Revolution wheels fouling suspension mk3 spit

[James1500]

Hi all, I've had the revolutions fitted on my mk3 for a while now (still yet to venture onto the road) but upon turning the wheels they foul the top wishbones, and unfortunately I didn't notice soon enough, having knocked off all the balancing weights and taking a considerable amount of wheel with it. Having looked at the amount of shims on the lower wishbone I figured I'd take a couple out of each side (there were four on the driver's side and 3 on the passenger side), that seemed to improve things slightly but it's still fouling. I've got some cheap wheel spacers on for now so I don't do any more damage (3mm) but I need to figure out whats going wrong before the car's on the road, my initial diagnosis is an incorrect offset? they are 13 x5.5j with 175/70/13 tyres. Has anyone else experienced this?

thanks,

James

[Nick Jones]

Wrong offset.  At least in that direction you can correct it with spacers.  Might need longer wheel studs.

Nick

[sparkytph]

having exactly the same problem whith my mk1v at moment awaiting delivery of wheel spacers to see if this cures it see my earlier post ( wheels rubbing )

:)

[neilnaz]

The Revolution wheels that you have are probably the 5.5J which have a different Offset which is why when I bought mine I went for the 6J which have a more suitable Offset.

[CharlieB]

If they were sold for a Spitfire (Rimmers?) send them back & demand a refund or a set with the correct offset!
http://www.tyresave.co.uk/revoroad.html

[Tim Bancroft]

6J revs will not fit a mk3.

Are they new Revs, if new they will have conical wheel nuts, older types have sleeve nuts.

Best option is to fit spacers and bigger dia. studs-fit big saloon items and buy new wheel nuts. At least with these you can fit spacers safely.

I imagine the wheels are fouling on the end of the top wishbones?

[CharlieB]

FWIW my old 5.5Jx13 Revolutions (sleeve nut type) have an offset of 13mm but I haven't got round to fitting them yet.
The only down side of these is you can't use bigger studs (unless you drill the wheels for bigger sleeve nuts).

[Tim Bancroft]

You can, Revs sell 7/16unf sleeve nuts that fit the same holes, I bought some the other day.
Otherwise try 'Speed Shack' in West Drayton, they have a website.

[CharlieB]

Unfortunately the 7/16" nuts have an 11/16" dia sleeve. My wheels only have 9/16" holes.

[Tim Bancroft]

Charlie,

Have a look at this site:

http://www.mistertee.co.uk/6.html

[CharlieB]

Where do you think I got the list of nuts from  ;)

[Nick Jones]

I have recently heard that the Revs Rimmers are selling are ET25 on the 5.5".  This sounds like too much to me.  Wheels that work for Herald/Vitesse (my area of experience!) seem to be in the ET10 - 15 territory and I'd expect Spit/GT6 to be similar?

Where did the wheels come from James?  Do you know what the ET is?

Cheers

Nick

[CharlieB]

Spitfire standard 4.5Js are ET22
My 5.5J oval holes are ET16 (I've seen 5.5J oval holes with different offsets) & fit fine with no rubbing.
My untried old 5.5J Revs are ET13
The current 5.5J Revs are indeed ET25 see here:

http://www.tyresave.co.uk/revoroad.html

[sparkytph]

im having  same problem going to get some spacers to see if that cures problem

[James1500]

thanks for the replies, Sorry I haven't been able to post until now. I got the wheels from canleys (local to me) I raised the issue with Dave but he says no one's complained about the fitment on sets they've sold so far so I'm a little confused, If I could find a reasonable spacer thats not massively bigger than the hub (like the cheap ones from motor spares) it wouldn't be too bad, I bought the Stainless domed nuts for mine as I think mine are a later type, I'll try to get some pictures over the weekend :-/

[mikeyb]

Dave's a decent chap - and knows Spits etc. like the back of his hand.  If you're local, why don't you pop down and show him the problem first hand?

[James1500]

I have as far as I can (car isnt on the road yet) and he's stuck for ideas too, obviously an offset problem and he suggested using spacers, anyone found spacers the same size as the hub?

[Nick Jones]

658 wrote:

im having  same problem going to get some spacers to see if that cures problem

Summary of this thread seems to be that suppliers (two at least) are selling new Revs for Spit and GT6 at ET25 - which is too much and causes fouling on some cars - I know of someone else local to me who has the same problem with wheels just purchased from Rimmers.
As they were advertised specifically for Spitfire this seems wrong to me!

Anyone had any meaningful feedback from suppliers yet?  "Haven't had any other complaints yet" is a bit of a cop-out IMO.....

Nick

[Hugh]

Ask him to give you another set to try or a full refund they should fit if they do'nt why fit spacers at your expence to correct the problem that seems unfair to me.

[thescrapman]

I wonder if they have teh manufacturer has changed the standard offset they supply recently and it has not been fully picked up on.

ET25 will result in wishbone contact I am quite sure.

with a 10mm spacer you will need longer studs.

Cheers

Colin

[Nick Jones]

Offset/ET is an absolutely KEY part of the wheel specification (as I know to my recent cost!) and cannot be ignored.  For a supplier to describe a wheel as fitting a Spitfire resulting in issues like this is goods not fit for purpose.

The gent I know of locally says his wheels are marked both ET10 and ET25 with the ET10 crossed through.  They are actually ET 25 - which is a shame as ET10 would fit better!  ET25 would be better suited to Dolomites I think.

In general, the same casting will be used for a range of ET with the actual figure being set by machining the rear of the central boss.  Dependent on the wheel nut style used it may be possible to increase ET by a small amount by machining, but it can only be decreased with spacers.

Nick