Morris Minor Owners Club

So that's what YOU should be doing, Jonathan

I wouldn't dream of suggesting J should do it this way - i simply tell how alloy wheels are secured in my experience - mostly motor sport based I would add !

I'm sure, BM you can see the benefits of a correctly sized center bore to align the wheel. If you are modifying parts of the original design or creating bespoke items in the critical area of braking then surely its a good idea to create a design that aids the correct location of the wheel.
I conceed that alloys are best fitted with sleeved nuts, but even in this case the studs are subject to failure due to the unsupported length between the hub and wheel face. Again , if the center bore is the correct size then this problem is negated.
Andrew

Oh goody, the favourite subject of location on wheel studs or centerbore. I thought this had been done to death already.

Personally I agree with Jonathan and centering is on the center hub. Even if you use the dreaded spacers (just thought I throw them in for good measure).

Regards,
Wal

Wal wrote:I thought this had been done to death already.

Not until I can get my vibration sorted out

Jonathon does know what he is talking about but, to be fair to BMC he is only stating what every mini specialist in the land would also - that mini wheels DO NOT locate on the centre hubs, not racing ones with 150BHP, not alloys, not steels and not standard mini's with fancy minilites. And their isn't a great deal of talk about the centre bore locating thing causing problems on mini forums which you would expect if it was a problem.

I am going to a wheel place tomorrow for balancing, tracking and will take it from there.

Ah - thought he might have noticed that we aren't talking about Minis.

Move along now, nothing to see here!

Seriously though, I have been on the phone to ESM, Birmingham and Bull Motiff today. They all sell minilite replicas and none of them sell them with spigot rings - all of them said that their wheels are pulled onto the minor (or marina) hub by the NUTS (sounds painful) and are not supported/centred by the hub centres.

Isn't that fairly dangerous? I thought the wheel is only held in place by the studs/nuts, and the hubcentres were designed to take the load, and if you have a wheel that fits nicely, the force is evenly distributed.

Why would one use spacer rings, other than to get the wheel to sit tight on the hub centre?

Well, that is all I know...

Just a thought after reading this, but incorrect tyre pressures can cause that type of vibe. I'd also look at the condition of my tyres and rims before shelling out to have them balanced, aligned etc...always best to check the basics first.

Aye aye. Just to let you all know that I have had the front wheels balanced and the vibration has gone. It seems that the wheels were initially incorrectly balanced.