My MINI wheels don't fit? and one original Rubs?

[alexdundee]

Okay, I have bought some MINI wheels for our portafold and been told, or rather been searching this forum about it, that they fit the breakdrums on our portafold, but, okay the wheels fit but the MIDDLE is to small by half a centimeter?

What shall I do, machine out the middle or is there an other MINI wheel out there that does fit?

And something else, when I took my standard wheels off, i saw a big groove in the tyre on the inside of the rim on one of the wheels, it has been rubbing on the suspension bar!

So I thought if I change them over the other one will do the same, but no... The rubbed tyre now rubs on the other side, so its not my axle thats bent, the wheels and tires are the exact same and dont know what's causing it, must be something wrong with the rim then?

And my spare wheel doesnt rub either luckely, but has different knobs on the rim to hold a centercap on it?

The Drumbreak


The old Rim with 6.5cm


The MINI rim with 6cm



Old Style


New Style (how I would like it, wheels look the same as the camper then)


Rubbing against the torsion bar


The big groove in the tire


Groove closeup


My spare rim with different centercap holders?


The rubbing


The spare tire not rubbing


And the left and right wheel are the exact same?

[Admin]

I think this is over to our resident wheel expert...

Steve, it's all yours!

[txfsealord]

Hi Alex,

If you inspect the outer face of your steel-wheel's centres, you'll find part numbers stamped in. It may be necessary to scrape the paint off to find 'em.

Mini wheels had more than one offset; part no. 21A881 places the tyre where it rubs on the end of the road-spring, as in your photo. 21A2744 has more offset outwards (only about 3/8", not very obvious) so this is likely to be the Mini wheel whose tyre doesn't rub. There may well be other part nos. of original-looking Mini wheels; this site repeatedly teaches me they're a huge subject & that I certainly don't know it all!

Your spare wheel, with the 'knobs' for the hubcap, is the correct type. Put a straight-edge across the back of its outer rim & measure down to the back of its mounting-face. This is the correct depth; if your non-rubbing Mini wheel is the same, you can use those 2 as a pair.

As I've never tried over-boring the central hole in any cast-alloy wheel, I can't say whether it would be a safe thing to do or not. As caravan wheel-loadings can be surprisingly high, I certainly would advise against doing it. Collapsed wheels can be such a nuisance.......please don't go there.

Steve

[alexdundee]

Thanks Steve, i'll have a look over the weekend to see if I can find any numbers stamped in the rims, I had been toying with the idea to machine the alloys, but I think you're right about losing the strength of the wheel and I dont want to make it more unsave!

Thanks again.
Alex.

[bigbird]

Hi there, does anyone have any idea what chrome hub caps will fit this hub. I have the standard 10" mini wheels and bought the old style chrome caps, but unfortunately they are not deep enough to cover the centre hub. Any ideas, the only thing I have seen at the moment, that looks like it could very well fit, is on fleabay priced at £80 for 4 and that is for Ford Prefect E93A.... Is there a cheaper option??

BTW, the other two chrome ones that I have are now for sale if anyone's interested.

[Admin]

I did have a supplier for the deep dish hub caps to fit your longer style hubs but unfortunately he's gone into hiding and no longer answers my emails. I was able to get them for £15 each brand new but because they were so dished he was having trouble making them without about tooling marks in them. I'll try him again and see if I get a response.

[bigbird]

Thanks Matthew, it's appreciated, she look rather naked without anything on the rims, though I am sure there must be a couple of options.

[txfsealord]

Hi Jan, there's a hubcap thread further down on this list, have a read of that.......

The original hubcaps were purpose-made for their axle by Rubery Owen. As well as our 'vans, this axle unit found its way onto many light trailers for all sorts of uses. Regrettably, the hubs & hubcaps aren't the same as any volume-produced car ones, just as the wheels themselves are particular to this axle.

This makes good sense from an engineering viewpoint, as the way in which a trailer axle experiences its loads & stresses is fundamentally different from a motorcar axle, even one as similar-looking as Mini rear suspension, for example. Because of Rubery Owen's good design, our 'vans have reliable running gear which is simple & easy to maintain in (relative) antiquity, without proper spares support, unlike many cars of the period!

Because Mini wheels are interchangeable with ours & look so similar, when the original Rubery ones became rusty I daresay lots of owners fitted secondhand Mini rims rather than labouring to de-rust their originals. The Rubery hubcaps are not a very good fit on Mini wheels & would be likely to fall off in use, leading to the current position of acute hubcap shortage in the club!

What is now needed is a hubcap that "never was", which correctly fits a Mini rim yet is deep enough to go over the long hubs of our 'vans. This would be safer than altering our stub-axles to accept hubs with bearings closer together, & therefore shorter, than our originals & easier/cheaper than having wheels made to fit our hubs to accept Mini hubcaps.

I've fitted Mini hubcaps to my Ansfold, which has Mini rims. A great deal of reshaping was involved in doing this, however, as shown on the hubcap thread.

I hope this clarifies the position. Matt's re-manufactured hubcaps are the only satisfactory alternative to making 'specials' oneself, in my opinion.

Steve


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[bigbird]

Thanks for that Steve and Matthew (for the links) I would never have thought it would have been so difficult to track these down. I just presumed that parts would be as readily available as they are for my old Spitfire?!

Jan

[bootrodder]

Why don't you do what I've done on my Ansfold, which has the long stub axles which foul normal hub caps etc.
I bought a pair of wheel spacers & 8 longer wheel studs from a Mini specialist. You knock the old studs out of the brake drum, tap the new ones in as far as possible & pull them the rest of the way using the wheel nuts.
I have now fitted a nice pair of Mini wheel trims - looks good & the track is only 1'' wider each side, well within the wheel arches.
Wheel spacers & longer studs cost about £25.00
Set of 4 wheel trims off e-bay cost £23.00
I should now be able to fit any wheels designed for BL Minis.
Job done!