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Minlite Wheels

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 10:57 am
by V8 burble
My original post, along with several others made on the same day, was accidentally deleted.

For the benefit of those planning to buy Minilite wheels in the future, please order 3 to 4 months before you actually need them. Many of these wheels are not “off-the-shelf” items and they are specially made, hence the delay.

http://www.minilite.co.uk/

Tel: 01952 620215

It is probably best to order via Andy or Malcolm at the Sunbeam Spares Company (see Tiger Links).

Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 9:53 am
by V8 burble
UPDATE

The wait goes on (almost 4 months now).
I spoke to Warren today who gave me a detailed explanation. He told me that the holding company, Specialist Car Products, took over Tech-Del/Minilite in November 2012. Tech-Del had gone bust for the umpteenth time and SCP is very slowly picking up the pieces. Tech-Del had contracts to supply wheels to well known car makers and these contracts included penalty clauses.
Naturally these orders had to be processed first ahead of those of private customers.
SCP also make Revolution wheels, so if you are looking for those instead, please also book early for Christmas!

Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 12:25 pm
by V8 burble
UPDATE-2

My Minilite wheels ordered via Sunbeam Spares finally arrived after waiting nearly 5 months.

FRONT
6 inch x 15 Minilite with Vredestein Sportrac5 (195/50 x 15)

REAR
7 inch x 15 Minilite with Vredestein Sportrac 5 (205/50 x 15)

As promised by Brian Postle, they fit perfectly under the standard wheel arches and there is no fouling.

I have to say that the Minilite wheels are of excellent quality.

My old wheels (Minilite copies) were full of cracks, all in exactly the same place, near the centre at the side of a spoke.

Please check your own wheels for cracks!!


It is very difficult to photograph the cracks, but I will be putting a big hammer through the wheels shortly anyway.

Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 8:45 pm
by Tomaselli
Vredestein are a great all round tyre, have them on my modern.

What offsets did you go with on the Minilites Godfrey?

I had Magnesium alloys on my Tiger when I first acquired it, was horrified to learn that Magnesium doesn't 'age' well and can shatter. Not funny on an alloy wheel. You doing well destroying the old ones :)

Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 9:26 pm
by V8 burble
Tomaselli,

Minilite will not divulge that information so I do not know what offsets are used.

All I do know is that they fit perfectly as promised by Brian P.

The only reason I did not cancel my Minilite order was because I did not want to order wheels from elsewhere and then find that the wheels/tyres fouled the standard wheel arches.

Perhaps somebody else can provide the offset details.

Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 9:40 pm
by Tomaselli
Godfrey,

If you could measure the offsets when you have a free moment that would be appreciated.

Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 10:16 pm
by V8 burble
Tomaselli,

I think that these are the details which Brian P supplied ages ago.

Front: 195/50 x 15 (6 inch with offset of ET13)

Rear: 205/50 x 15 (7 inch with offset of ET26)

Please double check with him first that this information is correct.

I do not want to be responsible for somebody ordering the wrong wheels based on incorrect offset information.

If the Minilite wheels are ordered via Andy or Malcolm at Sunbeam Spares then it can be guaranteed that the offsets will be correct for the standard Tiger wheel arches.

Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:37 pm
by Tomaselli
Thanks for that Godfrey, much appreciated.

Tony

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 11:27 am
by V8 burble
Avoid rear brake judder

Due to the dish (about 4mm) of the rear brake drums, I had to fit a thin spacer (6mm) in order to avoid the rear Minilites (mine are 7 x 15) binding on the brake drum and causing brake judder.
The 6mm spacers have a Ford 108 PCD.

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2016 10:30 pm
by pushrod
I've just purchased and fitted a set of genuine Minilite wheels 6x15 (195/5x15 tyre) front and 7x15 (205/50x15 tyre) rear as per the guidance in past forum posts. Wheels were supplied direct from Minilite for fitting to a Tiger.

Initially with driver and passenger, half full fuel tank and empty boot, the car performed well. However with a full tank of fuel and a heavy tool box in the boot to replicate luggage, the rears are rubbing on the wheel arch lips.

So it looks like I'll have to modify the rear wheel arch lips.

Any suggestions?

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 12:17 am
by tigertim
lou. I had to trim my arches to fit the 15" tyres 205-50-15 If you place some masking tape on the top outside edge of the tyre and get two hefty lads to sit in the boot and bounce. you will see where it touches and you can cut accordingly. It wont be much but the tiger does have quite a big return on the arch. :idea:

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 11:47 am
by Tomaselli
tigertim wrote:I had to trim my arches to fit the 15" tyres
Hi Tim, hope you got back OK from Portsmouth. Wasn't it painful getting off the boat!

When trimming your arches did you find you trimmed more from the Off Side?

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 2:09 pm
by tigertim
Tony. Great trip, need to do more of it. Got a pic of you and Roz coming off the ferry, I'll email it over. Got home 10am. Did you meet up with Brad, he wanted to look at my exhaust? when I fitted new springs I spent a long time trying to centralise the axle because it was tighter on the near side, but if the car has had new wings fitted in the past, that could make difference if there not fitted right. :D

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 3:51 pm
by Tomaselli
Missed out meeting Brad at LMC, but he tells me of another meet in France so that might be an opportunity for a get together :)

You learn something new with Tigers all the time, I only recently found out that a Tiger Axle is NOT central, but albeit only by a fraction. Something inherited with the Husky chassis body. As you say the rubbing on the tyres will be more profound on the N/S. Sure your rear wings are OK, mine is the same fully loaded. Panhard Rod under loading can have a similar impact, which as you know differs on MK1(a) to MK2

Solution for me Lou, is that I am changing my alloys shortly and they will be custom made for the offsets to take the axle positioning into account for me.

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 5:48 pm
by tigertim
My wings are ok, was just a passing comment someone made to me. We were well loaded in France even had a spare propshaft in boot. Redesigned me panard to take out angled stress. 8)