bugeye wheels

[wrenchinhand]

Is anyone using 14" wheels on their sprite? If so what size tires? I'm thinking of 14" with a low profile. I don't want them to rub but if I can keep the height the same as the 13s will it work?

 

[Matthew E. Herd]

I have a similar question about wheels for my square rear wheel arched midget. I tried my 14X6.5 BMW wheels on the car, but the offset is really far to the outside of the wheel. With a spacer, I think it might fit the square rear wheel arches, and it was fine in the front, except at full lock, the tires just rubbed. Does anyone have any info about wider wheels and tires for spridgets? I'm thinking about 13X6's, but not sure they'll fit, and at what offset.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

I do not know the answer to either question. I do know that I have seen 14" wire wheels on spridgets, but I have no idea what was required for the conversion. I have also heard of "W" shape rear leaf springs that provide extra clearance for wider rear tires. Unfortunately, I do not have a link for either of these.

HTH

 

[aeronca65t]

A goood source of wheels is Pete Paulsen. 13X6 or 13X7 are roughly $35 to $40 (USD) each before shippping. He can build any offest needed. I've been happy with their service. You may need to switch to 1/2" lugs....ask them.
Link:

https://www.petepaulsen.com/Catalogofwheels/CircleTrack/Circle%20Track%20Wheels.htm

Another source is the old Chevy Vega wheels (and similar American GM variants). These wheels have the correct 4 inch bolt circle and rear wheel drive offset. They're heavy but cheap in junkyards. Again, you really should have the 1/2" lugs with these (though I've run them with the stock lugs myself, at times).

Be *very* careful with using Metric wheels that have a 100 mm bolt pattern. It's close to 4", but I would not use these. The BMW cited above may have this 100 mm size and lots of Asian cars do also.I've seen folks run these instead of the 4" pattern but really don't fit *exactly* correct in my view (they are "off" by 1.6 mm).

It's real tough to fit wider wheels on a square arch car (on the other hand, Bugeyes are pretty easy, as long as you don't go crazy on offset). Even with stock Rostyle wheels and 175-60 Kumhos, I was rubbing my square-arch car until I changed the panhard rod. The offset ("W"-shape) springs can help, but they cost the earth and you'll still have fender problems. Eventually, I converted my car to RWA (after a crash at Watkins Glen killed one fender anyway).
Unless you've got a lot of time and money, I'd stick with the standard wheels and use nice tires. I was very happy with the Sumitomo 175-50 / 13 tires I got from Tire Rack. Kinda hard but a good street tire.
I saw one Bugeye with larger (14") wheeels....not my taste.

 

[Bugeye58]

Nial, aren't 1/2" studs a bit of overkill? I'm running the 7/16" on both of the race cars, and that should be plenty. It doesn't seem as though there would be enough meat on the hubs to support 1/2" studs. The 7/16" I run come from ARP, and are the same size as GM ran on their pickups, before they switched to metric.
Jeff

 

[Matthew E. Herd]

175/50 13 sounds about my speed ... the low aspect ratio would be great. However, the problem is, too, that two of my existing wheels are bent. I bought two junkyard wheels, but they're really not much better. At around 60 mph, i get a decent shimmy. When one of the wheels was on the front, it was MUCH worse, let me tell you!

 

[Trevor Jessie]

A 175 tire seems a bit wide for a 4.5" stock rim. I guess a 50 ratio would keep you from having too much "roll". But that makes for a pretty limited top speed. I've only run 165/70 on stock rostyles, so I can't contribute much other than I'm happy with their performance. They are a pretty tall tire (about the same as the originals) put the extra width gives a bit more grip and looks nicer without being "out of place"

 

[Matthew E. Herd]

I'm not sure what the other wheel widths are, but the rostyles are 5" wide, and I presently have (from when I got the car) brand new (actually at least 5 years old, but the tread is new) 165/70 13's. They're not bad, and actually, due to the natual abilities of the car, make for fantastic handling, but I'm still looking for a more competitive wheel and tire for the auto-crossing and hill climbing i want to do, without making full race modifications so its still streetable. Nial referred to a vehicle he saw at the Hershey Hill Climb last year. Apparently the owner beat the crap out of it, then drove it home ... more or less what I'm looking for, but I'm a little more tender!

 

[aeronca65t]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Bugeye58:
Nial, aren't 1/2" studs a bit of overkill? I'm running the 7/16" on both of the race cars, and that should be plenty. <hr></blockquote>

Yeah, I mispoke: 7/16" should be fine (or the "close" metric size studs).

Trevor: You're right about the increased RPM with 175/50-size tires. I took a 7 hour (each way) trip in it several years ago and nearly went deaf! Great off the line, though! They seem to work well on the stock Rostyle wheels (and I should say that I've seen lots of "wobbley" Rostyle wheels that have been hard to balance....poor quality control on these wheels!).

[ 03-17-2004: Message edited by: aeronca65t ]</p>

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Hmm, what type rostyle rims do you have? I thought they were all 4.5 inches. I have the early style and they are definitely 4.5 inches. I think the wires are 4 inches, and the early steel wheels 3.5 inches. Anyway, are you looking for a cheap solution to bolt on during events, or something that looks nice and serves multiple purposes?

 

[Matthew E. Herd]

All I know is they're for a '76, and measuring has shown they are 5" ... I can't really say if there are different types.

 

[Matthew E. Herd]

Also, to answer your question (I was a bit hurried before), these are intended as an eventual replacement to my perfectly good street tires. Although I'd like to maintain the rolling diameter, I'd also like to get a grippier tire. The intent was to find some lower aspect ratio tires for less roll, as I've discovered that my (slightly underinflated) tires had excellent grip, except that they rolled over as I made a 90 degree right hand turn at about 30 mph. The effect was rather unsettling as I went right, then felt the tires roll, then continued right. Fun though!

I expect a lower profile will cure this problem (obviously a higher pressure helps too).

 

[2091351]

Bridgestone Potenza RE92 165/65 HR13's fit and are not too expensive. Try TireRack.com to buy them.

Steve

 

[Matthew E. Herd]

Thanks!