RE: [MarcosManiacs] (no subject)
2003-09-16 by pauldransfield@iname.com
I hope to be able to take some pictures this
weekend, if I can get home from New York that is. Hurricane Isabelle is moving
in the direction of Toronto, according to the latest
predictions, sideswiping New York. Either way I think my golf game on
Saturday is toast.
To be honest, I wasn't sure how easily the
rear studs would come off, so I tried to find a stud press/puller. It doesn't
look like they make a cheap version because the only one I found was hydraulic
and too expensive. During my investigation, someone mentioned that the studs are
not so tight that they couldn't be tapped out with a hammer. I have those long
lug nuts which completely cover the stud so I screwed one on and gave it a, how
shall we say, light whack with a 4 lb hammer. The stud popped right out. No
problem at all. Refitting involved a few thick washers and tightening a lug nut
until the stud base was pulled into place.
I got my wheels from
Centerline via their Wheel Deals: Factory Direct web page. Go
to www.centerlinewheels.com and
follow the links for 'Purchase overstock wheels'. I went for the 17 x 7"
Rhino wheel with a 4" backspace at US$134 apiece plus US$70
shipping. They can adjust the backspace on that wheel, probably up to
around 4.5" or so. I probably should have had a 4.75 - 5" backspace on the
rear but hindsight is always 20/20. They currently have a lot of different
wheels on sale from $77 up, but most of them have 8" rims. However, there are a
few 15", 16" and 17" wheels with 7" rims in the discount section.
I got Kumho Ecsta Supra 712
tires, 205/45ZR17s and 215/45ZR17s, for around US$100 apiece. I
spoke to the owner of the performance shop which mounted and balanced my tires
and he said that those Kumho tires are as good as Yokohama AVS
ES100 tires which cost 50% more. I certainly have no complaints. The
shop has new mounting equipment which mounts tires without marking the rims.
They also used adhesive balance weights on the inside of the wheel so they don't
show.
I got the hubs from Merlin
Motorsport in England for 79 pounds sterling apiece plus 40 pounds
shipping. Including the studs and import duty and taxes, they ended up costing
around US430. I also needed 8 2" x 5/16" stainless steel bolts with nuts to
attach the brake rotors to the hubs. I could only find 2.5" bolts of the correct
diameter so I had to cut them down to size. I was so anxious to get the job done
that I refit the old bearings, packed with new grease. In retrospect, I
should have fit new ones and that's what I intend doing by next
spring.
So the total cost was around US$1500.
Before I started, I expected to endup paying over US$2000 so I'm happy with the
result. Getting the discounted wheels direct from Centerline was a huge saving
and that way I probably ended up with better wheels than I otherwise
would.
Regards,
Paul Dransfield
3 litre Volvo
Aurora, Canada
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-----Original Message-----
From: Don Lattimer [mailto:donlattimer@...]
Sent: September 15, 2003 5:44 PM
To: MarcosManiacs@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MarcosManiacs] (no subject)Pictures! Pictures! Please................don't keep us in suspense!I'm about to take the plunge also. How did you install the studs in the rear? Pull them thru?? I don't want to make you cry but what was your final $ amount including wheels, tires, hubs, etc.?? What make rims? What backspace? 4 inch?? What brand tires?I'll make up a file with all the info and we can put in on the site. Thanks.Don Lattimer#3m5759Willits, CA----- Original Message -----From: pauldransfield@...Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 2:13 PMSubject: RE: [MarcosManiacs] (no subject)Hi guys,Well, I finally got my new wheels and tires mounted, and they really do look quite spiffy, even if I say so myself. I was changing from 185/70R13 tires on 13 x 5.5" rims to 205/45ZR17 and 215/45ZR17 tires on 17 x 7" rims. The slightly larger tires were put on the rear to correct a speedometer which was over-reading. In retrospect, it would have been better to have had a bigger backspace on the rear wheels because the tires protrude beyond the wheel wells a little more than I wanted. They don't protrude beyond the width of the car but they definitely could have been more inboard by 3/4" or even an inch. The front wheels look exactly right. The car tended to understeer on hard cornering so I always thought the old wheels needed a smaller backspace. There again, maybe the understeer was due to the higher profile tires. The handling has dramatically improved with the car feeling even more like it's on rails than before. I need to raise the back of the car a little (by adjusting the shock seats) to avoid fouling on the rear wheel arches under hard cornering. I'll then be able to determine what became of the prior understeer.Even though the tire profile is a lot lower, the only time it feels harsher is when I drive over severe ridges on the road surface. My old tires must have been in a terrible state internally because the new ones feel like I'm driving on glass, without a twitch or tremor, especially on the highway. During a test run, I surprised myself when I was up to 100mph while it felt like I couldn't be going more than 60. In comparison to before, the car is now a pure joy to drive.Putting it all together was actually a lot more work than I anticipated. The hardest part was replacing the front hubs because there was insufficient clearance for the back of the new aluminum hubs to clear the bolts holding the backplate assembly. On one side, the brake caliper was fouling on the hub as well. I resolved the problems by using my trusty Dremel tool to grind down a couple of mms off the side of the problem bolt heads and about 1 mm from the caliper body to provide enough clearance. I had another problem when I found that the old hub body had threads tapped into it and the brake rotor was attached by bolts. The new hub was drilled and recessed for nuts and bolts. I had to get some stainless steel bolts and cut them down to the correct size so they wouldn't protrude beyond the wheel mounting face. Fortunately the recesses for the bearings were the correct size or I would have had a serious problem. Replacing those was quite straightforward. It took 3 3/4 hours to do the first side and 1 1/4 hours to do the other.The rear wheels were relatively easy because the stud holes were already drilled for a 4.25 bolt circle. I just had to drive out the studs and reposition them. The brake drums were also pre-drilled. It took an hour to do the first side, mainly because one of the studs wouldn't cooperate and I had to remove the brake shoes to get at it properly. The other side took 20 minutes.I'll have to get my hands on a digital camera and take a shot for the web site so you can see how it turned out. It may appall purists but I think the car looks significantly better with the larger wheels.Regards,Paul Dransfield3 litre Volvo
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