Alloy wheels -- spacers needed?

[don58van]

Hi all

I am hoping some of you can give me guidance with choosing Minilite-style wheels for a 1970 Traveller.

I am wanting to buy 5.5 x 14 wheels with the standard PCD.

I have heard that some on the market require spacers to be used on certain Minors. It is illegal to use spacers here in Oz.

So ... the ones I know of are Minilite, Minator and Revolver. Can anyone enlighten me as to whether any of these brands in the size I specified above require spacers on a 1970 Traveller?

Cheers
Don

[Alec]

Hello Don,

the other important dimension is the offset or inset dimension, this is the distance between the mounting face of the wheel and it's centreline. Unfortunately I don't know what the correct offset is for a Minor? Were you planning to buy from a wheel vendor in Australia or import from the U.K.? In either case they should be able to confirm that the wheel you are enquiring about is correct for your car? The Minor wheel is relativly rare as there are vitually no other cars that use that PCD (4") and in 14" diameter. Do not buy a wheel with a 100 mm PCD, it won't fit safely.

Are you saying plain wheel spacers are illegal where you live, as they are an acceptable way of curing a clearance issue as long as longer studs are fitted? (And are accepted for circuit racing in the U.K.) There are a different type of spacer which is bolted to the wheel and have integral wheel studs to which the wheel is then bolted, those I believe are not reliable and are not permitted in the U.K. for racing.

Alec

[don58van]

Thanks Alec

The wheels I am talking about are models the respective manufacturers make specifically for the Minor. However, I understand that some of them require spacers on some later-model Minors (the ones sold by Bull Motif for example). Taking the Bull Motif ones as an example, I don't know whether they would require spacers for my vehicle.

I am considering importing the wheels, but obviously I don't want to bring in wheels that can't be legally fitted.

My understanding is that no add-on wheel spacers at all are allowed here. Mini drums with integral spacers are an exception (but there is a strict limit on how much the track can be widened) -- but that is a different concept from the add-on spacers we are talking about here.

Cheers
Don

[chrisryder]

i imagine it depends on the tyre width too. i had to fit a spacer on mine as the 5.5 inch wide wheels with 185 tyres just caught on the top trunnion. i think if i had 175 tyres i'd have been ok.

i recently measure a minor wheel and worked out the offset to be about 25.5mm.

you would do well to find something similar to aid steering feel, but if you want a wide (~5.5inch) wheel, a smaller offset would mean that the whole wheel is further out, and therefore clearance should be less of an issue.

a smaller offset would increase the 'track' though, which could contravene your regulations.