14" wire wheels

[GTolbert]

Safety first. It was either a TR4 or an mga my uncle was driving with stock wheels when one of his wheels passed him. Scary times indeed. I’ve been driving this car at least quarterly or more often since 2012 2+ hour long and short trips. Always had to beat the spinners off and when checking tightness they always are. Thankful for every mile.

 

[alpine_64]

I'm . I don't know what that is. I have never found it online. I have never heard anyone cite to it.

Jay,

Contact MWS in the UK. They sell hubs and wires for alpine to original spec.. and also 14 and 15" wire wheels for them. Maybe they have a longer hub for the large dia wheels?

Either way they will know the safe amount of turns ..

Or .. ask Dayton wheels... They are a USA supplier and given the litigious nature of the states... They would have a cautious approach.

 

[Knightowl61]

I'm going to say my part again. I very much wanted to put on larger wheels - larger because more tire availability, larger because that was Howes' original design, and larger because I think they are cool. However, as much as I might pretend to be one, I am not a mechanical engineer. Car design goes through a lot of safety checks. Somewhere, somehow, someone has engineered what the correct margin of safety is for that one single nut holding on the wheel. I don't know what that is. I have never found it online. I have never heard anyone cite to it.

Instead, I have heard at least two people state that they themselves have had catastrophic failure of their spinner when putting 14" wheels on an Alpine (including on this thread). And I haven't heard of those failures for people with 13" wheels.

And I have shown to myself how there is an observable difference between the threads.

So despite my strong desire to go 14", I decided I personally am not going to take the risk. As Clint Eastwood said: how lucky do you feel?

You can get 13" oversize tires that are reasonably priced like Milestar MS775 Touring SLE thin whitewall Overall Diameter 24"

 

[Jay Laifman]

Jay,

Contact MWS in the UK. They sell hubs and wires for alpine to original spec.. and also 14 and 15" wire wheels for them. Maybe they have a longer hub for the large dia wheels?

Either way they will know the safe amount of turns ..

Or .. ask Dayton wheels... They are a USA supplier and given the litigious nature of the states... They would have a cautious approach.

Yes, I did, and wrote about it above. They have two different voices. One voice has sold MG wheels for Alpines, one voice where they say they do not recommend it. I guess it depends on who you talk to. The guy I spoke with was the camp that says it's a bad idea. He specifically said that they will put the Alpine hub on a 14" rim. But it was $500 each. Again, I'm left with no solid support for dropping 1/3 off of the threads - and multiple people who have reported failure.

 

[Mike Broome]

It has been an interesting thread, with lots of good questions. The question of fitting 14 inch W/Wheels comes up on a regular basis.
The facts are quite clear. MGB 14 inch wheels from MWS fit the Alpine, either the 60 spoke or the 72 spoke wheel fit. Experience including mine tells us that the number of threads on the hub is not a problem in use. Even with my 140 bhp engine I had no issues, and that includes competing in Hillclimbs and Sprints over many years. However the answer to the thread length concern is simple. Get MWS to produce you a new set of Alpine hubs with the necessary extra length for the MGB wheels. It does not make any sense to fit new wheels on to what must be worn hubs. A far better engineering solution is to go for new Hubs and Wheels. Any concern on thread length is then eliminated. I would also buy a new set of Hub nuts as they are not a lot of money. Problem/concern solved, and they look great.

 

[Richard Fritz]

Twenty years ago or so, I had Dayton Wire Wheels make a full set of 14" stainless steel, 72-spoke, wire wheels on Sunbeam Alpine hubs. I fitted them with 185/70-14 tires and they looked great. As I recall, they were under $300/wheel, which didn't seem to be out of line for custom wheels at the time. I stayed away from the MGB wheels because of the wider hub.