michael glover
3 posts
Joined: 30/11/2015 21:58:46
Location: hereford United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
wheel arch mods for 13' wheels
anybody got a template for arch mods when using 13" wheels
Posted: May 11, 2016 10:37 PM
taffy1967
1783 posts
Joined: 27/09/2006 18:58:07
Location: Rhondda-Cynon-Taff United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Completely stripped my mini, looking for ideas....
Well if your fitting 13" wheels then the front wheel arches are going to need surgery? Unless their actual sportspack arches?
Posted: Mar 08, 2007 12:53 AM
John
1948 posts
Joined: 28/05/2006 16:49:46
Location: cambridge United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
1st Project
12" wheels are standard and can fit from 4.5-5.5" rims under the arches 13" wheels reqire cutting of arches 10" wheels wont fit over your discs normally, standard tires are 145/70 r12 's but 165/60r12's give better handling and grip. 155/70r12's are often seen too.
Posted: Mar 15, 2007 08:42 PM
lUcCa
14 posts
Joined: 28/08/2005 19:20:53
Location: Bombarral Portugal
13" wheels
I dont have 13 wheels but Ive seen somewhere in this forum the specs to cut the arches try to search!
Posted: Nov 15, 2005 10:27 PM
Stuart
243 posts
Joined: 17/05/2005 11:14:28
Location: Frome United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Sportspack arches
These kind of arches were develpoed to fit 13 wheels so 12 might look a bit funny. Id recomend dowloading the template from the fitting instructions section and just putting them on your car to imagine what they look like with 12 wheels on. I recomend Group 2 fiberglass arches for 12 wheels, theyre slightly wider than the origional plastic arches and require no mods to the wings or inner arch. Ave a look about and see wat u like but its fairly limited for 12 wheels. Stu
Posted: Mar 09, 2006 03:26 PM
luke_j_baker
10 posts
Joined: 26/06/2005 22:15:10
Location: Cardiff United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Sports pack acrches
Im sure these arches are would be bigger (designed with a larger radius!!!) and wont fit standard arches. when fitting 13 wheels you need to cut into the wing and make a bigger wheel arch so they fit properly. Im assuming these arches are designed for that. hope this makes sense... Luke
Posted: Jul 14, 2005 10:30 AM
Vince
68 posts
Joined: 31/01/2005 17:24:31
Location: Seneca United States
12 to 13in wheel advice??
Hi, I have a mini that I race on weekends. It has twelve inch wheels which I am happy with except for the fact that no one makes twelve inch race tires. Is there a 13 inch wheel I can use that wont require any front arch trimming? I think my current ride height will work. I only want to use them for race tires on race days. I will (hopefully) continue to use the twelves for everyday use. Extension beyond the Mini Special arches is not a problem - though I guess that sort of offset will require the trimming I am trying to avoid. Thanks, Vince
Posted: Jul 27, 2005 06:08 PM
pickme
672 posts
Joined: 08/09/2004 23:10:14
Location: Chippenham United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Sports pack arches
If your fitting those arches, then you need to fit 13 wheels or theyll look silly. If you fit 13 whels, then you need to cut your front wings and rear arches, change your steering rack (not sure if anything needs to be done to the rear hubs) and very closely watch your hub bearings as the added weight makes them wear out quickly. Personally, I like the GB 10 x 5 wheels. 10 x 6 can cause problems with tyres as I found with my old Mambas. 165 tyres are a bit skinny for them and it puts a lot of strain on the side walls.
Posted: Mar 28, 2005 08:35 PM
Adam
5 posts
Joined: 03/04/2005 02:46:01
Location: Hamden United States
sportspack arch fitting
Im looking at getting a set of the sportspack arches (in fiberglass or rubber) and was wondering if anyone knew if they would fit on my car. Right now I have 12 inch wheels with 165/60R12 71H tires on them. Are the sportspack arches meant for 13 inch wheels? Also, would they stick out further than the edge of my tire? I cant imagine my wheels can be wider than 5 inches. Im going to be repainting everything soon and all i want out of this is smooth, painted arches. if the sportspack arches arent an option i suppose i could just smooth down some standard plastic ones and paint them. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Posted: Mar 09, 2006 04:17 AM
Modified Arches
12" x 5.5 ultralights will rub. Mine do at standard height but it doesn't seem to get worse when lowered.
I would recommend cutting back the same amount as required for 13" arches to save any bother later on if you choose to lower the car or fit 13" wheels. It's quite a task to cut, re-shape and repaint (very thoroughly repaint) the wings so it's as well to do it once properly than twice.
Standard arches should still cover the enlarged cutout in the wing but you can check this before you cut with the templates. You can get these free on this site in the Fitting Instructions section so don't give your money to someone on eBay for poor photocopies.
I've got group2 arches on mine and the cut away for the wheels doesn't cause any problems.
It's probably worth pointing out that Wood & Picket type arches are a no-no with modded metal work because they fix to the original lip, For the same reason, they don't work with 5.5" plus wheels because the tyres rip the arches off when they rub!
Posted: Feb 14, 2007 11:33 PM
r. sweeting
41 posts
Joined: 27/11/2006 11:13:38
Location: leeds United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
I have a new front end ready to go on my mini but was thinking of modifying the arches before i put them on because at some point dowm the line i am either gonna space out the wheels i have (6"x12") or buy some wide 13's. But i have absolutely know idea how it is done, do you simply cut away some of the arche or have it flared out? if there any websites that anyone knows of that has some instructions could you please let me know. Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated!
Posted: Feb 15, 2007 08:45 AM
Jordan
65 posts
Joined: 09/11/2007 20:36:36
Location: bonnybridge United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
lowering a mini.
is it a good idea to lower my mini with the 13" wheels.i read in a magazine that if you lower them it will either rub on the arches or hit the ground with the speed bumps
Posted: Nov 24, 2007 05:25 PM
i_am_not_a_name_i_am_a_number?
51 posts
Joined: 15/02/2005 20:00:43
Location: tamworth United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
wheels
i ran 6 by 12 minilights with 165 tires on a past mini and had to trim the front arches a bit. It was also lowered so that might have been a factor! I left the rears un touched as the wheels caused no problems. Iv seen people who fit fat 13 wheels cut the arch, from A-panel to valence but i think this is too much (at least in my case) I trimmed a nice curve from top centre (below side repeater) to about an inch at the end (near the bumper) Also remember not too cut too much off. Leave some extra material to form a new lip.
Posted: Feb 16, 2005 09:58 PM
12" to 10"
If youve got 12 wheels you CANT FIT 10 wheels in there place without fitting either drums (dont even think about it) Cooper 7 disks (only slightly better braking than opening the door while moving) Cooper S disks (as Cooper disks but add rubbing youre foot on the tyre) or aftermarket alloy four pot (absolutely stonking if rather pricey). You dont need to change the swivel hubs if youre going from 12 to Cooper S 7.5 disks but you do if for some unknown reason, youre fitting 7 disks. As for arches, 10 wheels would look very odd in sports pack arches - not because they are a bit too wide for the wheels, but the radius of the arch is too big. It would look like the wheels are too small for the car. Better to fit Wood & Picket type. Personally, Id stick with 12 or go to 13 as the choise of tyres for 10 wheels is very low and getting worse all the time.
Posted: Jun 26, 2005 04:20 PM
mini mad me
34 posts
Joined: 11/10/2004 08:05:28
Location: Overton United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
re
7 x 12 wheels will be near impossible to find (I thinkn they were produced for race use back in the day, and you cant easily find tyres for them. You can easily get 6 x 12s from many places. But I feel that they would not fill the arches without spacers. What you are effectively doing is increasing the offset of the wheel (making it stick out further) and one concern of many people is that this will put excessive load on the wheel bearing. In my experience, I have never had a problem with using spacers. One piece of advice I would give, is that if you go down the route of fitting wheel spacers, ensure that you use the ones with extended bolts, rather than screw on bolt extensions. I would also say, dont use a spacer more than 3/4 thick. I think that with a 165/60 R12 tyre and 6 x 12 alloys, you will get the look you want, but its difficult to tell how wide a spacer is needed til the wheels are on the car. IMHO group 5 arches look good with a set of 7 x 13 superlites under them, but as you have said, this means modifications to the shape of the arches, which some people are not willing to do. Some people do find that, when fitting wider 12 wheels and spacers, small amounts of trimming are required, as when the wheels are turned, they can rub. All worth bearing in mind!
Posted: Dec 12, 2004 09:56 AM
Leonard
95 posts
Joined: 10/11/2004 19:56:22
Location: Stroud United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
arch cutting
if you havent done already, youll need to cut the front arches the same way you would for 13 wheels this is coz theyre wider, and will rub when on about half turning lock. The back should be fine.
Posted: Feb 01, 2005 09:36 PM
Mike
2 posts
Joined: 12/08/2005 11:53:40
Location: broxburn United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
10" and sports pack
I have just fitted 10 x 6 mb racing wheels to my mini and they fill the width of the arches better than the 13 x 6 revolutions. lowering the car as much as possible should help the appearance but it still looks a bit odd.
Posted: Aug 12, 2005 05:09 PM
6x12s
Yep. Same probs with 13 wheels. I have some of the same problems with 5 1/2 wide wheels where the tyre rubs on the arch on full lock but they dont rub on the inner panels as 6 wide wheels would.
Posted: Nov 08, 2005 01:14 PM
Crashnburn1981
158 posts
Joined: 04/12/2004 16:50:02
Location: glastonbury United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
I have 13 x 7 wheels and have no problems with rubbing, i have fitted a couple pairs to different minis and not seen any of these problems, may this just be a problem with specific wheels, for instance the deep dish wheels are the kind i am fitting, would they be set further out of the wheel arch ?
Posted: Nov 10, 2005 10:24 PM
Re:
Well for a start the front wheel arches will need trimming to stop the tyre on the 13" wheels from rubbing. Plus if your suspension is too low (settled down with age), then you'll also have clearance problems.
Then there's the steering rack and you generally need to fit those adaptor things that Mini specialists sell to prevent the steering from reaching full lock. Otherwise the wheels rub on the arch even more (Rover built Sportspack Minis came with reduced turn steering racks).
Posted: Jun 16, 2009 01:45 AM