Wheels

[Bill Musarra]

This ought to kick up a fuss. Which wheels are you using, or think is the best? What are the good and bad points about your wheels? I'm trying to decide which wheels to use. Is it Compomotive, PSE, Trigo, or Team III. I know they are similar, but I am having a tough time deciding. Do any require spacers to clear the disc? will the pin adapters move the wheels farther out? Will that create problems? Will additional backspacing(more than what the manufacturer list as standard) cause problems? What size rear tires will clear the wide bodies? I may have a line on some P zero 335x15 on 9.5 PSE wheels. What kind of problems will it cause? Are these wheels wide enough for the tires?would love to hear from some who know.
Bill

[Iron Sheik]

Bill, I use Compomotive 17 X 13 in the rear and 17 X 8 front. You mentioned 335 X 15 tires!!! Do you mean 335 X 35 X 17 (That is what I have). 335s require 11-13" wide rims. Visit TireRack for detail info on tire sizes.

I have GTD so my backspacing would not be the same as yours almost 5" in the rear and 3 1/2" in the front.

[Pete.]

Bill, It may not be relevant in the U.S. but I am have bought Simmons three piece wheels.FR17x8 front and FR17x12
rears. Tyres are Pirelli P zero"s.
Simmons have a very good reputation in OZ for both road and
race use.

[Craig White]

Don't know how much help I can be. I'm actually shopping around for prices for wheels/tyres at the moment, but in Oz.

I'm buying the same wheels as Pete. Simmons FR17 17x9", 17x12" - Pirelli Assimetrico 245/40ZR17, 335/35ZR17.

For 15" rims will need to know what brakes you have. You've probably posted somewhere which brakes you have. Are you just running standard GT40 Australia fitment - Corvette 85-87 ones.

With wide body from GT40 Australia you can easily accomodate 335 tyre size using 17" rims, there is space to spare. Not sure with 15" rims whether they will foul the suspension with that size and offsets required.

Talking to P.R. on the weekend and GT40 Australia are producing shorter suspension arms to accomodate off the shelf pin-drive wheel offsets. He has a set of pin drives that look like the ones from http://www.vintagewheelsus.com/products.html. That site also has a decent tech guide.

[Bill Musarra]

I sold the 15s that came with the car. the tires were 295 Goodrich. They cleared the rear suspension bolts by about 1/2" or so. I'm thinking the 335 may not work just for that reason. I haven't gotten the brakes yet. There was a thread awhile back on wheels, brakes and tires, and several told me that there are good dics avalilable for the 15" wheels. If the offset or backspacing is too much, the two step rims will not work(inside of the rim has 2 different diameters). I would like a deep look to the rears. Some of the guys mentioned AP racing and one or two others that would work. Just have to be caeful of the disc size. I am probably going to stick with the standard offset and back spacing for all the reasons above. By the way Compomotive is having a sale on their wheels. $1500 for the set(regularly $2400) until this batch is gone(hope there are some left). Picked up on this on the Cobra forum. Will probably get a set of these and be done with it. Was really interested in finding out if the 5 pin adapter pushes the wheel out very much. But if the 335s will clear the wide body option, then with say 295s, that should not be a problem. With all the power that these cars put out, the 335s would be a great option not to mention the cornering.
Bill

[Ian K]

Bill,

A lot of the guys in the UK run Image 17" BRM styke bolt ons,
as did Rick Merz. I'm sure they will chime in, but IIRC, they
are plenty expensive.

Ian

[Lynn]

Bill,

As usual I am bucking the tide by using Compomotive wheels. I have always loved the BBS web style wheels, so that is what I got:

They are 17" 3 piece wheels with plenty of room for big brakes and pleny of options in terms of offset with their modular construction. A long time ago Compomotive wheels, in the USA anyway, got knocked for not being true, but that was fixed when another distributor was found who is taking the time to properly assemble and seal the units. I had mine very carefully checked by a high performance wheel and tire specialist here in NC and he gave them a good bill of health and had no issues with balancing them either.

Lynn

[Peter D]

Like Pete, I am using Simmons FR17 3-piece wheels (although only 10" in the rear). I went for black centres to somewhat hide the more "modern" spokes & so that the fake spinners stand out a bit in contrast.

I am using Falken 235x45x17 on 8" rims at the front, & Falken 275x40x17 at the rear. Next time round, I'll up the size of the rears to 285's.

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

[mike_starling]

Bill,

I have a set of HB's on my Cobra. I like them!

I can't locate the sale reference ... can you send it along please? I can't just about afford the wheels at that price!

Thank you!

[Charlie M]

I bought a set of Team III's back in April for my Cobra. Nice wheels for a reasonable price, under $1500 for the set including shipping to the east coast.

Charlie

[jimbo]

I have exchanged some emails with Bob at Vintage Wheels US. Currently they make a BRM-style wheel in 15", aluminum, but it is made for 5-pin drive, which is their bolt-on adapter. My hubs, which are coming from Safir, will have six-pin drive. Bob indicated they might do six-pin BRM-style wheels if they had enough orders? Is this something anyone else would be interested in?... Their prices seem fair, I have not seen a set of their wheels. At any rate, they answer emails promptly. They also make knockoffs, etc etc.

[Pete.]

[ QUOTE ]
(Like Pete, I am using Simmons FR17 3-piece wheels (although only 10" in the rear). I went for black centres to somewhat hide the more "modern" spokes & so that the fake spinners stand out a bit in contrast.)

Peter I might end up with black centers also.. Depends on how hard the polished centers are to clean of brake dust etc. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

[Craig White]

[ QUOTE ]
I might end up with black centers also.. Depends on how hard the polished centers are to clean of brake dust etc. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Just make sure after a day at the track, you just give the wheels a clean when you get home. Don't let the brake dust sit on the wheels. Dust sits mostly on rims anyway. Normal driving doesn't produce enough dust to worry about. You will have to chamois the dust off the body as well. If you make any off-road excursions while at the track, you might have a heap of dust/dirt to clean off the car. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Pete.]

Off road excursions?? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]It's not a bloody four wheel drive.
[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[jimbo]

Frank Catt, if you are reading this, can you email me? I have a question about BRM-style wheels from Vintage Wheels. Thanks! Jim Rosenthal