|Date: 9-7-93 11:50am
|From: Dean Zywicki:dcrt:nih
| To: {british-cars@autox.team.net}:BITNET
|Subj: Midget wheels
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I had a pretty uneventful 400 mile beach trip this past weekend in my
midget. I got tired of people saying that it wouldn't be very good for
anything like that. I finally got the right combination of wheels in
the right places so that almost all of the vibration was gone between 60
and 70 (I was actually cruising for a long part of the trip at 70, in my
midget, I couldn't believe it). Anyway, towards the beginning of the
trip one of my tires (new ~3000 miles on them) decided it didn't want to
hold it's air anymore. It has done this twice over the last two months.
Both times I put more air in it and it was fine. This time, however, I
was in the middle of a trip, so I put the spare on and continued. On
the way back from the beach I stopped at a tire place to see about my
tire. The tire guy said that the rim was pretty well bent up and he
would do the best he could. He got it mounted up with some tar-like goo
around the bead. I made it home with the spare without further
incident. Besides the tire, the trip was great.
The big question o' the day is: I know that three of the wheels on
my midget are way over-due for replacement. I really don't feel like
messing with used unknown condition wheels and with paying for school
etc. new OE style wheels are out of the question. I've briefly browsed
the auto store displays witht he American Racing wheels and have found a
few that I could live with. The problem is when I go to ask someone for
help they always ask "What kinda' car ya' gots?". I have to say "'76 MG
Midget." Then it's "MG, who makes that?, no listing in the book."
The bolt pattern must be the same as some japanese car with 13"
wheels. I tried going in with the approximate bolt patern measurements,
but didn't get much success either. If I could go in with a newer car
model it would make things much easier. I found one 13" X 5.5" wheel
that's looks pretty sharp and it's only ~$50 which fits my budget
perfectly.
Anyone have any experience with putting these way too shiny boy-
racer wheels on their LBC? Am I asking for clearance problems and many
other untold problems with different wheels?
Thanks for any help,
Dean
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