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MG TD TF 1500 - 16x4 or 16x5 splined steel or Minilite-style wheel

Good afternoon gents, and Happy New Year:

I've had a lot of time to think about the TD this week, which is always very dangerous because most TD thoughts end up costing me a lot of money.

This rabbit trail is no different, and I'm hoping that some of you might be able to help me. This summer, my TD will be subjected to some pretty hard going - Alberta and BC are big provinces and it's not hard to cover 1000 miles a day.

Thus, I'm thinking that for long trips and real roads, a set of more robust wheels and tires may be in order. I'm thinking that there must be a company out there that manufactures 16x4 or 16x5 splined wheels - either in Minilite style or in something that looks more mid-30's BMW 328 traditional and solid. If I can find the proper rims, than I can run a set of S-rated 195/80/16 Bridgestones that are built for the electric RAV4 - tougher tires that I can run tubeless.

It's pretty easy to find 15" Minilites, either in splined or bolt form, but I want to keep the 16" profile, and I want to keep the splined hubs. All my hubs are MGA splines.

Anybody know where I might look?

Thanks,
Dave


Dave Jorgensen

One possibility,Dave. Though I have drove home whole cars for less money. Laverne's been dreaming of one of their D Type kits-maybe he can get them to throw in a set at a greatly reduced price. Dan http://www.realmengineering.com/Realm%20Engineering%20Dunlop%20Style%20Wheels%20New%20Web.PDF

If that doesn't work,try this one.
realmengineering.com
Dan Craig

Dave, if you can drive a TD a 1000 miles in a day, my hat is off to you.. I drove mine 600 miles one day and my butt took a month to recover. By the way, I run Dayton 72 spoke tubless wire wheels on mine and have never had a problem with tires breaking or busting . The 72 spoke are for hard driving and will stand up well. They are however not cheap.
Tom Maine (TD8105)

Not going to run 195s on 4" wheels, 5" is just OK and 6" is better. Specs are 5-6.5". I had a customer once who welded WW centers into steel wheels for autocross.

FRM
FR Millmore

Thanks, gentlemen.

Hoooly smokes, Dan - you're right about the price of those D-Type wheels; I think I'll leave those ones on the shelf.

Tom, I hadn't thought of 72 spoke wheels, and I'm glad to know that they'll run tubeless. That actually makes more sense and keeps the profile of the car intact. What's the offset you ordered from Dayton - I know that my wheels are an inch taller, but the offset would be the same.

Cheers,
Dave
Dave Jorgensen

Dave,
I have a set of 15" "M-L's" for our Opel GT.
Going out of town right now but when I get back can try to find the vendor.
The Opel is a hard car to find wheels for (strange off-set". As I recall the price was very reasonable from them and free shipping from CA.
Pretty sure the whole set was less than $500 from them. (including lugs, stems, center-caps)
Cheers,
David


David Sheward

If you guys want to fool around with pin-drive wheels (like the D-Type), the MGA Twin-Cam had them as standard; so the issue becomes one of finding a set.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A Clark

Dave.... are you sure you want to put mini lites on a TD...... Gord is right, just go for MG Twin Cam knock offs.... at least they are a bit more historic for the car.....? You've worked hard to get a vintage look and the minilites would spoil it....



gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

David - I sure hope you don't do too much work under the Opel with it sitting up high on those blocks. I would be a bit worried about that! Nice car!
Jeff Delk

Gord and Gord - are the mga twin cam wheels 15 or 16 inch?

Dave
Dave Jorgensen

...they are 15"....
gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

Found this discussion off another site. Some of these make Realms look cheap-$20,000 for wheels? The spline to bolt-on adapters would allow for a number of different wheel configurations. Hummm-need to look at solid wheels on vintage race cars to retain your look.Dan
http://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/ubbthreads.php/topics/614602/Re_do_they_exist_splined_steel
Dan Craig

Dave, I ordered my wheels from what was British Wire Wheels, they are Dayton wheels and the hubs came from England. I run standard 15 inch wheels with the wires and the Daytons are tubless. They are really strong wheels. They have a more Borani look than the 48 spoke wheels. Mine fit on the car fine even though th e hubs may set out about 1/2 inch more than the old hubs. I now also have MGA disc brakes on the front and that did not change anything either as far as the way they set on the car.
Tom Maine (TD8105)


You can buy 16" 72 spoke wires but you would need to check and make sure they will mount to your hubs and of course the offset. Not cheap but certainly avalible. I agree with Gordon on the Mini lights, plus they are heavier then the steel wheels.

http://www.hendrixwirewheel.com/wheels.html
LaVerne

Gents:

There's a set of new 16x5 60-spoke Daytons on eBay with Jaguar splines. Help me out on this - I think that Jaguar/Aston splines are different than MG/Triumph splines - am I right on this?

Thanks,
Dave

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230566864628&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_4746wt_1141
Dave Jorgensen

Yep.

FRM
FR Millmore

Well I'll take half of that back. Jags use 52 mm hubs, Aston use 42mm like MG. Go here: http://www.mws.co.uk/FitmentGuide/FindEntry.asp
They supply a 16x4.5 60 spoke wheel listed as competition for TC.

FRM
FR Millmore

If possible I'd go for the 16" centre laced "TC competition" wheels. They would really finish the special look of your TD?
http://www.mws.co.uk/FitmentGuide/DisplayEntry.asp?CarId=FG000073&Make=MG&CarYear=
Willem vd Veer

Mini lights are heavier then the steel wheels?
You sure about that?
On our Opel the 15" (very wide) mini's weigh less than the stock 13" steel wheels.
The strange thing with the Opel is that it was "designed" for 15" (original prototype 1965 had 15") when the car went into production (1968) the Opel plant only had 13" wheels. I always thought the wheels looked a little "lost" in the wheel well.
They make all kinds of 17" & 18" for GT now ...but we are going for "stock" looking car ...15" hard to find that fit. The ones I got were part of a "custom run" to offset cost, so we got 1 of the 4 sets made.
Got lucky!
Looking at Gord's photoshop rendiction ...IMHO I think he's right ...doesn't do all your hard work justice. I can still look for the paperwork for you though. Still can't remember the name ...but their price was real good...bought wheels for my Mit's from them also.

Jeff, Thanks for the concern. I did a lot of work under there with it sitting on those blocks. The hardest part was trying to remember just "how" I got it up there with nothing but a floor jack so I could get it back down! That was the "old Abingdon Hootersville North" garage. Much easier now that I have moved into the "AHN-Anex"! LOL
(date is wrong on pic ...from 2010 not 2002!)




David Sheward

The original Minilites were available only in Magnesium and were for the Cooper S and variants of the day (1960s). In time however, and in addition to the bolt-ons, Tech-Del the original makers, brought out a line of less expensive aluminium alloy wheels in sizes up to 16", and with splined models for the 42mm hub (that's us!) and 45mm hub (Jags, etc).

For our cars, today, the only 15" magnesium wheels available, are in 15 X 5½" and 15 X 6". I have attached a table of available MAGNESIUM Minilites.

But be prepared to dig deeply. They ain't cheep!!

In the past, they would make a set of 16" wheels with 42mm splined hubs, in either aluminium or magnesium, but this requires a special order.

I've had several magnesium sets for various cars and it is suggested to regularly magnaflux them. While they are 33% lighter than aluminium alloy, they are less strong and more subject to cracking, and they won't take the abuse an aluminium one will.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.


Gordon A Clark

I think the aluminium versions with the spline adapters are heavier but not by much Dave. Certainly not any significant weight difference either way. The Mag version is another story.

Have a club member who has been running 18" motor cycle rims for years laced with a splined hub. Have no other details but they seem to be holding up well and look really cool.
LaVerne

Of course...didn't think about the spline adapters..that would make them heavier. Duh!
Still afer seening Grod's "PS" work on Dave's TD the wires look so much better to me.
So...20 years from now wonder if there will be a bunch of guys sitting around trying to figure out, how he keep air in those wheels with no valve stems, why there are mini-lites on one side & wires on the other side! LOL
Going the "other way"...my Dayton 60's looked real nice on the Opel! But the wife liked the mini's.
Lucky for me...not sure what a "1-off" set of wires would have cost for that one.
Cheers,
David
David Sheward

This thread was discussed between 31/12/2010 and 03/01/2011

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