[Mgs] losing a wheel

[Paul Hunt]

Interesting, the V8 wheel nuts also have a flat washer that clamps onto the 
flat face of the wheel centre, and not a conical seat, if I understand you 
correctly.  Using a conical nut in this case will only give a tiny clamping 
area, probably quite capable of distorting the alloy and loosening the nut.

As an aside because of this (on V8s) there is a certain amount of movement 
of the wheel on the shank of the nuts which could affect balance.  Since I 
started getting balance problems on the V8 I've always used two Rostyle nuts 
(with conical end) to centre the wheel on the studs before fitting and 
tightening two of the correct nuts, then removing the Rostyle nuts and 
fitting the other two V8 nuts.  Maybe over-doing it, but once you get into 
the habit it's easier to keep going.  I welded a strip of metal from an old 
body panel round the flats of the Rostyle nuts so the standard wheel brace 
fits them.

PaulH.

----- Original Message ----- 
> In my case the problem was clear - inappropriate nuts for the wheels.  I'd
> just had fitted some alloy wheels from a Triumph Stag.  These LOOK 
> identical
> to those fitted to the MGB LE, so I bought some LE nuts to hold them on.
> However, the nuts had a small-diameter shank which fits inside the hole in
> the wheel to centre the wheel properly, above that a conical section out 
> to
> the hex.  The Stag wheels were designed for nuts that had a flat washer
> above the small-diameter shank.