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Wheels

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DylanDale

Freshman Member
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I know you guys will probably say I f'ed it up, but I got wheels for my '69 Sprite. I have the original AH hubed wheels, but they are old and messed up, so new wheels are needed. Personally, I feel that the replacement one from Moss and other companies, those Minilights are ugly and over used. So I chose these,
bmw_wheel_053.jpg

I know they are BMW, but I am going to change the hub emblem to a Stainless or silver hub emblem with the original AH hub print on it. What do ya think??
 
They look modern, which to some is cool. Amazing that you could find the BMW wheels in the 4" lug pattern? Hope the offset and the dia. will fit. I note that these are 5 lug wheels and all Midgets and Sprites are 4.
Scott in CA
 
Some BMW 4 bolt wheels are 4 X 100 mm.

This is close to the Sprite 4 X 4" pattern.

.....they will "fit" (sort of) but are NOT SAFE to use.

Be sure whatever wheel you use fits the bolt pattern <span style="text-decoration: underline">exactly</span>.
 
Wrong bolt pattern, 4 x 100mm is close, but will not work, wheels center on the taper in the lug bore, while the difference is only about .070" between the two bolt patterns, not centered is still not centered.
 
With a center offset of 0.07 inch, the static out of balance can be more than 100 grams, not to mention the out-of-round while rolling, but the most unsafe part is the bending of the mounting bolts, at a very short radius. This will increase the stress on the bolts by more than 10 times. All these together, catastrophe waiting to happen.

Otherwise, modern wheels could look quite good on a Sprite. I have these which don't look a whole lot different.

partspic.jpg
 
I am having the hub either drilled for the 5x120 bolt pattern on these wheels or going to have new ones made to fit these wheels. The offset should not be a problem either, though I will be checking. The BMW wheels are a 42mm offset where the AH wheels are a 20mm offset...
 
You'll have to go with new hubs for that bolt pattern, not enough material for that bolt pattern on the original, new hubs won't be cheap, I had hubs made before for the race cars..
 
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