Widened early rims

[bernd_st]

I always felt tempted to try it one day with the rusty & dirty old original early wheels of my S1 sitting in a corner of my garage. Found a capable workshop not very far so I am now pleased to share the result here. Yes, they can be widened to 6". Next step would be to paint them in car colour and put them back on my car - of course with the proper early chrome hub caps...

 

[venice532]

Hi Bernd, it looks like they did a very nice job on your wheels, they are going to look great on your car.

My understanding is that guys from the CAT club widened steel wheels back in the 70's so beefier autocross and racing tires could be used.
After a while the use of steel wheels in the autocross was banned so that ended that.
I bought a tiger with spare parts a few years ago and included were two 7" wide steel wheels and two 8" wheels.
One of these days I'm going to look into what tires are available and maybe put them on a car.
It would be an interesting look but maybe not that practical.
regards
Bob J.

 

[jumpinjan]

I widened my Alpine SI wheels...Oh, about 50 years ago. I used Corvair wheels, and a machine shop cut out the centers on his lathe.
Jan

 

[bernd_st]

Of course the method itself is quite old but this actual technology 6" x 13 outer rims allows the use of tubeless tires which I was looking for. Not to talk about certain markings which makes it easier to get them road legal over here...

 

[alpine_64]

Bernd,

Just a reminder.. After you finish painting sand the face of the stud holes where the tappered nuts mate so that there is sufficient purchase otherwise there can be movement that leads to ovaling the holes, or worse stud failure

 

[alpine_64]

My understanding is that guys from the CAT club widened steel wheels back in the 70's so beefier autocross and racing tires could be used.
After a while the use of steel wheels in the autocross was banned so that ended that.
I bought a tiger with spare parts a few years ago and included were two 7" wide steel wheels and two 8" wheels.
One of these days I'm going to look into what tires are available and maybe put them on a car.
It would be an interesting look but maybe not that practical.
regards
Bob J.

Bob... I assume they used the later wheels with the small strengthening rib near the studs. Did they also weld reinforce the stud area?

The factory wheels were even in period advised to not be used in competition as they had a habbit of pulling the centres out... And that was with relatively narrow 60s tyres.

With wide sticky rubber the stud area would sure get a workout.

 

[puff4]

When I raced my Elva Courier on stock rims I did indeed rip the centers out on the rear wheels. Being a young man on a tight budget, I couldn’t afford fancy mag wheels, so I bought some trailer wheels (which are much thicker than passenger car wheels) that fit the bolt pattern. They worked great. Never broke another wheel.

 

[bernd_st]

Bernd,

Just a reminder.. After you finish painting sand the face of the stud holes where the tappered nuts mate so that there is sufficient purchase otherwise there can be movement that leads to ovaling the holes, or worse stud failure/QUOTE]

Quite aware about that. What I usually do is to tighten them fully down then loosing the nuts and wire brush the tapers with a small conical brass brush...

 

[venice532]

I may have a couple of early experiments in steel wheel widening.
The silver wheel is a later model stock wheel that is 5 1/2" wide out to out.
The black one is 6 1/2" wide. It's a stock center welded to a wider non sunbeam rim.
The third is an early stock wheel with a hoop welded in the center and it's 7 1/2" wide.
No reinforcement of the the center section, these might be pre-failure models.
Bob

 

[bernd_st]

Cool collection. Thanks for the pics.

Looks like how it was done up until the late eighties. Especially the outer rim stretch with a welded in steel band...

My workshop used brand new 13" VW Golf ( or Rabbit as you call them) steel wheels and cutted out / swapped the centres. That's why the rims have the humps to run tubeless tires. Trial fitted them on the rear of my Harrington LeMans project and they do fit excellently. Anyway need to see how they turn out on my S1 . If I just can find my early hubcaps . Hmm, I know that they must be somewhere sincecthey came with my car 30 years before ;-)