Spyder / Sport Wheel Sizes

[Scotty-Boy]

What exactly limits the Spyder / Sport in terms of wheel sizes? Is it purely the bodywork.. arches / headlight recess?

Anyone modified their cars to suit?

Only reason I ask is I weighed my front wheel the other day... 16" Image Split Rim with Goodrich T/A Comps = 18 kilos

If I'm going to splash the cash on a new set of lightweight rims, I'm as well going the full hog and making them look the part too at 18" (and giving myself more rubber choices).

Any opinions?

[Alan 2]

I have a Sport with 16" wheels on the front and 17's on the back. 18" wheels won't fit without major modifications to the bodywork.

[Scotty-Boy]

Cheers Alan.

I appreciate that the front headlamp mount is an issue, but other than that, what parts do the wheels foul?

Is it just the arch edges?

[NDS]

My Sport has 16” on the front and 17” on the back. If you run the factory AP brake kit you need the 16” on the front. The type of head lamps used in the front clip is also an issue I tried the Hella style lamps and found they fouled the tyres.

[Scotty-Boy]

Does that mean there's a set of Hella's going spare Neil?

I plan to do 'something' with the front clip to take the Hella lights... a little like the TVR Tuscan.

[Alan 2]

Scotty-Boy said:

Cheers Alan.

I appreciate that the front headlamp mount is an issue, but other than that, what parts do the wheels foul?

Is it just the arch edges?

There is very little clearance around the rear wheelarches so installing or removing a wheel is not as straightforward as you would expect. I normally use a trolley jack to lift the back of the car off the ground and then use a second jack to compress the spring so that the wheel is "centred" in the wheelarch. If the wheel is not "centred", the tyre will foul the bodywork and won't come off. I doubt very much that an 18" wheel would pass through the wheelarch, whether "centred" or not. Having said that, 18" wheels normally carry 30 aspect ratio tyres whereas my 17's are 35's, so the 18's are probably only about half an inch bigger in diameter. However, they still won't fit.

I'm not sure where you are in the UK but I have a set of 18" wheels (for a GTR that I'm building) and you could try them for size. I'm in Surrey.

[Scotty-Boy]

Thanks again Alan.

I thought about trimming back the arches to give them a slightly bigger diameter. My main concern is if the bigger tyres would contact the arch 'roofs' under cornering conditions, or would foul the inside GRP wall under full-lock.