12 replies to this topic

[lawrence]

Hey people
May sound like a strange question i know

I'm buying new rear drums for my car as I have no idea when they were last changed and are begining to get a lip. I've been running with them for 7 years. Currently have spacered drums

I also want to space my wheels out an additional 20mm to fill the arches perfectly.

Now do I fit new spacered drums with a small spacer?
Or
Non spacered drums and a larger spacer?

What's the best choice for suspension is it is purely what I fancy?
Thanks in advance, hope this isn't a stupid query

Lawrence

[nicklouse]

I would not use a spacer. Ever. But that is me. Maybe look at changing the wheels.

The spacers that have the screw on stud extenders are lethal. And then consider studs that are available. They are only so long.

[lawrence]

Well I have just changed the wheels to 13x7 revos and their offset unfortunatly isn't quite as deep as the other ones I had bought the arches for when the deal for them fell through.

I've reasearched into the most ideal stud length and minispares have them that will fit the configurations I stated. And of course stud extensions are a recipe for disaster.

I'm angling towards the smallest spacer possible as logically have a built in one would be more secure.

Just wondered what people's opinions were on the subject of that

[carbon]

If you can get the correct length of studs from Minispares then they should be decent quality. There have been quite a few reports of poor quality wheel studs turning up from various sources so worth checking very carefully they are made of suitable material.

 

I would agree, use drum with built-in spacer and the thinnest additional spacer possible. 

[72clubman]

As suggested definitely the spacered drums and smallest spacers.

 

I was intending on running some Metro offset wheels on one of my GT's so required the extra spacing for clearance and was going to go with this option. 

 

http://www.minispare...|Back to search

 

Joe

[MRA]

If you can get the correct length of studs from Minispares then they should be decent quality. There have been quite a few reports of poor quality wheel studs turning up from various sources so worth checking very carefully they are made of suitable material.

 

I would agree, use drum with built-in spacer and the thinnest additional spacer possible. 

 

They are good quality, however first check they will fit your hubs as some are larger in diameter

[lawrence]

Cheers chaps. Those were what I was planning on buying from minispares as they are a well known supplier

And they should fit fine as my current ones are the already spaced drums that it refers to in the description

Thankyou for your recommendations
Lawrence

[Fast Ivan]

the mpi sportspacks left the factory with spaced drums and an 8mm spacer

[Tommyboy12]

My Mini has a spaced drum and 3/4" spacers. Im having to use the longest stud you can get which took several attempts to get right as people kept selling me the wrong lengths! People will probably say you will suffer premature bearing failure but ive never had any issues.

[nicklouse]

My Mini has a spaced drum and 3/4" spacers. Im having to use the longest stud you can get which took several attempts to get right as people kept selling me the wrong lengths! People will probably say you will suffer premature bearing failure but ive never had any issues.

without mentioning the wheel spec you comment means nothing. as the offset of the wheel will effect the loads.

lots of Positive offset will set the wheel back where it should be and then adding width  and changing the ET can leave you with normalish loads. but just sticking a standard wheel out in the air will greatly increase the loads and reduce bearing life.

 

[Tommyboy12]

ET10 offset on my wheels

[lawrence]

I've just checked and mine are et13 not that I know what it means
http://www.minispare...loy-wheel-only/

[Cooperman]

Always remember that the Mini suspension was designed to have 3.5" wheels with either cross-ply 5-20 x 10 or radial 145/80 x 10 tyres. The centre-line of the tyre on the front is the ideal suspension geometry, so any movement of the tyre centre-line outwards adversely affects the geometry. Now with 4.5" wheels with the same distance of tyre inside edge to body the difference is not really noticeable and even 5" don't make much difference. However, that is with the tyre to damper clearance the same. 

So the aim in wheel selection is to obtain the best geometry.

Wider wheels are normally fitted, together with wider tyres, to increase road-holding and thus increase cornering speeds. These increased cornering loads put more stress onto the wheel studs, so that is more reason not to have spacers, unless they are the thin ones.

The best handling Mini I have driven recently was a 1997 MPI with the 4.5" x 12 Minilite wheels fitted with 145/70 x 12 tyres. It just felt so 'right', especially in the wet.

The important thing is to understand what datum offset is needed to get a wheel to fit without the use of spacers.

The factory did fit slim spacers in order to get tyre clearance on the rear radius arms and I have had to do this on my Cooper 'S' when fitting forest rally tyres with thicker reinforced sidewalls, but only 5 mm thick ones.