Harry Flatters Posted June 29, 2001 Share Posted June 29, 2001 I have a '95 HPC VXL with 16 HPC wheels. I am told I should fit smaller wheels (13"???) for improved handling. Can someone recommend EXACTLY what I should fit in terms of wheels AND tyres, makes, sizes etc and does anyone have any for sale. Much as I would like the R500 split rim mag wheels, I don't think the old wallet will open that far. If I do fit smaller wheels, do I need to change my front cycle wings and stays? Thanks Steve Mell PTM 88 Edited by - Steve Mell on 29 Jun 2001 10:14:04 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashaughnessy Posted June 29, 2001 Share Posted June 29, 2001 I think you'd be lucky if anyone could tell you *exactly*, as everyone seems to have their own preference. This is a very common subject on this mailing list, and there is always some disagreement. Sorry. In cases like this, I prefer to go to a single source that I consider to be expert and ask them to make the choice for me. Try going to one of the more respected specialists like Classic Carriage, Arrowstar, etc. and ask them to choose for you. Anyway, if you search through the back postings in this list, there are several threads within the last few months on this topic. Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simos Posted June 29, 2001 Share Posted June 29, 2001 Only Grommit can help you now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatman Posted June 29, 2001 Share Posted June 29, 2001 That was trousers Simos............ biggrin.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Flatters Posted June 29, 2001 Author Share Posted June 29, 2001 Thanks for that Anthony, I'll have a hunt back in time. Steve Mell PTM 88 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted June 29, 2001 Share Posted June 29, 2001 Most seem to think that HPC's go well on 13's all round with 7" rims and 205 60 tyres on the rear and 6" rims and 185 60's on the front. 021's for good grip / all weather performance. The grip front and rear is excellent and balance is good. There have been several threads like this before. You can read in Low Flying soon about how others viewed my car on our handling day at Curborough last week. We took 7 typical clubmans cars (all Caterham 7's) along and all swopped cars to try them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted June 29, 2001 Share Posted June 29, 2001 Forgot to say that the wing and stays will work perfectly well on 13" wheels. I actually prefer the look to the 'wheel is too close look' of the 16" wheels. Look at pics of Alex Wongs car in LF. If you are in my area:- Bracknell, Woking, Guildford etc why not pop over and see my car and even borrow the wheels and tyres for a drive to test them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Wallace Posted June 29, 2001 Share Posted June 29, 2001 I also have an HPC and I am changing to 13" wheels. I bought Superlite wheels, 6" wide front and 7" rear and Yoke 032 tyres, I have not fitted them yet so I can not give you any idea how they work. Paul Harvey (of Blackbird fame) suggested 185 tyres on the front and 205 rear, but I tried the front wheels on and they looked a bit lost under my flared aches so I have 205 032s for the front and 205 032ss on the rear, this also gives me much the same gound clearance as I had before. My 7 is at Pauls this week, I should get it back this afternoon and I will fit the wheels this weekend, I'll let you know how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Flatters Posted June 29, 2001 Author Share Posted June 29, 2001 Stuart/Steve, thanx for all the help here, do you reckon the 185 A032R's will look lost under cycle wings or would 205's look better and if that's the case would you use 7" rims all round? Steve Mell PTM 88 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Wong1697456877 Posted June 29, 2001 Share Posted June 29, 2001 Personally, I use 6 inch rims all round and 6 inch Avons on the front and 7 inch Avons on the rear. I wouldn't put 205's on the front as this would give less feel than 185's. What do you want the wheels for? If it's track use, I'd go for 185/13 fronts and 185 or 205/13 rears, using either 6 inch rims all round, or 6 inch fronts and 7 inch rears. If it's for road use, I'd go for 14 inch wheels, or you could buy the 2 spare Vx wet sumps I have and stick with the 13" wheels! smile.gif The 13 inch wheels do look lost under the bigger cycle wings, and also in the rear arches, but after a while you get kind of used to it. I had a x-flow on 13inch wheels and I thought it looked better with some HPC wheels, but I now know better. Having seen so many race cars and SLR's/R500's on 13" wheels, I now associate fast sevens with small wheels. Alex Wong www.alexwong.net www.slipstream-trackdays.co.uk _________ / / ___ _/______ /_ ___ / (_) (_)/ /`-'/o/ _______ o/`-'/ / /// ( VDU7X ) / / /___/--_________/--/___/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tazio Posted July 1, 2001 Share Posted July 1, 2001 Caterham do sell alternative cycle wing stays which effectively hug the front wheels, the cars do look better, the parts are know as 'VX Racer wingstays'. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Flatters Posted July 2, 2001 Author Share Posted July 2, 2001 Am I going to have a ride height problem if I move to 13" wheels, if so can the standard dampers be adjusted compensate. What about the gearing at the rear, is this going to change. The 6 speed box is already pretty short! Also am I right in saying that the overall diameter is calculated by adding the wheel size (13") to the profile (60) times the width (185) divided by 100 i.e. 111mm?? If this is the case I reckon the front will be approx 1.5" lower using the 13" wheels instead of the 205x45x14's. All of which means I'm going to be pretty much dragging my arse, not to mention my sump, along ground. Steve Mell PTM 88 Edited by - Steve Mell on 2 Jul 2001 10:06:16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian balson Posted July 2, 2001 Share Posted July 2, 2001 I think I may have the VX Racer wingstays, can you fit A032R's under them? I have the 13" Superlight wheels with CR500 currently. Thanks Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murph7355 Posted July 2, 2001 Share Posted July 2, 2001 I've currently got 21Rs under mine and I think they have a larger circ. than 32Rs when fitted (R500 type wheels). The wheels need tilting for removal which means jacking it up a bit higher, but they look great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Russell Posted July 2, 2001 Share Posted July 2, 2001 Steve, The DemonTweeks catalogue, on the Yoko pages sets out the various dimensions of the tyres...... 185/60 13 A021R diam558mm or 22.0 inches 185/70 13 A021R diam587mm or 23.1 inches 205/60 13 A021R diam578mm or 22.8 inches 185/60 13 A032R diam552mm or 21.7 inches 205/60 13 A032R diam578mm or 22.8 inches Don't know how accurate these are but are Yoko figures.... I run 185/60 13's and have suspension quite low and whilst you have to be careful have not grounded except on speed humps etc.Mine's a wet sumped 16v Vauxhall XE. Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Johnson Posted July 2, 2001 Share Posted July 2, 2001 I changed my 16' wheels with michelin's to 13's with yokohama 021r's about 6 months ago & much prefer the feel of the car now. I have 185/70's all round (as they are the control tyre for various formula's they only cost £40 each :)) The balance of the car is much nicer, the tramlining is much less, the tyres are cheap & I have not yet grounded the sump. If I am playing about then I do suffer with lots of wheelspin from a standing start, but how often to you do that (except for the crowds at Arnage & they only want to see it wheelspin anyway) if you burn out a set of rears so what they are £40 each. The grip is at least as good as the old Michelins & the tyres are up to operating temp much quicker. I have flares not the wrap around wings (I can never remember which is which) & there does look like a fair amount of air between tyre & wing. If you want to drop me an email I have a digital photo here & you can decide for yourself if it looks odd or not. Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Wallace Posted July 2, 2001 Share Posted July 2, 2001 Steve, I fitted the wheels and tyres on Friday evening. The car does looks a bit over tyred but I quite like the look, the 7" rear wheels and 205 tyres fill out the arches nicely and the 6" front wheels and 205 tyres give much the same look as before between the top of the tyre and my flared arches. The ground clearance with this setup is about the same as it was with the 16" wheels and 205/45s. The car handles about 10 times better on "B" roads, where I could previously go faster in the tin top. I would concur to Alex that 6" all round with 185/60 032 or 205/60 rear tyres is best balanced setup for track work but for road driving the setup I have is fine and I think the car looks great!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg Posted July 2, 2001 Share Posted July 2, 2001 Out of interest how did you do the logistics of wheels / rubber: Did you send the wheels to Goerge Pooley and got him to fit them ? Or did you do all the shifting wheels to get tyres etc ... Greg, Q 880 RAE (Green/Ali XF) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Wallace Posted July 2, 2001 Share Posted July 2, 2001 Greg, I took the wheels to Pooley Motor Sports and they fiited and balanced them. I'm only 50 mins away they are in Heathfield I'm just outside Worthing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Flatters Posted July 3, 2001 Author Share Posted July 3, 2001 Stuart, Are you saying that you have 205x60's A032R's on 7" rears and 6" fronts. Does it not make the steering heavy? Can I ask what you paid for your A032R's. Steve Steve Mell PTM 88 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Sullivan Posted July 3, 2001 Share Posted July 3, 2001 Sorry for butting in here.... I was talking to Stuart about this a few weeks ago. I have a 91 HPC which had 16" rims. 3 weeks ago I swapped for 13" rims and couldn't believe the difference. I bought 2 13x6 rims with 185 A032Rs for the front, and 2 13x7 rims with 205 A032Rs for the back. I bought direct from Superlite and the whole lot cost me 650 bottom line. I think the tyres were about 60 a piece from memory. Don't worry about your larger cycle wings. I was initially, but it looks fine. If anything, the wheels at the back look wider. I know many people harp on about the improvement in ride, handling and grip (esp. with the A032Rs), but as someone who has been through this exercise in the past month - they're right. Feel free to mail me offline if you need anymore info. cheers, Matt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg Posted July 3, 2001 Share Posted July 3, 2001 Stuart, Thanks for the info Greg, Q 880 RAE (Green/Ali XF) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Wallace Posted July 3, 2001 Share Posted July 3, 2001 Steve, The steering is about the same as my old 7" 16 may be a bit lighter. The 205 32s were about £59. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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