Fast Marina Magazine

Can you fit a alloy minilight style 14/5.5 on a Marina or should it be a 13/5.5 please.
Many thanks in advance.
Gary

All factory wheels were 13" as far as I'm aware but no reason why you can't fit 14" so long as the offset is sensible. Obviously going for a lower profile tyre to compensate.

As long as they have the same stud pattern and similar offset, they should be fine.

Optional tyre sizes to match the standard 145x13 or 165/70x13 tyres (with % difference) are :-
155/65R14 101 -1.77%
165/65R14 107 3.85%
175/60R14 105 1.90%
185/55R14 102 -0.91%
195/55R14 107 3.85%
205/50R14 103 -0.26%
http://www.tyresizecalculator.com/

I run 14" wheels on my Coupe.


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Does it run ok Chris ?

Yes fine, as has been said earlier, you need to research the correct wheel/tyre sizes and the wheel offset (usually quoted as ET +/- xxx mm. The standard Marina wheel ET is 13mm (1/2") and a Dolomite Sprint wheel is 25mm from memory, so you would need front wheel spacers of at least 12mm to overcome the difference, otherwise you will rub the inside of the tyre on the top suspension knuckle.

If you use wheel spacers then the threads on the wheel studs will be too short, so you then have to source longer wheel studs (special Spitfire studs from Jigsaw Racing).

Then you have to think about tyres, if they are wider and still 80 ratio they will screw up your speedo reading.

My advice would be to pick a wheel you like and then do the research on the ET, stud spacing (PCD) etc. And then come back here and we'll be able to guide you on the rest of it.

Hi Chris
I am told that 15 x 5.5 with 4 x 95.25mm pcd and offset (+15). is what I need and they must be hub centric.Using spacers wood defeat the hub centric part .Are you aware of any alloy or steel 14" wheels that would just bolt on.
Thanks
Michael

Email Minilite in the UK, you might have to get a set made to order. Could you import a set of 13" tyres from Japan or UK or Korea? They're still available here, from name brands like Kumho.

MichaelG47 wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 4:48 am Hi Chris
I am told that 15 x 5.5 with 4 x 95.25mm pcd and offset (+15). is what I need and they must be hub centric.Using spacers wood defeat the hub centric part .Are you aware of any alloy or steel 14" wheels that would just bolt on.
Thanks
Michael

I think you might get away with those. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I think standard Marina wheels are 4.5" wide. Offset is measured from the centre of the wheel (0 offset the hub face is exactly central, +ve moves it towards the outside edge of the wheel and -ve moves it towards the car). Although your intended wheels are a similar offset to the standard one (the change in offset would bring the wheel 3mm in if they were the same width) the extra width of your new wheels would add about 13mm to that, so 16mm- If you have about 20mm clearance with factory wheels then you'd have enough room to fit these. The outside face will be about 10mm further out if I've got my maths right! A lower offset (0 would be about right) would help the clearance between wheel and suspension and instead move the outer face of the wheel out of the car (giving wheel arch interference issues instead).

The example Chris used of Dolly sprint wheels is a high +ve offset effectively moving the wheel into the car (by moving the hub face outwards), plus an increased width- the inside of the wheel is then over an inch closer to the car which is why they don't fit...

As for spacers, you only need hubcentric if the wheel nuts required for your particular choice of alloy do not align the wheel. Unless your chosen wheel has the correct hub bore for your hub or you have spigot rings fitted they won't be relying on the hub for alignment anyway, spacers or not. If it particularly concerns you making a set of custom hubcentric spacers would not be a difficult job for a halfway competent machine shop if suitable ones aren't available "off the shelf", although they would have to be reasonably wide.

Thanks, guys, All very helpful.

In general and specifically for Marinas and Itals, the wheels on classic cars were never hub centric, so hub centric wheels are not essential.

The wheels I have used on mine were firstly some 6x13 Performance MiniLites, these needed generic 5mm spacers to correct the offset - the inside of the tyres were rubbing on the top front suspension balljoint/arm. They did not require hub spigots to locate the wheels as they had 60 degree bevelled steel inserts in the stud holes and I used 60 degree bevelled wheel nuts to centre the wheels on the hub.

The second alloys are early Revolution Alloys they are 6x14. The reason I went for 14” rims was to fit over the Princess calipers. Without the wide brake calipers, they would also have fitted with the 5mm spacers. They use a different mounting system of long sleeved wheel bolts which clamp to the wheel hub.
When I designed the spacers for the Revolutions, I could have designed in some hub Centre spigots to fill the inside of the revs, but the original wheel bolts do a perfectly good job.



It’s only modern wheels on modern cars that are hub centric, but most wheel companies aren't used to classic cars and so give advice based on how modern wheels are fitted.

There are two parallel conversations going on here, can we combine the conversations as I’m getting bored repeating myself?

MarinaCoupe wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 6:03 pm In general and specifically for Marinas and Itals, the wheels on classic cars were never hub centric, so hub centric wheels are not essential.

The wheels I have used on mine were firstly some 6x13 Performance MiniLites, these needed generic 5mm spacers to correct the offset - the inside of the tyres were rubbing on the top front suspension balljoint/arm. They did not require hub spigots to locate the wheels as they had 60 degree bevelled steel inserts in the stud holes and I used 60 degree bevelled wheel nuts to centre the wheels on the hub.

The second alloys are early Revolution Alloys they are 6x14. The reason I went for 14” rims was to fit over the Princess calipers. Without the wide brake calipers, they would also have fitted with the 5mm spacers. They use a different mounting system of long sleeved wheel bolts which clamp to the wheel hub.

6DC5DDF1-2D3B-487E-AB3A-78D40B134088.jpeg

When I designed the spacers for the Revolutions, I could have designed in some hub Centre spigots to fill the inside of the revs, but the original wheel bolts do a perfectly good job.



It’s only modern wheels on modern cars that are hub centric, but most wheel companies aren't used to classic cars and so give advice based on how modern wheels are fitted.

Chris, you haven't got a high res version of the picture in that post (revs next to minilites) you could send me by any chance?

Cheers!

Matt

I’ll see what I have on the PC, I had a big disk crash 3 years ago and lost a lot of stuff before I started using Cloud backup.

Thanks Chris.

I meant to send that as a PM, doh...