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New guy with a Midget

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mrstinson

mrstinson

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I have just purchased my first British car, 1971 MG Midget. It is a small project car becuase it's running and only needs light body work. I would like to put on wire wheels. I have found conversion hubs that bolt on. Has anyone used them and if so, do they push the tires out of the wheel wells and make the car look funny?

The Midget I bought is red currently, but I would like to change it to the MG orange. Does anyone know the formula for the orange MG used?
 
Greetings,
Since wire hubs and axles are cheap and plentiful, I might avoid the bolt on adaptors, but I do not know of anyone with direct experience. You should be able to go to most any autopaint store and have them look up the BMC color code. But you can cross reference with internet sites such as:
https://www.teglerizer.com/mgcolors/

Lastly, are you by any chance related to Keith Stinson the pharmacist?
 
Welcome!
I have not seen the adapters you speak of either.
Wire wheels are always a matter of taste and I won't try to influence you if you are really set on them. I think they look really great in the larger diameters (like on an MG-TC).
But....have you though of some nice bolt-on,alloy wheels? Panasports look great in a very classic way and they are much simpler and cheaper to deal with than wire wheels. Wire wheels should be "trued" on a regular basis and they can be fussy to balance. Finally, it can be tough to find someone to mount tires on them. I'm about to mount tires on my brother's Midget (with wire wheels). We'll do it manually (with a bead breaker and tire irons). Not my favorite task.
G'luck whatever you decide.
 
I have a couple of sets of the bolt on adapters. They will space the wheels out about 1/2" or so on each side, so tire rub on the inside of the rear fender lip becomes a problem at any tire size above stock. The real wire wheel rear ends are 1" narrower than their steel wheel counterpart. The two sets I have are in storage, where, in my estimation, they belong.
Jeff
 
Thanks for the input on the wire wheels. I did not know the difficulties that are associated with wire. I will definitely consider the options.

About the only thing I am set on is painting the car orange, other than that I am open to suggestions and other experience/expertise.
 
I have a Sprite and a Triumph TR4. Both have wire wheels (mounted with adapters). I don't know what the actual increase in track width the adapters create is, but I don't think it's noticeable.

Everything mentioned previously about wire wheels is true; however, I've never had any problems with mine (though I don't really drive either car hard). I personally think they look great, and the knock-offs make it a breeze to remove the wheels.

My advice would be that if you intend the car to be a weekend (or less frequent) driver and like the look, go for the wire wheels. Did I mention that they look great? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Welcome!
I think they look really great in the larger diameters (like on an MG-TC).


[/ QUOTE ]

Will the Midget handle a larger wheel size with a low profile tire? If so what is the largest you can go with a 14 or 15?

I am just thinking aloud based on some informaion I read, but as you probably know reading is far from doing. I would love any input you or anyone else has.
 
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