Wheel?

[ArkleyOkie]

I'm not shopping for wheels so this is more a theoretical question than anything else.
Other than Minilite and Panasport there isn't much in the way of wheels available with a 4x4" bolt pattern for the Spridget. There are the Vega, Monza wheels from the '70s - That's what I have - and that's about it. There doesn't seem to be any other aftermarket wheels out there. However, lots of small cars use a 100mm x 4 bolt pattern. The difference in diameter is just 1.6mm. The Question is, has anyone tried bolting up one of these 100mm x 4 wheels? I understand that most cars using these wheels are FWD, but lots of aftermarket wheels are available in different offsets. For someone looking for a wheel with a different look or width, this could be a help if it works. Here is a comparison of the 4" and 100mm bolt circles:

 

[bill_young]

Take a look at the "Donut Spare" thread for information about wheels that fit and why the 100mm wheels shouldn't be used. It's tough to find wheels for our cars that fit both in the lug pattern and also inside the wheel wells. Except for the minilite style most are out of production designs that are over 25 years old and getting hard to find. If you're lucky and persistant you can score a set of something nice that will fit, especially for your Arkley as you don't have the same rear wheel well restrictiions as a standard Spridget. Scout out the classified sections of the various racing groups like the SCCA, many of the cars still running have wheels that would work for you. If you have the money you can still get Revolution wheels out of England to fit.
It's kind of a "search for the holy grail" sort of thing, but once people find out you're looking it's surprising how many leads you'll get.
There is one new design wheel that's recently hit the market as well from Performance Superlite. Check with Acme Speed Shop for information. It resembles the MGB LE wheel except in 13" size.

 

[aeronca65t]

ArkleyOkie:

I wrote part of the response that Bill referred to.

It's *really* tempting to use the 4 X 100mm wheels.

I know. I've been tempted myself.

I have twelve 4 X 100 wheels for my other race car that will "sort of" fit my Spridget.

But the only time I'd use a 4 X 100 mm wheel on a Spridget is if it was a parts car being sent it to the junkyard.

The best thing is to buy the proper 4 X 4" pattern wheels.

But there is one other possibilty (and I'm working on it).

It has occurred to me that I could redrill the existing Sprite hubs so that slightly larger diameter lugs on the slightly smaller 4 X 100 pattern would fit. It really just involves scraping out the exisiting holes (to about 12mm) on a slightly different center. This would, of course, require a decent milling machine, dial indicators and so forth. I am sure it can be done on the front hubs. The rear hubs may not have enough "meat" on them for this....I'm not sure.
The side benefit would be that I'd have bigger 12mm studs (instead of the delicate 3/8" Sprite studs) as well as the more common bolt pattern.

I will be doing some some experiments on this over the next few months.

 

[Dadandson]

Without setting the wheels up in a mill and machining them to a 4" spread, 100MM will not fit. I machined a set and made offset washers to get wheels from a Ford to fit my Midget. I did not want to change the original stock parts of the car. See my Avatar

 

[bill_young]

Not a bad idea, you should have plenty of meat in the rear hubs, I opened mine up to use a 7/16" stud and it wasn't any problem at all, plenty of space left to the outside of the hub. The only downside was some interference with the rear brake clyinders, but a slight bit of grinding on the stud head solved that. You should be able to go at least .050 off center without any problem.

 

[Golden_Swan]

I had a friend who used Opel wheels (4x100) on his racing Fiat (4x98) but used flat washers under flat 12x1 wheel bolts instead of the conical lug nuts, and a 1mm radial spacer between the center wheel hole and the hub center (because it happened to fit). It did work, and was centered, but I don't think it would pass state inspection.

 

[aeronca65t]

....The only downside was some interference with the rear brake clyinders, but a slight bit of grinding on the stud head solved that. You should be able to go at least .050 off center without any problem....

Yeah, the brake cylinders are exactly what I'm looking at (in terms of interference).

The other part of this is that I may make my own double-bearing rear hubs at the same time.
My Spridget already has a set of double-bearing hubs....this is for the A35.

 

[ArkleyOkie]

ArkleyOkie:

It's *really* tempting to use the 4 X 100mm wheels...

It has occurred to me that I could redrill the existing Sprite hubs so that slightly larger diameter lugs on the slightly smaller 4 X 100 pattern would fit. It really just involves scraping out the exisiting holes (to about 12mm) on a slightly different center. This would, of course, require a decent milling machine, dial indicators and so forth. I am sure it can be done on the front hubs. The rear hubs may not have enough "meat" on them for this....I'm not sure.
The side benefit would be that I'd have bigger 12mm studs (instead of the delicate 3/8" Sprite studs) as well as the more common bolt pattern.

I will be doing some some experiments on this over the next few months.

As I mentioned, This was just a theoretical question. I'm happy with the Vega wheels I've been using.
However, a decent machine shop should be able to fit the larger studs on the minimally smaller circle, making for lots more wheel choices for those looking for something different.

 

[Hap Waldrop]

For you guys looking for something alittle differnt in a whelel to go on your Sprites and Midget, I've got a new wheel i offereing made by the same company that makes Superlite, the wheel looks alot like the OEM wheel that were made for the MGB limited editions, and the Triumph Stags, but never fffered for the Spridget, so it's a new offering for these cars, here's a picture of it, we have for the Spridgets in 13x5.5, in the same backspacing as the Superlite, and the same price.