Well, the simplest solution is to stick with a size of tire that actually
fits without rubbing. Since you are staying with the standard, narrow,
14-in. wire wheels, you obviously aren't concerned with maximum contact
patch and ultimate grip. If you did manage to find a set of super-sticky
hi-tech tires to fit these rims, you'd probably break all the spokes
autocrossing them, anyway.
I know plenty of folks run 185/70-14 with no problems. And P175R14 also
fits, though it's likely to be harder to find. That's about it for sure-fire
width options, though.
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the primer red one with chrome wires
on 9/30/05 8:59 AM, Matt Trebelhorn at matt.lists@trebelhorn.com wrote:
> For the second time in as many weeks, the list talks me out of a
> project. Unlike the aborted attempt to rebuild a wire wheel, though,
> I don't feel bad for abandoning the plan to roll the fender lip --
> I'm glad to have an excuse not to mess with bodywork any more than I
> need to; and I really don't want to mess up the not-terrible body and
> paint...
>
> So, my initial thoughts were:
> 1. Roll fender lip
> 2. Install panhard rod.
>
> The fender lip won't get much clearance, might screw up the lines,
> paint, etc; so it's a non-starter (at least for me, at least at this
> point).
>
> Thinking about it, the panhard rod kits for MGBs anchor to the
> chassis on the left side, and to the right side of the axle. Because
> it's a panhard rod, not a watts linkage (and we don't have room for a
> watts linkage in an MGB with a standard fuel tank, and the center
> portion of the axle isn't really designed to absorb cornering forces)
> it allows/requires some side-to-side movement. And because it's set
> up the direction it is -- and again, there's really no other way,
> packaging-wise -- it will induce exactly the kind of movement I'm
> trying to avoid. In left-hand turns, or when the suspension
> compresses, the axle will move toward the left side of the car. So
> it would seem like the panhard rod is a non-starter, at least to fix
> this specific problem. (Does this make sense, or am I overestimating
> the amount of movement in the panhard rod?)
>
> So the suggestions from the list so far seem to basically boil down
> to two things:
>
> 1. A number of suggestions which might work for people with bolt-on
> wheels (find wheels with different offset, get somebody to trim your
> wheels on a lathe, switch to a wire-wheel axle and bolt-on hubs for
> reduced axle width) but not so much for me, since I've got wires; and
> 2. Variations on brute force (baseball bats etc; cut-and-weld front
> spring perches...) which I am somewhat reluctant to do.
>
> I want to maintain a dual-purpose car, used as a daily driver but
> occasionally in autocross (currently FSP) and very occasionally for
> track days. And, ahem, without throwing great whopping piles of
> money at it, as in the hypothetical SM-2 car above...
>
> What other possibilities am I missing? Moving the spring pads on the
> axle housing? (seems like a bad idea, inducing strange driveshaft
> angles, but I'm trying to think of possibilities) Other axle-locating
> devices?
>
> Any ideas appreciated.
> Matt
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