5 Stud Hub Conversion on Chimaera 4.0 for 18 Spider Alloys?
Discussion
They're nothing special - some Wolfrace ones bought off a guy in Sheffield for £70 when i needed some cheap 17 inch wheels in a hurry (front brakes changed for 324mm).
Standard Ford 4 stud, which works apart from too much offset. Too much you can correct with spacers, too little you are stuffed!
I have now got some Mania wheels to replace them as soon as I have decided what tyres.
Standard Ford 4 stud, which works apart from too much offset. Too much you can correct with spacers, too little you are stuffed!
I have now got some Mania wheels to replace them as soon as I have decided what tyres.
I cheated.
I swapped my standard brakes for these with a friend, so they were already fitted to a Chimaera.
They are not quite a perfect fit, as the pads just overlap the outside of the disc. The pads and calipers are I guess for a 330mm disc, whereas these are 324mm 1999-2002 4 stud Focus RS discs. The calipers are Bremsport. Pads are Hawk. Stopping without fade is awesome. I do track days. I have Ferodo DS2500 pads on the rear with standard brakes.
IMHO the standard brakes are well up to the job for road use with decent pads in them. They just look small. But you are going to spend £500-1000 for appearances sake? You won't be alone! There are many WMS, Cosworth and (what's the one Engineer1949 put on his orange Chim?) out there. Some for track use, some for appearance.
Good luck and enjoy, whatever you do.
I swapped my standard brakes for these with a friend, so they were already fitted to a Chimaera.
They are not quite a perfect fit, as the pads just overlap the outside of the disc. The pads and calipers are I guess for a 330mm disc, whereas these are 324mm 1999-2002 4 stud Focus RS discs. The calipers are Bremsport. Pads are Hawk. Stopping without fade is awesome. I do track days. I have Ferodo DS2500 pads on the rear with standard brakes.
IMHO the standard brakes are well up to the job for road use with decent pads in them. They just look small. But you are going to spend £500-1000 for appearances sake? You won't be alone! There are many WMS, Cosworth and (what's the one Engineer1949 put on his orange Chim?) out there. Some for track use, some for appearance.
Good luck and enjoy, whatever you do.
TVRBessy said:
I'm definitely in it for the looks, rather than the track.
Which pads would you recommend for 'fast road use'?
Cheers, Lee
My TVR guy says Ferodo. I installed their DS2500 pads for track day use, but they are quite pricey and I am told that they can glaze on road use only. I ran them on all four wheels for about 2000 miles with the standard brakes with no issues, and only 300 of those miles were on track. I still have them on the rears. Which pads would you recommend for 'fast road use'?
Cheers, Lee
There are loads of opinions on here if you use the search... Or start a new thread and see what answers you get? Then you won't have to sift through loads of track day debates, where lack of fade is an issue. It isn't on any roads bar alpine passes.
The only advice I will give is avoid the £8 Ford Escort jobbies from your local car spares place. Yes, the TVR uses that size of pad, but you can get much more stopping power and far less fade with some decent quality pads at £25 per axle.
QBee said:
I can answer that.
I tried 7mm spacers when I changed wheels to ET40, but there was barely three turns on each wheel nut = far too little.
Changed the spacers for 5mm, now have enough turns of each nut easily for safety. Quite surprising what a difference 2mm makes. It felt like about 4 turns from memory.
You need at least 8 full turns ,I got my longer studs from fleabay ,easy job and after getting rid of the spacers they are not to long for the nuts . I tried 7mm spacers when I changed wheels to ET40, but there was barely three turns on each wheel nut = far too little.
Changed the spacers for 5mm, now have enough turns of each nut easily for safety. Quite surprising what a difference 2mm makes. It felt like about 4 turns from memory.
NIGHTMARE – my ’08 XKR was stolen from the drive on Mon night/ early hours of Tuesday morning (they broke in house to get keys)!!!!
Most annoyingly ONE (yes just one) of the newly coated anthracite spider wheels was in the boot.
Don’t suppose anyone knows of a single rear 18” Spider alloy for sale? Any colour will do as I will get it coated to match by the same guy.
Thanks, lee
Most annoyingly ONE (yes just one) of the newly coated anthracite spider wheels was in the boot.
Don’t suppose anyone knows of a single rear 18” Spider alloy for sale? Any colour will do as I will get it coated to match by the same guy.
Thanks, lee
That may well be your problem. Front end looks low.
RoseyTVR has just put 225s on the front of his Grief and had the catching issue. We raised his front ride height to get around it. His was about 10mm (one finger) too low.
You should be able to get two fingers in between top of tyre and wheel arch at the front, three at the rear.
Your overall diameter on 225/35 18s is 615mm.
My 215/45 17 fronts, with track tyres on, don't catch and are 624 mm diameter.
It's not the diameter itself that's your problem.
And the later Griffs had 225 fronts, and yours as 35s will be slimmer at the edge than my 45s. Seen some this morning on a Cerbera chassis with 18 inch spideys.
There may be a slight width issue, no two TVRs are the same, but raise the ride height before you try anything else.
RoseyTVR has just put 225s on the front of his Grief and had the catching issue. We raised his front ride height to get around it. His was about 10mm (one finger) too low.
You should be able to get two fingers in between top of tyre and wheel arch at the front, three at the rear.
Your overall diameter on 225/35 18s is 615mm.
My 215/45 17 fronts, with track tyres on, don't catch and are 624 mm diameter.
It's not the diameter itself that's your problem.
And the later Griffs had 225 fronts, and yours as 35s will be slimmer at the edge than my 45s. Seen some this morning on a Cerbera chassis with 18 inch spideys.
There may be a slight width issue, no two TVRs are the same, but raise the ride height before you try anything else.
I don't know how to adjust the ride height with Bilsteins. It presumably needs to be a raising of the lower spring platform, up how escapes me.
The Steve Heath bible makes no mention of it.
Might just be worth taking your 8mm spacers out to see if it improves the catching. Logically it ought to make it worse, but logic and TVR don't usually appear in the same sentence.
The Steve Heath bible makes no mention of it.
Might just be worth taking your 8mm spacers out to see if it improves the catching. Logically it ought to make it worse, but logic and TVR don't usually appear in the same sentence.
a lot can happen over a couple of years, the second photo is at a different house of mine also.
@Qbee I can actually get three (just about) fingers under the fronts, though my fingers are quite thin!
Even more interestingly the don't seem to rub on lock today (assume suspension has settled).
I've not yet driven it in anger yet as the front hubs seem to wobble a couple of mm, it's as if the bearings haven't been done up properly or something. Perhaps the mechanic didn't torque them up properly, he's coming back tomorrow - watch this space!
@Qbee I can actually get three (just about) fingers under the fronts, though my fingers are quite thin!
Even more interestingly the don't seem to rub on lock today (assume suspension has settled).
I've not yet driven it in anger yet as the front hubs seem to wobble a couple of mm, it's as if the bearings haven't been done up properly or something. Perhaps the mechanic didn't torque them up properly, he's coming back tomorrow - watch this space!
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