Spare wheel carrier

[sieds]

I am thinking of changing the wheels of my de dion from HPC 16inch to Minator 13 inch but do i need a different spare wheel carrier for this. The diameter of 13inch wheels will be +/- 1,5 inch less then the 16 inch

[scooby dooby doo]

The wheel diameter will go down by 3 inches. But the tyre profile also goes up by a similar amount - so the diameter of the tyre will be similar.

 

What size are your 16" tyres and what size 13"s were you thinking of. The difference will be less than an inch (unless its 205/50R16 to 185/60R13 which is 1.2")

 

The spare wheel carrier will also bend a bit to take up any difference.

 

HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU

[sieds]

Hoopy

 

You are right it will go from205/45 16 to 185/60 13 my understanding was that the diameter would decrease with 4 cm which means that the center of the wheel goes down +/- 2 cm and indeed the carrier migh be able to compensate this.

 

Thanks

[scooby dooby doo]

Yup thats 19mm by my reckoning. Some people put domestic pipe lagging around the carrier to pad it out instead. But a bit of bending should suffice - might have to bend the number plate holder the other way to keep it vertical though.

Alternative is to do away with the carrier (or just use it as a luggage rack), save 100 quid, just get four wheels/tyres and carry a can of foam just in case.

 

HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU

[Robin C]

I swopped my wheels and experienced this problem - I was told Caterham make all spare wheel carriers the same but "bend" them up a bit for smaller wheels.

 

I have done this - its easy to do with gentle use of force. Just hold each corner and lift a bit. Check with new wheel and keep lifting until its right. Simple really!!

[SLR No.77]

I had the same problem - substantial difference between my 185/60-13s and my 205/45-16s - a good 2cm radius difference. I solved the problem quite neatly as follows:

 

Find a small piece of good quality steel tubing - I used the centre sleeve from a 2" wide nylon wheel that we use loads of at work. Weld the tubing parallel to the existing tubing on the mounting "Y" piece, then re-powder coat the whole assembly (most powder coaters would only charge about £10). You can then user either tube, depending upon the wheel fitted, to position the spare wheel slightly higher or lower - the bigger problem was with the 13"ers.

 

If you want to do a really pucker job, when fitting the second tube weld it in position slightly to one side relative to the "Y" section. This will enable you to have the 16" centre cap the correct way up without the wheel being off-centre - the wheel bolt holes are not at 90 degrees to the centre cap mounting hole.

 

Stu.