Triumph Repair: 72 Spitfire MK 4 - Alloy Wheel Size, minilite alloys, fender clearance

Question
Just purchased a '72 MK4 Spitfire and want to put some MINILITE alloys on the car. I have a choice of 5Jx13 / 5 1/5 Jx13 / or 6Jx13 ...... Will the 6Jx13 fit without any conversion to brakes bodywork etc and would the 5Jx13 allow a 175/60/13 tyre ??

Thanks for your help ........... Buddy

Answer
Hi Robert,

I have not checked what limit wheel can be used on a Spitfire, but what I can tell you is that I have had cars brought to me that had over-sized wheels and tires on them with no problem.

I have run into several cars that put over-sized wheels and tires on but didn't pay attention to the amount of offset in the wheel. The rear fouled on the fender on hard cornering and bumps and the front caused the car to handle badly because the tire patch (part that contacts the ground was displaced outside of the line drawn through the upper ball joint through the lower ball joint to the contact patch on the ground)

If you are purchasing these wheels from a shop that is installing them make sure they are aware of this. If you are ordering these wheels ask what the off-set is and measure the off-set in your stock wheels to see that off-set is at least close to what the original wheels are. Measure from the center line of the rim to the mounting face of the wheel. If that is close, you should not have any problems in steering geometry and as I remember there is plenty of room on the front. On the rear you can have some friends sit on the rear and you measure the fender clearance and inner fender well clearance to see how much you have to work with.

If your rear is sagging (most were) you can do what most Spitfire owners did that liked to auto-cross the car of just play with it in turns. They put either "Gas-over oil" shocks or Coil-over" shocks in place of the originals. This lifted and stiffened the rear suspension. If you have deep pockets you can get adjustable coil over shocks.

That is about the best I can tell you.

Howard