• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

VTO Retro 4 vs VTO Classic 8

Share this page

M_Pied_Lourd said:
Hap,

Can you post some pics of your street car please when you have the rims installed.

Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd
Click to expand...

Will do, I should have them in a couple of weeks.

Stuart, darker grey is not a paint option for us on the VTO product right now, the paint room at the manufactuer is set up to do a few different colors, and we have to choose from that, due to the enormous task of changing out a paint assembly line. However, one can paint the center of the wheels whatever color they want, we done this on the race cars for years, just use a good quality wet paint, like you would use to paint your car's body with. We even had guys sent the wheel to chorme shop for them for chorming so customizing is something one can do for a original look.
 
Just for fun, I did a super quick photoshop mockup of the silver Rev4s on my TR.
 

Attachments

  • 23820.jpg
    23820.jpg
    77.2 KB · Views: 881
Hap-I get confused between VTO & Superlite.......I would say I am the only knucklehead that would want 13x8 and maybe more others would do a 13x7. Will you be making a 15x8 in the classic 8s? What other sizes do you have?
 
Hap,
Thanks for the reply. Here is a picture of my TR6 with American Racing LeMans wheels...very similar to the Retro 4

IMG_0249.jpg

Stuart
 
WedgeWorks said:
Hap-I get confused between VTO & Superlite.......I would say I am the only knucklehead that would want 13x8 and maybe more others would do a 13x7. Will you be making a 15x8 in the classic 8s? What other sizes do you have?
Click to expand...

Hey Bub, wait in line
 
Come on Don! Im just trying to get some sneaker to fill my wide arches! My rules tell me I can use any diameter and width now so 15x8 sounds really nice!
 
Well , I've been on him for almost a year for that size so wait you your turn :jester:
 
I think 15x8 is slated, but I not sure when it will be made, VTO is having sizes made in a pecking order based on past sales of Superlites, so 15x8 is down the list a bit. I know 16x7 and 16x8 are what are being worked on now. Also, I have a wheel that might intrest some of you, 15x7 in both the Retro 4 and Classic 8, it's a 0 offset, meaning 3.5" of back spacing, so a inch wider than the 15x6 3.58" backsapcing, with the same basic offset of the 15x6, so that would move the rim and tire 1" outboard, could that wheel work on a TR4 or TR6, if so, we have those in blanks in both Retro 4 and Class 8, so we can CNC drill them in most any bolt pattern and the 4x4.5 bolt pattern of these car would work fine (but not 4x 3/4").

We also have some 15x6 +24mm now drilled in 4x 3/4" (Spitfire,GT6,TR7/8) in Classic 8s, we did this before but always had to drill them, we now have them predrilled. The trick with these cars with the 4x 3/4" bolt pattern is they all have to be made with wheels with 2.5" center bores, and most larger wheel, 15" and up are noramlly 3.0" bore, on a 3.0 bore wheel (what all the 15x7 wheels are) there's not enough material ther to drill the close, narrow 4x 3/4" bolt pattern, so this make big wheels and this bolt pattern even more of a challenge.
 
I have wires on my 4A and they will be replaced with new wires one of these days. The Classic 8 would be my choice if I changed. To me the Retro 4 looks like it belongs on an American car.
 
I would vote for the Retro 4, it looks like the AR Libre that G44 used on their Spit & GT6 racers. But I'm planning to use the set of AR Spectors I found a few years ago. :cheers:
 
The Retro 4 with the as cast center is my choice. They look like the Libre wheels I wish I could afford back in 1973 when my 71 TR6 was my primary mode of transportation. I also liked the old Libres on a Datsun 510, and a 240Z. I think all of the Libres and Lemans wheels were much narrower than the wheels being offered by Hap.

I have a set of 6” Minators on my 75 TR6. Depending on finances and fit they may end up on my TVR and a set of Retro 4's on the TR6.

As for Vegas. GM recognized a good looking wheel so they made an approximate copy in steel. They looked good for the car and the time. Considering how many Triumph owners are relatively new to the marque and don't know what is original and what is not. I can imagine someone saying their 4 spoke wheels came from a Vega.

I think the 8 spoke wheels that were so popular on VWs were made by Empi. I think they favored the Silverstones more than the Minilites. They may still be in production.

For some reason the picture of the Cosmic wheel will not display on my browser. Could someone repost the picture. I’m curious about the name of the wheels that came on my TVR. At one time many years ago there was an article about the Lotus 7 running a lotus Twin cam engine. The comment that sticks with me is the power to weight ratio of that 7 was near to what an F1 car had 10 years or so earlier. The 7 had the same wheels as my TVR. I think they said they were made by Goodyear which doesn’t make sense.

This is the wheel

Oh well as usual I can't seem to post a picture?

Thanks,
BOBH
 
I run Empi 8 spokes on my TR4A (which I like). But if I were to replace, I'd choose the Retro 4's.
 
So how about the 15x7 0 offset size, think you TR4 and TR6 guys can stand another inch of width to the outside on those cars, if so, a 15x7 option is available right now, and this would help us with feedback on the 16x 7 and 16 x8 wheels in the works rigt now. Of course you guys telling us what style you like is helpful as well, this help us fiquire out popualrity and when certian item should be made in the pecking order, we got know more than just few guys will buy a certain size before the big checks get written :smile:

Don, I will tell you this as for the Spit/GT6/TR7/ fitment as wheels get larger it make more sense to have a 3" center bore, and all this has to decided upon for a production run of a minimum of 100 wheels, the 3" center bore is what works on most car with a 104mm or larger bolt pattern, but a 3" center bore done not leave enough material to get down to the narrower 4x3/4" bolt pattern, so that becomes a issue with making a larger wheel for the smaller bolt patterns, most applications do not need thatm but the samll bolt pattern crowd does, and thats a pretty samll bunch of folks . Right now VTO is making all wheels with 104 or larger bolt patterns with the 3' center bore, with the excpetion of some 15x6 drilled in the samll 2.5" center bore. Just so you know, the larger sizes and width could not be made with the smaller cneter bore and even if they are they will way down the pecking order, this is stuff I just found out, and while it makes perfect business sense based on the majority of sales, it might make for slimmer choice for the 4x4 3/4" bolt pattern group.
 
Another one. Here is a JA Pierce wheel for the TR. Don't see many of these around though. Think they were magnesium.
 

Attachments

  • 23881.jpg
    23881.jpg
    34.8 KB · Views: 665
PeterK said:
Another one. Here is a JA Pierce wheel for the TR. Don't see many of these around though. Think they were magnesium.
Click to expand...

Isn't that what Geo put on his TR4?
 
Hap Waldrop said:
So how about the 15x7 0 offset size, think you TR4 and TR6 guys can stand another inch of width to the outside on those cars, if so, a 15x7 option is available right now, and this would help us with feedback on the 16x 7 and 16 x8 wheels in the works rigt now. Of course you guys telling us what style you like is helpful as well, this help us fiquire out popualrity and when certian item should be made in the pecking order, we got know more than just few guys will buy a certain size before the big checks get written :smile:
Click to expand...

15x7 will definitely hang way outside of a TR4, I think your 15x6 sat pretty flush with the bodywork. And I'll continue to beat the sole drum for 15x5.5 as is very popularly sold in the UK all the time...
 
I've got a set of Shelby Viper rims I'm planning to put on my
MK III GT6 that look very much like the retro 4 and Libre. Most of my wheels however, do not have a center cap. Can anyone direct me to a source for a center cap for this wheel?


hym
 
Back
Top