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MG MGA - Bolt -On Wire Wheels??

I thought I had read somewhwere about an after market Bolt-on wire wheel option. Does anyone know of anyone who makes such a wheel? Maybe Dayton wheels? Also, does anyone have a set they want to sell? OR, what about the bolt on wire wheel conversion kits,..the ones that allow you to use the orignla wheels.

DT
Danny T

Dont have any experience with them, but BritishWireWheel.com has several options. http://www.britishwirewheel.com/conversions.htm
Jeff Schultz

Victoria British used to sell bolt-on wires for TR's. Probably still do. So they ought to fit MGA's. I'm afraid you'll get whispers from the purists, though.
Tom

Danny, bolt on wires or bolt on wire converters have been used for some time. The only problem may be with tire clearance in the rear, as original wire wheel axles were shorter than the ones used for disc wheels, so using a wire wheel on a disc wheel axle may position the tire too close to the fender edge. In your other post you inquired about the disc brake conversion, if you consider using the MGB components then you might also consider using a MGB wire wheel rear axle and make the conversion to wires in that way. You get an additional benefit of the 3.9 axle ratio,which might be a bit tall for a stock 1500, but is fine for a mildly tuned 1600 or 1800. There is some modification necessary for the parking brake cables, but it's pretty much a bolt in and fits fine even with the 5.5" wires from a TR6.
Bill Young

here is some insight concerning coversion to knock off wire wheels.

My car (1959 1600 roadster) originally had bolt on steel disc wheels. I had obtained knock off hubs as well as rear hubs with axels. The front conversion is easy to do, and we rebuilt the disc brakes as well.

I kept putting the job off due the the back, it may be easier than I felt it would be, but I hesitated to remove the rear axels (rear hubs and axels are single units). I found some suppliers were offering rear bolt on hub conversions and contacted British Wire Wheel (see above post for web address) and was advised that this was possible but there would be some compromises, which are:

The MGA knock offs use fine course threads for the spinners. The rear conversion hubs actually came from a TR which has coarse threads. BWW supplies both fine course and coarse threaded spinners and MG logoed if desired, but they are slightly different in appearance, know one can tell without close inspection. So, you end up with fine course in the front and coarse in the rear.

I decided to proceed with this and purchased the kit. I did buy the actual wheels from Dayton.

Once installed the rear wheels do stick out a bit, maybe 3/8 of an inch on both sides. No problem with clearance, it looks good.

I still have those axels and will keep them with the car. So if any purest gives notice, I can simply hand them the tools and ask them to proceed with the true conversion.

Good luck,

Ted
T Persons

Hi Danny,

I did the conversion this summer with the adapterS & wheels (Dayton) from British Wire Wheels. It was real easy and took half a day with some help. Clearance is fine with the same tire i had on my regular wheels. I have used 60 spokes wheels.

Lookss great !!!


Jean Marc
60 Coupe
Jean Marc

Danny,
I think your white car would look good with the repro Minilites. Cheaper, safer and you can use tubeless tires.
Cleve

Thanks Cleve,...I hadn't even thought about the Mini-Lites. That would look nice.

BTW,...I picked up a nice Jaguar XJ6 yesterday. This is the first XJ6 I've ever had. It really drives nice.

DT
Danny T

Danny

Dayton makes a bolt-on tubeless chrome wire wheel for the MGA. See http://www.britishwirewheel.com/conversions.htm and scroll down to part 3. Daytons do have a good reputation. Search the archives for more information.

FWIW

Larry
Larry Hallanger

See also current MGB General Thread: Dayton vs. Dunlop
Larry Hallanger

I had the Dayton bolt on chromed wire wheels on my MGA with 185srX15 (VW radial) tires on them and they ran true and with no clearance problems with any wheel arch. As Larry says, for the rest of the story, read the MGB thread he mentions. Most people who saw the car did not seem to notice that it had bolt on wires. It would have probably lost points in a concours but if you drive your MGA a lot, and even drive it hard, as in autocross, the 72 spokers are exceptionally tough and very good looking. Consider that most of the lowriders who jump their cars have Dayton radial laced wheels. My understanding is that radial laced rims are generally not as strong as those we use. There is a testimonial in there somewhere.
Robert Muenchausen

I put the bolt-on Dayton stainless/chrome wheels on my '79 "B" this summer. Got them through Jeff at LBCarCo. I love them. Yes, when you look closely you can see that they are bolt-ons and not knock-offs, but the old Rostyle spare still fits if I need it. If you want, I can send you a pic of the car with them on it.
Howard Battan

Thanks Howard,

I would LOVE if you could send me pictyures. Send them to me at dltalfa@aol.com

Thanks in advance,
DT
Danny T

Danny,
I have a set of Dayton bolt-on wire wheels for your XJ6 that sure would make it look good!
Cleve

Hey Cleve,

Yes, I remember seeing those wheels.

How much?????

DT
Danny T

This thread was discussed between 10/11/2005 and 11/11/2005

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