wheel size

[ibreadmore]

I've started trawling the depths of trade me for some wheels for my car, but what size is best?

Also, running cortina diff and front hubs what stud pattern and offset do i need to look at?

Cheers Iain.

[Markp]

Cortina front hubs are 4x108 PCD.

This link will take you to the ones Fraser Cars sell, they fit the cortina ford pattern.
fraser website

couple of different widths and offsets

[gary]

Hi Iian
I am using the front and rear hubs from a Ford Sierra, these also have a stud pattern of 4 x 108. I managed to find a set of wheels off of a Ford Focus, I cannot remember what the offset is, they seem to do the job OK although probably a bit narrow. I do remember though that tyres with this stud pattern did seem quite rare when I was looking on Trade-me. I did not look into buying new wheels as I was trying to keep in the budget that I had set myself.
Tyres are 195-50-15

Cheers

Gary

[SimJen]

4x108 is standard cortina/escort fitment.
Offset to suit your setup.
Go for 15's as tyres are cheap and there are plenty around.
I got my 15's for $600 off trademe with 4x new tires!
Guy had them fitted to an old Hillman Super Minx....of all things!

[bzrse7en]

I agree with Simjen
The short answer is 15x6.5 or 7" with an off-set close to 20mm, and maybe a set of 13x7 cheviot hotwires for track days (these have an off-set of about 20mm from memory).

The long answer:
As standard Escort MK1-2 have an offset of 19mm. Cortina, Sierra, Mondeo, focus... have a standard off-set of about 40mm. Often this larger off-set is considered a FWD off-set, even thou Cortina & Sierra are not FWD. Technically you should use the larger off-set with Cortina hubs so as not to bugger up the scrub radius too much. In reality thou it it dosn't seem to make any difference to the way the car drives and just about everyone uses the lower 20mm off-set. Use the 20mm off-set as you will have a much - much larger range of mags to chose from. After market mags made for cortinas generally have a 20mm off-set as it brings the wheel outwards, filling the guards better.
After market mags for Mondeo and focus still have 40mm off-sets, once you have built your guards for these, you will struggle finding a nice set of wheels if you want to replace them or want 13" for track days.
I know this because I am in this very situation. I have mondeo mags, I have to make spacers for my rear guards so I can use my 13" hotwires on the track.

Patrick

[Rookie]

I've got 13x7 minilites with a -7 offset, they look boss and are the hotness for getting slicks!
Do it.
Dave

[bzrse7en]

Just quickly checked my Hotwires, they are pretty much 0 off-set, maybe 5mm (not the 20mm as I previously stated). So obviously if you set your car up for Mags off a FWD ford, you won't be able to easily change over to traditional 13" wheels.

Patrick

[bzrse7en]

Hi Guys
I am considering going to 13" for my road wheels and using 205/60/13s or 215/60/13s, replacing my 205/45/16s.
The advantages as I see it are:
Weight, the 13s are half the weight of the 16s.
I will then have a similar track set and a road set, with no difference in fitment (wheel nuts, off-sets, styling etc..). Currently my road wheels have a vastly different off-set to the hotwires I have bought, so cannot be swaped without changing guards. This is one of the reasons I have been a no-show ar Ruapuna
.
I think the 15" do look more funky thou.

The 13s will need a higher profile to get a similar diametre, can anyone verify if there is any noticable difference in handling going from a 60 profile to 45 - 50 profile on such a light car? My gut tells me it would be fairly unnoticable.

I know there isn't a vast 13" range of tyres, as long as there is a tyre that'll do, something like R888, or similar.

Patrick

[KiwiBirkin]

Hi Patrick a mate of mine with a Leitch is moving from 13" to 15" rims due to the lack of choice for good tyres for his car, when he can find then they tend to be 2x the price of a 15" equivalent tyre so make sure you do some research & price checking first.

[SimJen]

yeah i had trouble finding tyres for my hotwires!
in the end my wheels with new tyres were cheaper than a set of 13" tyres!
Haven't noticed any real change in handling.