WELL 18" SPYDERS FIT A CHIMAERA
Discussion
As he said....
It is possible to do a full hub conversion to take the 5 stud TVR wheels, but this means new brakes as well as the hubs and wheels. There's also some debate about ride quality on such big rims, but i know of one Chimaera which is running the 18" spiders, and it looks stunning....
Quite a few more have done the conversion and are using the 16" spider wheels (off Tuscan and Tomoras), which also look great.
If it's just larger wheels you're after, it's a standard Ford 4 stud pattern so wheels are available as long as you ensure you get the correct off-set.
It is possible to do a full hub conversion to take the 5 stud TVR wheels, but this means new brakes as well as the hubs and wheels. There's also some debate about ride quality on such big rims, but i know of one Chimaera which is running the 18" spiders, and it looks stunning....
Quite a few more have done the conversion and are using the 16" spider wheels (off Tuscan and Tomoras), which also look great.
If it's just larger wheels you're after, it's a standard Ford 4 stud pattern so wheels are available as long as you ensure you get the correct off-set.
Are you wanting 18" because they will look good? Don't kid yourself that the car will be OK afterwards. 18" wheels will cause excess tramlining and uncontrollable breakaway when cornering. If your Chimaera ownership is for the joy of driving hard then I would suggest you limit rim size to 17".
I dont see how it is going to change the handling that much if anything surely give more grip as with 18" wider rims more tyre on the ground abit of playing with the handling should surely sort that. After all the cerbera is pretty much a chimaera with a roof and it handles just fine
Edited by richarddorman on Tuesday 8th August 21:00
richarddorman said:
i dont see how it is going to change the handleing that much if any thing surely give more grip as with 18" wider rims more tyre on the ground abit of playing with the handleing should surely sore that. After all te cerbera is pretty much a chimaera with a roof and it handles just fine
the cerby and the chimaera may look the same..well no ....similiar
but the undernetah is a totaly differneet thing the cerb is slightly longer and lower.
richarddorman said:
i dont see how it is going to change the handleing that much if any thing surely give more grip as with 18" wider rims more tyre on the ground abit of playing with the handleing should surely sore that. After all te cerbera is pretty much a chimaera with a roof and it handles just fine
Are you doing this to improve handling then? Trust me it doesn’t work. Your suspension is the sum of springs dampers and tyre wall. The tyre wall offers an element of suspension that can't be tuned into the spring/damper set up. Sidewalls flex upwards and sidewards. The sidewards flex gives the car more tolerance to tramlining and gives a progressive feel to oversteer. These two attributes are lost and so the car handles differently. Grip BTW is a result of contact area, applied load and adhesion. If you increase contact area you also lower the applied load. The Chimaera can make good use of increased area and can afford to loose some applied load but don't over do it. Too much contact area can make the car aquaplane very readily due to reduced applied load and if you've been out in the rain you'll know there isn’t much grip even with the standard set up.
There is an element of maxpower in me too. I have a start button and have fitted 5 stud 16" spiders but I wouldn't let the desire for better looks spoil what my car is made for.
richarddorman said:
tvrbob what did it cost you to change the hubs over to five stud if youy dont mind me asking
The kit was around £1,500 from TVR and included AP 4 pot brakes and stst hoses, hubs, wheels, and loads of ancillary stuff 139 pieces in total. Fitting isn't a simple job because the rear drive shafts are too long for the hubs and the steering rack needs stoppers fitting to prevent the new wheels from contacting the body at full lock.Neejah's Chimaera is running on TVR 18's and you certainly can't fault the look of the car www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/profile.asp?h=0&memberId=48701&f=8&t=294108 and when i spoke to him (just after he'd done the conversion) he said the handling remained consistant.
I would have thought the 'on the limit' handling would be different, maybe more pure grip in the dry due to the larger contact area and stiffer lower side-walls, but any loss of grip would happen with less warning, and potentially at a greater speed....
I would have thought the 'on the limit' handling would be different, maybe more pure grip in the dry due to the larger contact area and stiffer lower side-walls, but any loss of grip would happen with less warning, and potentially at a greater speed....
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