NEW VTO Retro 4 14x5.5 for Spridgets

[Hap Waldrop]

I know many of you have mentioned you wanted 14x5.5 wheel for your Spridget, well we now have the Retro 4 in 14x5.5 in black or silver centers with polished outer rims for Spridgets.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Offset?

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Trevor, we bouncing back and forth form forum to forum

+22M, which is 4.2" backspacing. On the Classic Motorsport magazine project car "Modern Midget" (which was a SWA Midget) a few year ago, we used a Superlite 14x6 we used 4.2" back spacing, so with the VTO 14x5.5 this give a extra .5" of fender clearence, so it will work on the Spridget nicely.

 

[sqbsprite]

I always liked this wheel. Wasn't it an American Racing design originally called the "Libre" or something like that? Looks good on a RWA Midget.

 

[jlaird]

I agree, nice looking wheel.

 

[JPSmit]

Oh my those are pretty Hap. Even though I truly can't change rims/ tires right now, I have to ask, how much?

Oh, and is there a picture of a spridget with them on yet?

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Steve, yes it a modern remake of the Libre.

JP, same as all the other 14x5.5 applications, $160 a wheel. They weigh a tick under 12 pounds each.

No pic on a Midget yet, they aren't even in the warehouse yet, they just passed customs yesterday will be delivered to the warehouse on Tuesday and be ready to ship to cusotmers by Wed. several already have the Retro 4 on the Spridgets in 13x5.5.

 

[Gundy]

Me like...very much.
Now to find a buyer for my 5 Minilite 15x5.5s
complete with Bridgestone 185x55 rubber.

 

[RickB]

Using standard 14" tires how will this effect the speedometer?
It's reasonable that the tire circumference will be greater, so this will have the effect of making the speedo read slow right?
Won't this also have the effect of a change to the ratio?
More distance will be traveled per rotation of the tire versus a 13" wheel right?
Anyone work this out?

(oh, they look awesome and I wish I had a set...)

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Using standard 14" tires how will this effect the speedometer?
It's reasonable that the tire circumference will be greater, so this will have the effect of making the speedo read slow right?
Won't this also have the effect of a change to the ratio?
More distance will be traveled per rotation of the tire versus a 13" wheel right?
Anyone work this out?

(oh, they look awesome and I wish I had a set...)

Not necessarly, for example say a guy with 13" wheels on Spridget is running 175/70/13, a very popular size tire for a Spridget and say he wanted to go to the 14" wheel and was planning running say a 185/60/14, here's the difference between those tow tires sizes as for rolling daimeter.

175/70/13 rolling diameter is 71.14"
185/60/14 rolling diameter is 71.44
so a 0.09% difference, in other words hardly any change in rolling diameter. It all depends on the aspect number of the tire, a lower aspect number in a large wheel diameter tire can net a similar or even lower overall diameter.

Here's a site I use alot, two cool things on this site, his tire/wheel-o-rama which lets you graph two tire sizes against each other, and then his SU needle software lets you graph different carb needles against each other, they have both help me numerous times, give it a look and play around with it, it's pretty cool

www.mintylamb.co.uk

FWIW, we got our first 14x5.5 Retro 4 Spridget customer, and it a bad to the bone trick Bugeye, so we should have a model to look at in few weeks.

 

[Gundy]

I'm going with the black spokes. I currently run
185x55x15s (23 inch dia.) and a 185x60x14 (22.7 inch)is about 3/10ths of an inch smaller in diameter. My speedo is darn near spot on but like most of Mimi it isn't stock but I figure this small difference in size will not be far off. I'll GPS the thing once I get these bad boy rims/tires installed.
I'm going with the Done Lapped tires.

Hyped up sales pitch from Done Lapped:

The Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec is Dunlop's Extreme Performance Summer tire developed for serious sports car, sports coupe and performance sedan enthusiasts looking for race tire-like traction on the street or for use in autocross, drifting and track events. The Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec is for drivers who don’t want to wait as long for their tires to come in during initial runs, as well as drivers of lighter weight vehicles who are often confronted with the task of working tire temperatures up to the point of generating peak grip.

As an evolution of the Direzza Sport Z1 and continuing to use the same tread design, the Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec tread compound helps provide faster lap times from the start by developing more traction in temperate temperatures along with consistent grip on subsequent laps when the tires are fully warmed up. While this means the Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec tread compound accommodates a wider operating temperature range than the original Direzza Sport Z1 and reaches its maximum grip level faster, Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec summer tires are not intended to be driven through snow, on ice or in near-freezing temperatures.


The Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec tread compound is molded into a directional design featuring notched, continuous shoulder ribs, large intermediate shoulder blocks and a wide center rib to deliver consistent contact with the road and enhance grip during cornering.


Lynn(my wife) says Hap is a bad influence.

All a matter of perspective.

 

[Pythias]

CRAP! I loved the look of the wheel so much I already bought a set of 13's. .. Hopefully you'll still have some when these tires wear out and I can justify a new set of both....

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Bill, yeah I know you wanted the 14x5.5s and they were supposed to be on that order, Barry, the owner of the VTO is a busy guy with his "real" business, pool and spa parts, so getting him nailed down at times is difficult to say the least, but lately we've had more time to talk. Bottom line the 14x5.5 were forgotten on that order when the 13x5.5s came in, and then there were talks about the need for 14" wheel for the spridget, but nothing was settled on for sure, or so I thought, so no one was more shocked than me when the warehose manager, told me we had 14x5.5 for the Spridgets and Sprites coming in this order, Barry must have sneaked them on the order at the last minute and never told us, but nevertheless a pleasant surprise.

David those are some bad arse looking tires, who knows, you may be able to keep up with me now, thats providing of course I ever get my car ready, darn customers keep getting in the way I go into the shop today, Sunday, to work, and guess what, on customer's stuff, not my car. :frown:

 

[sqbsprite]

The Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec tread compound is molded into a directional design featuring notched, continuous shoulder ribs, large intermediate shoulder blocks and a wide center rib to deliver consistent contact with the road and enhance grip during cornering.

David
How do these compare to the BFGoodrich g-Force Sport or g-Force T/A KDW ? Both are pretty good.

 

[toysrrus]

Howdy Gents,

I`m just curious; What does "VTO" stand for?

Regards, Russ

 

[Gundy]

The Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec tread compound is molded into a directional design featuring notched, continuous shoulder ribs, large intermediate shoulder blocks and a wide center rib to deliver consistent contact with the road and enhance grip during cornering.

David
How do these compare to the BFGoodrich g-Force Sport or g-Force T/A KDW ? Both are pretty good.

I haven't the faintest clue. I just picked the Done Lapped
cause I like the tread and seemed they would suit my driving style.
We shall see when they get here and get installed.

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Howdy Gents,

I`m just curious; What does "VTO" stand for?

Regards, Russ

Russ, funny you ask that, We sold two brands of wheels in the beginning and one of them was for old Land Rovers, and the company that sold them to us was Vehicle Trail Overland (if I'm not mistaken), so Barry called his wheel company VTO Performacne, Performance wheels in Australia was the maker of the Superlite, so the company name somewhat explained what we sold. When we started making our own wheels we needed a brand name for them, and since the company was already called VTO Performance, and the term VTO kinda rolled off the tougue easy enough, it was decided we go with VTO for the brand name, so it had little to do with standing for anything, it was just easy to say and remember, which is the most important thing in brand names.

Branding is important part of getting people to recognize you. For example Moss or VB as far as know does not brand the KN Minitor in their sales approach, so it's a name alot of folks dont know or even remember, you just hear people often say, "the wheels Moss or VB sells", For example if I were Moss, I have the word Moss branded in the wheel. On the VTO product it was importatnt for us to let people looking at car with our set of wheels on them to instantly be able to tell what the brand name was, so they could go and easily search for that brand name. Alot of wheels companies do this by adding the company logo to the center cap, we do this as well, but you MG guys like to put MG logos on the center caps and even get MG logo valve stems, so we have VTO branded in the wheel it self and did so in very prominent way so people can easily pick up who's wheel it is, we not the first company to do this by any stretch, but it is very important to make it easy for folks to recognize you.

Good question Russ !

 

[Trevor Jessie]

So can we have a contest to come up with what it could stand for?

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Go for it, just dont get Nial to shut us down

 

[60bug]

Great looking wheels, too bad I just purchased a set of 13" wheels! the Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec is a great tire, Car and Driver does a head to head review of these tires against 9 other high performance summer tires and the Dunlops came out on top. We run them in our Audi quattro race car(24 hour of lemons car) and they work very well, even in the rain! Now to save up and buy a set of the 14" Retros!