14" wire wheels

[Jay Laifman]

Due to the troubles in finding the right tires, I'm now thinking about the 14" wire wheel option. Here are my thoughts/questions, if anyone knows:

1. I've long understood that the 14" MGB wire wheel hub is longer than the Alpine hub. So the spinner doesn't get a lot of threads when tightened down. And the angle of the back of the MG wheel is different than the angle on the hub. So it is not a nice flat match. I do recall people on this board saying that's ok, and they do it. I'm still nervous about it.
2. Is it remotely possible to lace MGB rims to an Alpine/Spitfire hub? And if remotely possible, is it too expensive to bother?
3. Would the MGB rim laced to an Alpine/Spitfire hub put the rim in a bad spot from an offset point of view?
4. Is there even 14" tires for the MGB wheel that would give a nice "stock" look, and not need to be oddly low profile?
5. Anyone have pictures of MGB 14" wires on an Alpine? Does it look nice or silly?

And yes, I know there is the minilite knock off option. Love it on some cars (like John's). But it's not the look I want.

 

[RootesRooter]

Didn't Vic Brit used to sell 14" chrome wires that fit Alpines?

 

[Jay Laifman]

I asked Rick about it. He thinks those were bolt ons. But he wasn't sure.

FYI, I've seen that Midget/Sprite wires are 4" wide and Spitfire wires are 4.5" wide, but both use the same center hub.

And I just measured mine at 4". I thought all this time I had 4.5. Guess I was wrong. I'm also seeing online people say that the hub for the Spitfire was wider than the Midget hub. So I'm going to assume that the Midget is the correct wheel, and that the smaller hub too.

But I do see that the SV WSM says that the SV had 4.5" wide wheels - steel or wires. So I'm a bit confused as to what would or should be there.

 

[Jay Laifman]

I cross posted this on an MG site. Here is what someone said:

I looked into MGB wheels on a Spridget, besides the thread engagement issue, should work on a RWA car but will be a very tight fit on a SWA car. I went with Triumph TR4(15x4.5) wheels on my 63 Sprite. After speaking to someone at MWS wheels I was assured that they use the same center as the Spridget wheel and being only 4.5" wide they fit pretty well. If the car was a original wire wheel car with the narrower axle housing fit will not be a problem, my car has the wider disc wheel housing(converted to wire wheels by previous owner) and the fit was tight but after a bit of massaging on the outer wheel housing and slight trim on the front fenders fits my lowered car w/o rubbing.

PS. Even though MWS assured me they use the same centers on the TR4 wheels as the Spridget wheels, the centers were definitely deeper than the original wire wheels that were on the car and had less thread engagement but after over 1000 miles of driving have had no issues and haven't needed to retighten(but I do carry my mallet and check at each fuel up).​

This is Jay again:
I'm not sure I'd like 15" wheels and that low of profile rubber on our Alpines. 14" maybe. But 15" seems a bit odd.

 

[Jay Laifman]

Has anyone compared the underlying MGB hub to the Alpine? Any chance there is a relatively easy way to simply put MGB hubs on Alpines? I assume not.

 

[Thor 1211]

When I purchased my 13 inch wire wheels from Motorsport Wheels in England, I was told that the 14 inch MGB hubs were not recommended. I quizzed this on the UK SAOC website and was told that the hubs are the same. So I bought a set of 14 MGB wires and guess what, by all measurements, they are. I have been running a set of 14" B wheels now for a while with no ill effects. I also have a set of 15 MGA wheels which also look compatible. I will measure them out and report back.

 

[Van Bagley]

@Thor 1211, Can you post a picture of your wheels mounted onto your car?

 

[Greggers]

If I remember the story from eight years ago, these were allegedly like 14" or 15" Triumph wires. Anybody in the Greater Atlanta chapter know the story behind its wheels? If I recall, it's Greg's car built by Jerry.

 

[Jay Laifman]

Is that @65sunbeam car?

 

[Jay Laifman]

FYI from https://www.mwsint.com/:

I don't know what "42 mm Curly" means! Or where the inset or back spacing is measured.

The first column is Alpine only - all rows match with Midget except tires.

 

[Jay Laifman]

Midget with MGB wheels on. Not wild about the look - maybe if it wasn't lowered so much. But it was probably designed for 13" wheels while the Alpine was originally designed for 14" wheels.

 

[Jay Laifman]

Found this online. Looks like 14" - or "just" 13" with lower profile tires?

 

[Jay Laifman]

72 spoke?

 

[Thor 1211]

@Thor 1211, Can you post a picture of your wheels mounted onto your car?

sure, as soon as I get it down off the lift (I'm working on the transmission). If your concern is that it might look like a dune buggy with the 1 inch bigger wheels, in my opinion, you can hardly tell the difference because you can use a lower profile tire. In truth, it looks a lot like the car Jay Laifman posted above. No matter, I'll photo the car and get the tire specs.

 

[Jay Laifman]

Now I'm not sure which of these are 14" and which might be stock.

 

[Jay Laifman]

Here is mine that I know is 13"

 

[Jay Laifman]

FYI, I found a guy with a bad MGB hub. He said he is going to cut it in half and put it on his Midget to see how things are different. Can't wait to see that picture.

 

[DanR]

If I remember the story from eight years ago, these were allegedly like 14" or 15" Triumph wires. Anybody in the Greater Atlanta chapter know the story behind its wheels? If I recall, it's Greg's car built by Jerry.

I believe this car or one identical to it was Jerry Tolbert's out of Greenville, SC and it had MG wires.

 

[rixter]

Here is 13" wires with Maxxis 165/70R13 tires. I chose this particular photo because the way the sun is shining it shows the clearance between tire and wheel well and because of the MGA parked next to my car to see tire clearance a bit tighter. Not sure if that was via a larger wire wheel, bigger tires or both. Aside from other dynamics, the "look" is a consideration when viewing this clearance. Some want to fill that gap and get the most tire possible. I picked the tire size that I found in some chart somewhere that was supposed to be close to stock.

Rick

 

[Tim R]

This is my son's Series IV. It is on 14" MGB wheels and hubs supplied by MWS with Dunlop Street Response 2 175/70R 14 T tyres.
The lower profile tyre on the larger wheel gives a small (just under 2%) increase in overall tyre diameter. MWS Technical staff told us that the wheel and tyre set up was correct and fine for an Alpine. The inner rim of the MGB wheel will run 4/5mm closer to the suspension strut and the outer rim will protrude by 8/9mm more than the standard 13" Alpine wire wheel. These are very small differences and are not noticeable in daily driving. The car looks lovely with the wheels filling the arches nicely.

Tim R