry

[Drakman]

Hi Guys,

Moke wheels as Terry said are 33 positive ET. 

One of the problems for me  was trying to get the scrub radius as close to std as possible. 

Front wheel drive cars i believe work best with a slight negative scrub radius, helps pull the wheel straight under acceleration, brake and cornering forces.

I'm just talking 13 inch wheels here, when you go to wider rims you start moving into large positive scrub radius unless you go to really high aspect radio tyres.  So I figured that if i go larger diameter wheels, i could go lower aspect ratio tyres and still keep the rolling circumference close to std as well as the scrub radius. (15 inch was the largest i looked at because i thought any bigger would look a bit weird)

The higher the positive ET the closer to the inner guard the wheel gets, so as you go wider in the rim you need to drop back the ET.  I was working on an ET around 25 positive for a 6.5 inch wheel fitted with a 205/55/15 tyre  giving a pos 3 ET.  If I go to 215/55/15, i get 0 scrub radius but the tyre would stick out over the rim more or if i go 205/60, i get 0 scrub radius but the rolling circumference is getting to big.

I haven't tried to fit a 15 inch wheel yet but it looks like because it is larger the wheel might have a bit more turning clearance under the guard before it hits the inner guard.

I have seen wheels for sale 13 x 7, ET 7, that would give around 30 mm positive scrub radius depending on tyre size.  Way to much for my liking and the steering would be very heavy, the rim would stick out the side of the car too much as well.

If anyone understands the above, could you please explain it to me.

Another 2 cents spent,  this  is just my thinking on the subject so i stand to be corrected.

Cheers
Dave

[Terry]

Hi,

my head was hurting trying to keep up with all that.

Another thing to consider with the wider wheels and offsets is the extra strain on the wheel bearings. On a number of the Mokes I have had anything to do with that had extra wide wheels is they went through wheel bearings at a fair rate.

The hub and bearing assembly was designed for 10" wheels with a 4" width. The Moke wheels evolved to 13" and 1" extra width to handle the 4.5" and 5.5" widths wheels that were being fitted. The taper rollers bearings were also used to replace the standard ball bearings on disc brake models.

In the Rover years there is a heavier duty tapered roller bearing part number available for use on the 12"rimmed Minis. There is also a few home brewed alterations to spread the bearings in the hub to increase the load bearing area.

Terry

[Maystro]

Thanks guy's my head hurts also.

Think I will pay a visit to my local tyre fitter and let them do the measurements and see what they come up with.  At least I know I can get some rims from performance wheels so I can point them in the right direction if they can't find anything.  Besides I'm thinking the freight on 4 rims would be pretty expensive for me but probably cheaper for them. 

I'm now looking at 14x8's because I think Mokes look better with a bit more rubber on to wrap the rims than those silly low profile tyres on 15, 16 +. 

Brad

[Drakman]

Hi Brad,

These wheels are 13 x 8, ET 7, superlite wheels that i have laying around, they are fitted with Kumo slicks so low profile.

Road tyres will be a lot taller so they will hit the inner guards on full lock, the Kumo's look like they will clear but the suspension is hanging. I thought i would fit them and get some pics so you can see what they look like.

I used a 235 x 50 tyre size as a guide to work out the scrub because that size gives a little more clearance in the wheel well and best fits an 8 inch rim IMO.

The scrub radius is positive 26 mm, as Terry says this will put a leverage effect on your wheel bearings as well as the other things i mentioned above.











Cheers
Dave

[bellbrae]

Hi guys,

These are 2010 BMW Mini Cooper wheels 15". Same stud pattern. Tyres are 195 / 50 R15

[Terry]

Bellbrae,

are you sure it is the same and not the 100mm pattern with a slight bend in each stud due to the cone shaped nuts. I can't think why a German company would be producing anything in inches and not metric.

Terry

[Maystro]

Thanks Dave for the photo's and going to that much trouble. 

You just happen to have some slicks lying around on some 8 inch superlites......do you do track time with your Moke on the weekends ;-)

I really like the deep dish look the mini's have with the 13x7 mags so was hoping to get a similar look with 14x8 mags on the moke with slightly bigger guards. 

My Moke has discs with upgraded roller bearings so hopefully they might hold up for a while. 

Bellbrae,

If your correct about BMW Coopers having a 4" PCD, well then that would open up a whole new selection of Mag wheels available for us Mokers.

Thanks Brad.

[Drakman]

Lol Brad,

I have a few sets of wheels, 13 x 7, 13 x 6 as well as the 13 x 8's.  We race off road buggies and i was going to change the suspension set up and run slicks so i could run the car at the Noosa hillclimb.  But then i found Mokes, almost like the buggies but i can drive them everyday!

I should point out that the Mokes are not quite in the same ballpark speed wise though, according to Top Gear the buggies will accelerate from 0 to 100 klm's in around 3 seconds, I'm too old for that shite now.

PS, It was no trouble, i had the car up on jack stands to do the brakes.

Cheers
Dave