[TR] Anybody installed RetroSport wheels on a TR4A

[Dave Murphy]

Dave,
I have Panasport Light Weight 8 spoke 15" x 7", 0" offset mags on my TR6 shod
with 215/60 BFG TA radials. The combination looks fantastic and fits fine
without spacers. I expect the similarly dimensioned Retro Sport rims would fit
a TR4A  the same way.   But my car stays in the garage mostly because the wide
tires make it a chore to drive.

The steering effort is so high when parking that I think I might tear a
cartlige, pull a ligament or tendon, or agravate arthritis in my elbows every
time I park. And it must be hard on all the steering joints too. Because I
don't want to damage myself or the car, when parking, I don't turn the wheel
quite as far as I could, and it probably takes five times as long to parallel
park. I go back & forth, back & forth, back & forth, back & forth... Unlike
with the standard 185 x 15 Michelin X, one needs both hands and all the force
you can muster to park. Forget about letting your wife drive the car or
leaving Starbucks with a Latte in one hand and steering with the other.

And I have to really fight the wide tires when they follow ruts in the road.

So it's looks versus drivability. If I had to do again, especially at my
current arthritis-prone age, I'd stick to the 185 x 15's with rims of the same
3/8" (?) offset as came with car, and marvel at how nimble a TR is.

-Dave Murphy,
Dearborn Michigan.


Message: 3
Date: Sun, 4 May 2014 20:53:49 -0400
From: "Dave Connitt" <dconnitt at fuse.net>
To: <triumphs at autox.team.net>
Subject: [TR] Anybody installed RetroSport wheels on a TR4A
Message-ID: <3E9659D16301466A91D15937C586331F at DaveLaptop>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I took my TR4A to it's first car show today and talked to a guy with a
Sunbeam
Tiger who had a 4-spoke aluminum wheel that looked really nice made by a
company called RetroSport. It was kind of similar to the Konig Rewind look.
Has anyone had any experience with these wheels? Specifically, I would be
interested in finding out if I can install a set of 15x7 wheels without
modifications to the suspension or adding spacers. I can get either a 0 or +3
offset.
The Konig Rewinds are nice but I need to go to a 16 inch wheel and tire. I
think if I stay with a 15 inch I would have a better chance of staying
reasonably close to the standard Triumph wheel diameter which I think is 26"
(someone correct me if I am wrong). The reason is I would like to keep the
speedo reasonably accurate.
Thanks,
Dave Connitt