Wheel types

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derek lloyd
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Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:49 pm
Location: Wales

Wheel types

Post by derek lloyd » Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:31 pm

DID TIGERS EVER SPORT WIRE WHEELS? If not why not? :?:

Tomaselli
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Post by Tomaselli » Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:09 pm

Wires were never considered a suitable option, the power and the torque would just simply destroy the wires, saying that I'm sure with modern materials it would be possible....but at a price I'm sure :shock:

michael-king
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Post by michael-king » Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:55 am

The test Tigers using the alpine wires shredded the spokes.. that said, alpine wires are not strong and not overly endowed with spokes. A set of tripple lace wires woudl be fine, as would 72 spoke wheels or stainless spoked wheels. Boranis are a VERY expensive option, but aston martin/AG XKE uprated spec wires would work.. but you have to make splined hubs to fit the tiger.

There is a MKII in germany i have seen on the net sporting what looks to be 1415" knock ons
Michael King
63 Alpine SII - 65 Alpine SIVGT
65 Tiger MKI - 66 Tiger MKIA
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gvickery
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Wheel Types

Post by gvickery » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:49 pm

Derek.

As said before wire wheels plus knock ons were never offerred as a factory option since the 13" Alpine wheel simply shredded its spokes. If you go to www.sunbeamtiger.co.uk/pictures/scans/B9470010_AF.jpg you will see one of the 'AF' development cars at Jensen sporting wire wheels.

This shot was taken around April/May '64 and shows one of the 'AF' SIV Alpine GT's after being built up as a Tiger by Jensen Motors but still on the wire wheels as delivered by Rootes to Jensen. (interesting to see the bumpers still covered in protective delivery wrappings) I acquired B9470010 (the last MK1 'AF' Tiger) in 1993 and it came with one of these wire wheels together with a set of splined hubs. There are no road test reports by Don Tarbun's Project Engineering team (yet found) describing wire wheel testing but one of them is reported to have said that even mild drop clutch starts could snap a couple spokes.

Custom wires of 72 + spokes in 14" & 15" sizes that will take the power can be obtained from specialists but a cost of 4 times a Minilite!

STOC Editor

P.S. It is possible this shot was wanted for styling studio purposes - the car stands too high suggesting no motor installed and there are no signs of exhaust pipes!!

pitman
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Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2013 10:29 am

Post by pitman » Thu Oct 17, 2013 2:55 am

Has anybody had experience with / thoughts on Dayton direct bolt wire wheels? I'm looking at getting them in 15/6 and 15/7, 72 stainless spokes, bead lace (bead lace is what I *think* the development car has in gvickery's photo above, which is perty).

http://www.daytonwirewheels.com/pdf/cat ... ume_92.pdf
(page 15)

$500 range seems like a good deal (Turinos with splines are on the order of $1300 each!). Then either Vredestein Sportrac 5s or Dunlop Sport BlueResponses, unless someone can point me to a reasonable sports tire with whitewalls.

Any thoughts or issues you think I've missed, given the apprehension for wires by some as per above?

le tigre
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Post by le tigre » Sun Oct 20, 2013 10:22 am

I have 72 spoke 15" 5.5J wires on my Healey which has a 325BHP 289 V8. Absolutely no problems on hillclimbs etc. The only thing I would say is that they are a b+++er to balance properly. I much prefer the Minilites on my Tiger. I think if you went to 7" wires the extra grip might be too much for the wires. I have Avon ZZ's which are excellent and look quite period but are also quite sticky.

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