New 17" wheels......pointers gratefully received

[Yex 450]

I am giving serious consideration to changing my wheels for something a little more robust. I currently have 17" RS soft alloys ,key word here is soft, all round and all at 7.5J. They keep getting picked up at MOT time for having imperfect beads, almost certainly due to the poor road surfaces we all have to tolerate. I have had all 4 wheels refurbished by Lepsons twice now and the MOT today came up with the same advisory note.

So, as I know very little about wheel options on the Chimaera I'd like any pointers towards an alternative set. I currently run 215/40/17 on the front and 225/45/17 on the rear with no rubbing issues at all. I would like some wider tyres on the rear and as my current choice of tyre are Yokohama ADR08's and these come in 245/45/17 I'd like to be able to fit these but am not sure if I would need 8J width to do this ?

I really like these:

https://www.wheelbasealloys.com/alloy-wheels/team-...

Would it be possible to get two in 7.5J for the front keeping my 215/40/17 tyres and two in 8J for the rear and putting on a set of 245/45/17 Yokohamas and still have no rubbing issues?

Input gratefully received

[Yex 450]

Cheers for all the input gents, much appreciated

My car is currently as I want it ride and handling wise so I doubt I will be putting 18" wheels on the back, but do appreciate the reasoning behind this and the nose down look the car was designed to have. I think I can achieve this with correct tyre sizing and creating a 25mm difference that way.

I'll drop the guys who produce the Pro Race wheels an email to see if they have any input on widths but would like to be able to fit 8J on the back to give me a few more options tyre wise to give the 25mm difference in front and rear ride height. I'm fairly certain the maximum width on an 8J rim is 245 from a link in an old thread I read when looking for tyre recommendations so that works well if that proves to be true.

215/40 17 will have a diameter of 431 + (215 x40% x 2) = 603 mm
245/40 17 will have a diameter of 431 + (245 x40% x 2) = 627 mm

One last question, are the ET measurements still 25 front and 33 rear ? I currently have 5mm spacers on the front but if I can get the Pro Race wheels in the correct offset out of the box I can take these off.

Again, thanks for all the input so far

[Yex 450]

RobXjcoupe said:

Not sure if you bought any new wheels.
Personally I would fit 7j front wheels with the 215 40 r17 tyre et25. The tyre protects the wheel a bit more but doesn’t look narrow. It’s the size Ive had fitted to my Griff for the last 14 years and it still gets the thumbs up for its wheels

Cheers Rob, still looking at the moment but have posted a note in the Ford section as my current wheels are RS Soft Line alloys so may find an owner in there

[Yex 450]

RobXjcoupe said:

Just so you can see how the 7j front wheel sits in the arch on my Griff.
Out of curiosity what price are you after for the ford wheels?

That is a stunning looking car and the wheels really suit it

I'm not sure what my wheels are worth to be honest but I'm now going to deliver the front two wheels to Lepsons next week for a full refurb and hopefully they will last until the end of the summer when I can look again at a new set of wheels.

[Yex 450]

QBee said:

If you don’t have new wheels budget, you can buy anything off EBay that fits a four stud Ford Fiesta or Focus, and simply fit the wheels with 5mm spacers. Any thicker and you will need longer studs. You may need spigot rings if they original owner bought wheels with a bigger centre hole - a few quid off EBay to get the hole down to 63.4 mm TVR centres.

These Team Dynamics Monzas were £180 off an Essex Focus owner, for example.

I've seen those on your car and really like them. Current favourites are the Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2, the Raceline's that Peter has and the Monza's you have

I may wait until the Rockingham day and view the options there

[Yex 450]

phazed said:

Just another look.

My bank manager hates you

[Yex 450]

QBee said:

These are SP12s, but ProRace 1.2s look very similar

That settles it, I'm going to be looking closely at a serious number of wheels at Rockingham

[Yex 450]

QBee said:

You could always come to Burghley House, Stamford (just off the A1 about 100 miles safe from London) on the Sunday after Easter from 10 am.. 450 TVRs will be there. Therefore by the very nature of that many TVRs being there, there will be a multitude of wheels actually on TVRs to gawp at review with a eye to making a selection.

That might work if I've managed to get the front two wheels over to Lepsons and back by then

[Yex 450]

Jhonno said:

QBee said:

These are SP12s, but ProRace 1.2s look very similar

That is because they are the same wheel!

You're not helping me