Another wheel thread

[Jeffrey.Sweeney]

So I am going to go with a slightly taller wire wheel for the Alpine. 14 x 4.5 or 14 x 5.5 from MWS (leaning towards the 4.5 version). My plan is to replace the hubs with something a bit deeper so allow me to safely install the new wheels. They are recommending the RSK 194 and 195 because the existing hubs would be too short to safely put on the wider wheel. At the same time I would do Darn's rear brake modification and do away with the drum setup as that seems like a reasonable time to do it.

My questions are:

1. Is this a reasonable approach, am I missing something?
2. Is there anything else I should consider while having the wheel assembly apart? I know I need to verify the new wheels will be able to safely turn fully left to right etc. I've read somewhere that the 14 inch wheel isn't a problem, the 15 inch wheels are where things get a little problematic.

Please feel free to throw any gotcha's, ideas, thoughts, comments, criticism (if nicely presented). And thank you in advance,

Jeff

 

[Barry]

Reasonable depends on who you ask, so ....

A 14 x 4.5 wheel limits the usable tire cross section width. In simple terms, the correct tire cross section width for a 4.5" rim width would be 155 mm or 165 mm and the maximum cross section width (per the tire manufacturers) would be 175 mm (maybe 185 mm with some tires). If you intend to use narrow tires, then also using narrow wheels is reasonable and makes it easier to keep the outside of the wheels and tires under the front fenders of a Series Alpine. A 14 x 5.5 wheel would be technically usable with tire cross section widths ranging from 165 mm to 205 mm.

I recommend that you choose the wheel width based on your desired tire section width. If you intend to use 155 mm section width tires, a 4.0" or 4.5" rim width makes the most sense. If you intend to use 175 mm section width tires, a 5.0" rim width makes the most sense. If you intend to use 195 mm section width tires, a 5.5" or 6.0" rim width makes the most sense. Obviously, there is some overlap.

Wheel diameter does not limit safely turning fully right / left. Excessive tire diameter and / or width, especially if combined with the wrong wheel offset, can result in interference with the outer "corners" of the front valence, but that can be easily corrected by trimming the valence as necessary.