Another tyre question ... again ..

From the breakers / eBay though Conor (it would be good if they were and might be suitable geometry being for the same base vehicle as mine)?

Thanks for that but I guess they aren't going to be cheap? If I was building a new Westfield they would probably be ok but for an 18yr old jeep? :-(

And while I have you here, would you know of any other (other than rallydesign) suppliers of the MKII d-i-y coilover kits please?

All the best ..

T i m

About =A3300 I'd have thought. Why not for an 18 year old jeep?=20 Cheapskate :)

Burton Power.=20 =20

--=20 Conor

I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't=20 looking good either. - Scott Adams

Realist. ;-) The 'need' here is to keep the thing road legal, the 'desire' is to keep it looking and running as nicely as possible and the 'fact' is I don't have a lot of money to throw at this right now. :-(

However, if spending (say) £300 got me a new set (5?) of properly fitting (preferably steel, never have liked alloy) wheels that would give me a better choice of tyres now and in the future it could be considered money well spent?

They were the badgers ... brilliant thanks!

(100lb/" in 7, 8, 9, 10.5, 12 and 14" lengths .. cool!)

All the best ...

T i m

Ok, not replying to myself here per-se but I have an update to this particular question but I'm not sure I understand it?

"Our website states that the Winter Tact WT60 185 R14 94P RF tyres are retreated from Germany, with the ISO certificate. The Load Index for this tyre is 94, which means they can bear up to 670 kg, or 1477 pounds. Therefore, their Ply Rating is 12, and the Load Range is F."

It's the last bit I don't understand .. well, I understand the words but can't fit them in with my understanding of things?

I mean, I think std car tyres are typically referred to as '4 ply' and van tyres might be 6 or 8 ply, but 12 ply?

So, is this just wrong information or one stiff walled tyre!

All the best ..

T i m

It's a stiffy. A load rating of 94 is quite low down the range though, so they must be thin plies!

I've seen a 4WD site saying steel belted radials (car tyres) come in 6-12 plies, whereas 'off track' 4WD tyres for heavy duty use (builders trucks and the like) can be up to 16 plies.

Standard car tyres are quite soft, really. Trailers and caravans usually use 6 or 8 ply since they aren't so concerned with comfort...

You should be able to get a set of alloys and tyres for that kind of money from Ripspeed or similar chav accessory stores.

Isn't the Sierra the same PCD and centre bore, though? - must be loads of Sierra wheels kicking around the scrap-yards.

That's possibly the best name for a tyre ever.

Beats the RoadStone Dark Horses I had on m 155 when I bought it.

Well that's what felt wrong here also Paul.

Ok ..

Understood, and need to deal with varying loads etc.

So, now what, should I reply asking for further info or look elsewhere?

All the best ..

T i m

Certainly is, but 15" Sierra wheels are very, very rare. Basically Cosworth only. I've got one in my garage, must put it on ebay.

Frog-eye Scorpios have the same PCD and centre bore, and you could get upto 17"s on them.

It sounded to me like you thought anything higher than 4-ply would be too stiff for road/cart track use. So forget these, they are basically light truck tyres. Unless you're happy with them being stiffer than car tyres. It's all your choice!

Put softer springs on instead maybe?

I gave a set of 13" Sierra wheels away when I broke my estate a while back.

I think the best bet (from a practical pov) is to just go with whatever 'winter' tyre I can find that's the right size (that I know fits and works) on my existing wheels and cross the new_wheels_bridge sometime along the way.

Assuming I can't get a more convincing answer to the remould / ply question on these ..

then it's either the Toyo:

Or

(not necessarily from there though).

At least all are designed for M+S and the last two are good quality so should last well etc (if not looking quite as chunky as I'd have liked).

All the best ..

T i m

T i m (T i m ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

If you go up to 15", there's

185/65 seems to be the biggest 14", though, which is going to be too short for you.

Well, that assuming they are actually 12ply Paul and I thought we weren't convinced?

It is and in a way there is too much ... or it could appear there could be as I'm not sure I can be sure of all the facts given.

Well, I'm doing that as well, in the hope to just get back to where I was and what I know used to work well. This is back to the point of understanding .. I repeatedly requested that the Rickman springs being offered weren't too stiff and I was assured they would be fine. How come I found that they were impossibly stiff .. what part of 'soft' did they not understand? What made it difficult for me is they wouldn't even qualify what the rate was of the springs on offer so I had no way of predicting the difference between the stock Ford springs I was used to and their replacements. At least if I fit a 100 lb/inch coilover conversion I know they will be around that or less (strut not dead upright), and I also know I will be able to adjust the pre-load / ride height as a bonus.

Even with my original 'soft' suspension setup the 6-8 ply tyres I tried (I can't remember which) were unbearably 'stiff'. I could make them more compliant by lowering the pressures but that wasn't a safe long term solution.

All the questions (here and elsewhere) are an effort to try to minimize the risk (and so wasted time and money). I know exactly what I want but I don't know (or am not sure I know but may well do) how to get there ... :-(

All the best ..

Nice thought Adrian (thanks).

I think so .. a 195/75-14 though is nearly identical in diameter to the existing and might my fill the 6J rims slightly better, but is another 'weird' size (and not cheap).

The only issue with that size would be if I had to replace one tyre in the future and found them not to be available?

All the best ..

T i m

I'm convinced it's plausible... but then I haven't got much of a stake in this!

When you say 'unbearably stiff' are you talking about the tyres, suspension or both? Surely it's the combination that gives you the ride you're looking for, so randomly changing one or the other is unlikely to be very precise.

I think once you get into non-standard suspension setups and handling you are well into the trial-and-error field. Which tends to cost, unless you have an owners club or something to tap the experience of?

Incidentally, the figures I can find for PCD etc for a Scrote are:

4x108, 35-38mm offset, 63.3mm centre bore.

It lists Escort, Fiesta, Ka, Puma, Orion, Focus, Sierra, Mondeo, Grandad as the same fitting.

It also has the same or very similar size down for:

TVR Cerbera (good luck finding steel wheels off one ;-) Volvo 850 '93 on (65mm centre)

Some Saab wheels will fit with a 30mm offset - I *think* that means they will be 5-8mm further from the car, therefore giving a bit more clearance for the suspension if you need it - but possibly introducing all sorts of handling issues. But then again, it's only an old kit car (no offence ;-)

;-)

True, sort of. Because I had built and driven the Ranger quite a bit over the years changing one component, even if it was part of an inter related chain, I could generally sense the impact of said new bit. There is also often supplementary evidence .. like, dumping all my 17 stone on the front and noting that it (now) doesn't move at all reinforces my feeling that the suspension is too stiff (that and watching the wheels hit the ground off the two-poster for the first time and noting there was nearly no sag on the thing ..?) :-(

Well, sort of, and I'm probably doing that more by having some non-std springs made than by fitting the coilover conversion (something done to many Escorts / Capris out there today).

Well I have, however it seems that many of the other owners either don't care or actually want their vehicle to ride / handle differently to me? Also and to be fair to the guy that recommended the current springs to me many of the other owners have fitted heavier engines (2L Pinto), giving a similar effect as I am looking for with the little

1300 Kent.

Check (I have one wheel here that I've had shot blasted)

95mm (6J / 152mm)

Well, less than 70mm as there are hub inserts and I don't have a spare lose.

So were any of those 15" out of interest? The thing is, I don't think this Ranger takes a standard wheel in any case .. I think they were actually made especially for Rickman by Weller (or whoever) although I don't remember these being Wellers.

Just out of interest I did first try a set of wheels like these ..

But you may notice a raised 'rib' around the inside at about 8" diameter. When fitted to my Escort the rib was right on the outside of both the front disk carrier / hub (no problem) and the outer edge of the rear brake drum, causing the drum to flex round the end of the half shaft and foul on the brake shoes (or something). :-(

! ;-)

Ok ..

Or way too much if it currently runs with 95mm offset (and the very corner of the current tyres are only a few mm away from the lower spring cup). :-(

Handling isn't something it's ever suffered or likely to suffer Paul ;-)

None taken, and that's actually part of it's charm.

It went through the MOT today and on the way back the inner drivers door handle broke off! (the plastic snapped) ;-)

The nice thing about that is I know how easy it will be to replace (assuming I can get one in the first place that is), pretty much like everything on the car.

All the best ..

T i m

Hmm. Well my Mondeo is running 15" alloys with a 4x108 PCD from an early Scorpio.. so it's definitely possible.

Heh. I had exactly those wheels on my Tamiya Hornet when I raced it, years ago ;-)

It's just the width and offset then Paul, 95 is a big difference to

35?

Did you know they still make the Hornet Paul?

We had similar wheels on the Yokomo MR4TC's our Daughter and I were racing quite recently!

We gave up the car racing because of the cost. Even a set of wheels/tyres would cost about £25 and would be knocked out in one full days racing ... times the three cars we would enter .. :-(

Now we race these instead ..

All the best ..

T i m

Very different offset though :-) You don't see comedy MkII escorts with XR3i wheels sticking out tne arches anymore.