New Wheels

[hammerdown7]

Here's a couple of shots of my Cosworth showing off its new wheels. They are 15X8 zero offset with 225/50X15 tires. I had to roll the rear outside fender lips. On the front near full lock the tires hit the inner plastic fender. The springs have been cut lowering the car about an inch and a half. The left front hits somewhere on the edge of the tread on large bumps. I can hear it but I can't see any marks on the tire. The wheels are dual lug pattern 4X100 and 4X114.3. I had the front rotors re-drilled 4X100. Found some lugs whose knurl was large enough to re-drill the stock holes but on the 4X100 bolt circle. The rears use adapters that go from 4X4 to 4X100. They were one inch wide but were turned downed to 13/16 which helped the rear outside fender clearance. I have about 3/4 inch clearance on the inside of the rears. I made plugs for the extra lug holes, they could have been filled a little better but I thought the paint would puddle more. After painting I decided they were "good enough", certainly better than leaving them open. The front caps that came with the wheels were almost flat and would not cover the bearing cups. I searched and found some plastic chrome ones and then also found the bow-tie discs that completed the job, I had to glue them on. The wheels are sold on eBay as a Miata replacement and were about half the price of similar designs from Panasport. All in all I'm quite satisfied.
Dick

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[rpoz-29]

That looks really good. Gives you a lot more flexibility in tire selections, too.

[hammerdown7]

Thanks Bill, that was the reason for the switch.

Dick

[cjbiagi]

Dick, those look awesome. I know exactly what you mean about the tire rubbing on the inner liner at full lock. That's one thing that has delayed me putting my 5 lug front wheels on yet. One thing that will help is making sure the caster is set to the max on the cam bolts. This pushes the wheel forward slightly and will give a little more clearance.

[80 MONZTA]

Those look nice!

[jon72vega]

Dick, those look GREAT!

[hammerdown7]

Thanks for the kind words. When I first got them I thought the fronts were going to be a problem with the width but they have worked out fine.

Dick

[72vega5.3]

wheels look real sharp

[clintjohns]

It's amazing how much better they look than a 14" wheel. Great job

[Ishiftem]

That looks awesome!!!!!!!! The color of the car with the wheels and stripes is just perfect. I have had thoughts about doing similar styled wheels painted like yours with the dark blue I have or maybe dark green. I think you got the look perfect! Really makes the car rich looking instead of cheap and flashy. I could not say enough good things about the combo.

[hammerdown7]

Thanks again. I was looking for a little lighter gold to match the stripes but settled for, are you ready, a 90's Toyota Camry gold. That hurt just a bit but I got over it when they finally were mounted.
Dick

[ROB]

I must say, nice look. At first glance, if you didn't know what Cosworth wheels looked like, you would think this was OEM.

Rob

[283vega]

Nice looking wheels! Who did the adapter and who turn it down for you There sure is a hugh selection of WHEELS in your new bolt pattern

[hammerdown7]

Here's where I bought the adapters, http://adaptitusa.com/4-lugto4-lugadapters.aspx

I have a friend who has a lathe and I turned them down. These were thicker on the back side mounting holes than another pair I had used for more than 100K miles on my S10 without a problem so I took a little off the back and off the front.

I had found others that were only 5/8 inch thick that used a special shallow pin drive nut to mount them to the axle but the nuts only came in metric sizes and the company didn't make the 4X4 pattern.

If you wanted to go to the trouble of pulling your axles they could easily be re-drilled like I did to the rotors but to use these wheels they would still require a spacer to get enough clearance on the backside.

Dick

[NixVegaGT]

Those 225's are going to make a HUGE difference! Nice man. Make sure to report changes in handling. Thanks Dick.