Sunbeam Specialties LAT 70 15" Wheels

ahetzel

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Anyone using Rick's new LAT 70 15" wheels? Do you like them and what tire sizes are you using. Pictures appreciated.
 

AshUK

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Personally I think these wheels are a missed opportunity to create something great as they are unfaithful to the original design - shame
 

HolyCat

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Unfaithful?

Personally I think these wheels are a missed opportunity to create something great as they are unfaithful to the original design - shame

Can to explain what you meant? That the repos should match the original LAT70s and be 13" rims with a width of 5-1/2" I am not sure that any of the repos Rick sold were 5-1/2" wide. Or did you mean that they look "off" due to the increased size to 15" with the hub part not too different?
 

Warren

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Deep Discussion

I believe LHPIII aka Louis P. has a set and they look fine but are visibly not as deep as their 13" predecessors. Pictures I've viewed have lacked the depth of field you should see em in person if possible. U.K. markets have a much larger selection of the little cars with little wheels. We have 3 to 6 available tires that I have seen in the U.S.
 

J D Johnson

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50
Here's a sample.

JD
 

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CLIFF_MK1

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Visual depth often has to do with amount of back space built into rim. The deeper the back space the more the center is pushed out. Back space is needed to place the wheel inside the fender. By comparing the amount of back space of the original and repo, this would tell if the center is pushed out more or the same. I suppose it's possible for the visual effect to be different because of the larger repo rim. Cliff
 

AshUK

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I don't think its rocket science? The extra width could have gone on the back of the wheel maintaining the correct offset and the original design could have easily been replicated by scaling up the wheel diameter.

Anyway they didn't :)
 

ahetzel

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105
Thanks for all of the replies. I got my LAT 50 15" wheels and have them mounted. A few comments. In a perfect world these wheels should have had more backspace. Stock steel wheels are about 30-33 MM offset and these are 20MM. The look isn't bad and the fit in the rear is OK but the wheels in front don't sit in the wheel well, they protrude slightly past outside. I started with a 195/55-15 to try and sized the front down to a 185/60-15. I wish the wheels would have also been offered in a 30MM offset. It would have expanded the options for tire sizes and centered the wheels in the wheel well. These wheels were made by VTO for Sunbeam Speacilties. They do offer other style wheels for the Tiger with a bigger offset.
 

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CLIFF_MK1

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One of the difficulty in getting wheel sizes that fit within the wheel well with out rubbing on the supension on the inside or sticking out to far on the outside is that the Tiger front end is relatively wide-not much room to juggle backspace or offset.

The stock 4 1/2 wide 13" rim has a 25.4mm offset and 3.75" backspace. So, the way I see it, if a 5 1/2" wheel had the same offset, it would protrude toward the outside of the wheel well somewhat. Maybe a 1/2 inch? So, to get the 5 1/2" wheel to the same position in the wheel well, you would need less offset. So, 20mm might get you there for the same look. But, this would push the wheel into the inside of the wheel well and potentially rub on the suspension.

The more the positive offset (less backspace) the more the wheel sticks out towards the fender and increasing the width of the wheel increases this effect. You could look at the installed Lat 50 5 1/2 inch installed rim and tire and see if there was room for greater backspace or less offset. There are some tools that allow you to see if certain size wheels fit in the space available. Sometimes this really limits you to what, if any, rims are available.

Dale's front suspension has about the same width as the stock Tiger, so finding wheels that fit over the brake calipers and close to the suspension but are still appropriately inside the fender is difficult depending on what brakes and size wheels are choosen. I made a mistake and ordered 13" disk brakes on my front end. You can't fit 15" rims over the 13" calipers, so you have to go with 16" or 17" rims. Rims are sold by width and size with a small selection of offset for each style. With a requirement of 5" backspace to keep the wheel inside the fender, there was a very limited choice in wheels. There was more choice in 17", but 16" was already pushing it for a Tiger. There is also much less tire choice for 16" vs 17." So if I were doing it over, I'd go with 12" brakes and 15" rims. It's probable that the designers of the 15" Lat wheels made the best compromise they could. Cliff
 

AshUK

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Messages
81
They look nice.

VTO had the opportunity to design these wheels from scratch. They make other wheels that fit Tigers perfectly so I cannot see why these don't?
Its all very confusing:confused:
 
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