I'm coming up to the time when I will buy a set of wheels, but one point keeps nagging (no, not the wife!)

My rear axle is out of an Escort, and designed for wheels with a 19mm offset.

My front uprights are off a Cortina, designed for an offset of around 38mm.

At present I have an old set of Capri Ghia alloys with something like 38mm offset, with spacers on the rear axle. I would prefer not to have the spacers.

So should I buy 4 wheels with 19mm offset, knowing that the fronts will be wrong? Or should I buy 38mm offset, knowing that the back will have to have spacers? Or should I buy 2 of 19mm and 2 of 38mm?

Help!

David

2 X 19
2 X 38

sounds the best idea to me

BTW have you had it running yet dave

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Originally posted by timf
2 X 19
2 X 38

sounds the best idea to me

BTW have you had it running yet dave

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David are you sure that Cortina offset is 38? The info I found was that Cortina was also ET19 same as Escort.

Stuart and I have certainly had ours made with that offset for both front and rear (Cortina rear axle as well as uprights). We got ours direct from Compomotive for a total of £465.89 inc vat + delivery. That's for their MO model with 2x 7" x 15" for the rear and 2x 6" x 15" for the front. With Compomotive you can specify the PCD and offset you require as they are mostly custom made. They do take a will to arrive but we are very happy with them. The rears certainly look the business and will pretty much fill the arches completely.

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Originally posted by andyd
David are you sure that Cortina offset is 38? The info I found was that Cortina was also ET19 same as Escort.

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I'll upload a picture of one of our rears for you to look at and let you know the distance between the inside edge of the tyre and the trailing arms.

As we are using a Cortina axle we obviously have a bit more room than you do with an Escort one. Any idea how less less sticks out for the Escort one 'cause you should be able to work out how much offset you can get away with based on my measurement.

The offset for escorts and cortina's (and capri's for that matter) should be ET19. Changing this will affect the handling at the front and strain the wheel bearings at the rear. It's not just a question of how the wheels fill the rear arches.

Take a look at Rorty's site for a good explanation

That's what I said diddle I?
That's certainly what I ordered from Compomotive in any case. They fit, they look good, they keep the chassis off the floor.

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Originally posted by Mark Allanson
The offset for escorts and cortina's (and capri's for that matter) should be ET19.

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I just put my new wishbones on today, the line drawn between the upper and lower balljoints hits the floor inside the inner edge of the wheel. This gives a scrub radius of about 75mm which seems a tad excessive to say the least. I have read that 25mm is optimal. I think we may all be a bit too worried about the scrub radius thing if I am correct. I know that people have completed cars and used sierra wheel and the car has driven OK.

I am so keen to get everything exactly right on this build, but I may be taking everything as gospel when perhaps it ain't

Any comments, clarification?

If you're going for anything like 75mm scrub radius on the front (asuming the tyres/rims will clear everything), you'll need to fit power steering too!
It won't matter so much on the rear, asuming, again, there is sufficient clearance. You'll probably chew the bearings out rather rapidly though.
What ever came as standard on your front/rear hubs, is what you should be fitting now. Simple as that, no scrub worries, and no bearing worries.
Sure some people fit all sorts, and don't know the difference, but they're the type that convince themselves it's all fantastic, just because they made the modification, and to them it looks good.

And while they're at it, they should run their EFI motor on DERV....well it is still fuel, and it will fit in the tank!

[Edited on 13/7/03 by Rorty]

Erm not quite Rorty!

If you go for a larger overall rolling radius then you will need to change the offset to compensate. Otherwise you could end up with either zero offset or a larger offset, neither of which is really desirable!

Either way you need to know where the kingpin inclination intersects the ground, then get your wheels to suit.
You would probably be best trying to keep original scrub radius, but slight changes should not make too much diference as your car is a lot lighter.

Terry

Rorty, this is what I mean, everything is standard, ET19 wheels as per the Cortina, standard hub carrier, book(ish) wishbones.

If you draw the line through the balljoints, its going to hit the tarmac inside the wheel! It must have been how the Cortina was set up, but they only had 1.5 degrees of castor probably to compensate for the (potentially) heavy steering.

Can anyone do a double check on their car just to make sure its not just me
Rescued attachment ScrubAngles.jpg

Mark, looking at the picture, the wheel has a lot of positive camber, which is making it look far worse.

HTH Stu.

Yes, I've noticed that too, look at the thickness of the balljoint lock nut - I am going to have to cut them in half or get ford ones.

Still the scrub radius looks extreem, don't you think?

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Originally posted by Mark Allanson
Yes, I've noticed that too, look at the thickness of the balljoint lock nut - I am going to have to cut them in half or get ford ones.

Still the scrub radius looks extreem, don't you think?

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Spyderman:

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Erm not quite Rorty! If you go for a larger overall rolling radius then you will need to change the offset to compensate. Otherwise you could end up with either zero offset or a larger offset...

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Rorty, this is what I mean, everything is standard, ET19 wheels as per the Cortina, standard hub carrier, book(ish) wishbones.
Still the scrub radius looks extreem, don't you think?

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the balljoint lock nut - I am going to have to cut them in half or get ford ones.

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Originally posted by Stu16v
Mark, looking at the picture, the wheel has a lot of positive camber, which is making it look far worse.

HTH Stu.

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...But in changing the camber angle the balljoints move along with the upright, hub, etc...

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Originally posted by Stu16v

You are correct, but the centre of the tyre basically remains in the same place, so when the camber is altered, the top ball joint moves towards the car, the bottom ball joint and the tyre contact patch remains (pretty much) constant. If a new line were then drawn through the ball joints to the ground I am fairly confident that the scrub radius would be drastically reduced.

HTH Stu.

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You would need to put in a lot of negative camber in order to move the scrub radius a decent amount. Then you loose grip on the heavily cambered tyre and wear them out rapidly.

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