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18" rims
gsand - 30/11/03 at 12:14 PM

Found a place in Aus that are selling replica rims at pretty nice prices...

Including these replica Lorinsers. They are 18x8.5 selling for A$990. I reckon they would look great on a Locost, especially in that size.



ChrisW - 30/11/03 at 12:37 PM

How much is A$990 in UK£? Not that I'll be buying any - already got 18" MasItaly wheels for my Viento.

Chris


Staple balls - 30/11/03 at 12:44 PM

A$990 ?

about £3.22 isn't it?


nah, £415-ish

http://www.xe.com/ucc


blueshift - 30/11/03 at 03:01 PM

gsand; remember 18" rims will screw your handling.

I think we're going to be fine with the stock 14"s, maybe get some 15"s at the absolute outside


gsand - 30/11/03 at 11:02 PM

quote:
Originally posted by blueshift
gsand; remember 18" rims will screw your handling.

I think we're going to be fine with the stock 14"s, maybe get some 15"s at the absolute outside


Surely 18" shod with low profile rubber is not that much alarger than a set of 15's with some big tires....

[Edited on 30/11/03 by gsand]


blueshift - 1/12/03 at 01:48 AM

yeah, but with tyres that thin your car won't be pleasant to drive.. well, not for my idea of pleasant. it will grip well and when it lets go it will do so suddenly, not what I personally want in a rwd front engine car with 200lbft of torque. I want a chance of getting the back end in again, maybe learn some power oversteer drifting..


mackie - 1/12/03 at 11:34 AM

225/30s on 18 inch rims are about the same circumference as 195/60s on 14s but I'd say that'd be over tyreing your average locost. Then again Hicost runs tyres that wide but on 16inch rims with a taller profile, but then he is putting down 400+ bhp...


garage19 - 1/12/03 at 11:53 AM

Had some time to spare while the missus was shopping so popped into one of those plastic wing and neon strips kinda car shops. While i was laughing at their stick on 6 inch exhaust tips i took the time to pick up a 15"wheel and tyre and a 17"wheel and tyre. Must of looked a right prat with one hanging off each arm but i did discover the 15" setup was considerably lighter than the 17". I tried it with a few makes and models just to make sure. (that i looked a prat and was right about the weights)
I'm gonna stick with 15"s with 195/50s on my indy. The wheels are Pug 1.9Gti (right offset for indy) that i had lying around with toyo proxes that i got for £128 for a set of four off the net.
IMHO if you go too low profile you will get a terrible ride. This happens on normal cars let alone ones that weigh half as much!
What sort of tyre pressures are people running on their locosts?
I imagine they will be fairly low? (20psi)?


mackie - 1/12/03 at 12:51 PM

Sounds like a plan garage19. Locost too! We're using XR4x4 alloys for now.
Where did you get the cheapo toyos btw? That's really cheap!
I just payed £180 for 4x P6000s for my normal car, i'd been quoted up to £250 for them elsewhere too!
I know P6000s are fairly middle of the road when it comes to performance tyres but they don't half grip in the wet compared to the old michelins that were on there before. It's like a whole new car!
How to the Proxes rate? I know the look cool and had hot ladies on the Goodwood stand but how do they compare to similar michelin/goodyear/pirelli/bridgestone/avon tyres?


locoboy - 1/12/03 at 12:56 PM

Mackie,

There was a thread on here about 2 months agowith link to a site comparing different tyres, sorry i cant remember exactly where.

I run Avon ZV1 205/55/15 @ 18psi, grip well but a bit unpredictable as to when its going to make your shorts go brown!


Mark H - 1/12/03 at 05:25 PM

try here - interesting reading...

http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~scoobydoo/motoring/tyres1999/tyres1999.htm

One thing perhaps to bear in mind is how much hard driving the locost will do in the rain.

I got the same tyre set up as colmacoll, but find my front end will probably go before my back? Is this normal?!


mackie - 1/12/03 at 05:36 PM

I'm not sure how you'd define normal for a locost. Tending toward understeer isn't really a bad thing, especially on the road.
Does a bit of throttle tend to set it back on line again?
It could be down to the front geometry that you are loosing grip at the front first. If it's not too severe then i wouldn't worry too much. Try fiddling with camber and maybe add a bit of toe out if you don't already have any.


gsand - 2/12/03 at 11:24 AM

quote:
Originally posted by blueshift
yeah, but with tyres that thin your car won't be pleasant to drive.. well, not for my idea of pleasant. it will grip well and when it lets go it will do so suddenly, not what I personally want in a rwd front engine car with 200lbft of torque. I want a chance of getting the back end in again, maybe learn some power oversteer drifting..


Me=Drifter Boy
Locost=Drifter Car (in my eyes anyway )


locoboy - 2/12/03 at 12:27 PM

in the dry I tend to get a little undesteer then it snaps into oversteer! probably because its got my fat ass sitting over the rear wheels!

In the wet either the understeer is so quick that i dont notice it before it whips the back end round or its just pure oversteer?

Anyway its all good fun!


mackie - 2/12/03 at 12:34 PM

Sounds like what the motoring press would term "lively" handling
I think we're going to have to be restained with the old right foot in ours when it's done. The most powerful car I've ever driven for any really period on the road was a Civic Type-R and that weighs twice as much and is front wheel drive.


locoboy - 2/12/03 at 12:47 PM

it will be ..."easy tiger" for the first few months i can tell you! I had a metro before my car

Can you not forsee squables over drive time if you are building it with someone else?

I get jealous when the misses drives it and im still in it with her, wouldnt let her out in it on her own, she drives everywhere flat out and wouldnt know oversteer untill the hedge was in the car with her


mackie - 2/12/03 at 12:56 PM

I do hope there are no squabbles. I don't think I'd have enough time or motivation to do it alone.
Blue might be off to Uni next September so we may have to come to some agreement about what happens then (especially if it's not finished, which it won't be).


Browser - 3/12/03 at 09:30 AM

RE the 18 inch wheels, Dave walker, late of CCC magazine, always maintained that once you got over about 15 inch diameter that steel wheel were lighter that alloys unles you could afford magnesium that is. Also the sidewalls of your tyres are part of the suspension, albeit a small part and on a small car like a seven replica they need a certain amount of give. Certainly, if you want to look cool with the modified Japanese car mob then fit some garden roller sized wheels/tyres. They'll look cool, even if they do dislodge your fillings and jar your spine. If you want your car to handle well, fit something smaller


Fast Westie - 3/12/03 at 04:08 PM

18" wheels are a waste of time. They are heavy and the tyres are expensive and too hard for a Locost/Westfield/Caterham. The best solution is Yokohama A32R or A48R on 13" rims. 185/60x13 front and rear up to 180bhp, and 205/60x13 rear for over 180bhp. If you are worried in the wet and don't do many track days go for A21Rs. These tyres are inexpensive and provide huge levels of grip.

If you want you can use 14" wheels off the donor, but the tyres are more expensive. As a guideline 13" wheels and tyres works out slightly more than a set of 15" tyres