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MG MGB Technical - Sebring arch/tyre size

Hi all
I am about to fit a set of Sebring arches to my GT. Obviously the standard wheels and tyres will look a little out of place. Any recommendations for a suitable wheel width and tyre size? I was planning to put 15s on, but anything wider than about 6" seems to be difficult to find.
N Bentley

Try MG Motorsport ( http://www.mgmotorsport.com which seems to be offline now), they have both Minilites and wire wheels up to 8" wide I believe.

Alex
Alexander M

Before you go down the Sebring route it might be worth trying to find a picture of the Nicholson modified MGC. It was modified in period to take wider wheels. Some would argue that it looks alot more tasteful. However, these things are a matter of opinion.

David
David Witham

Never seen that one,
are there pictures of it online or could someone send them to me ( please use moene at pi dot be )?

Alex

Alexander M


Try Midland Wheel Supplies, they are really helpful witha good selection.

Midland Wheel Supplies
Cornwood Farm, Napton Rd Stockton
Southam Warwickshire
CV47 8HU

Tel: 01926 817444
Nick

I'll be working on a 65 next week that was beautifully done up years ago with Sebring flares in steel. The last owner chose a set of Enekis (7.5 wide) that are dead ringers for the early Minilites. The tires are aging and in the early stages of hardening, with 215*60*14 front and 225 rear. These wheels nicely center the tire in the well without a lot of offset. The car handled reasonably well on a short test drive with no indication of rubbing, even screaming thru imaginary pylons, but the steering effort is pretty heavy at low speeds - almost a chore to turn with the smaller diameter steering wheel which the new owner will probably swap back to an original. The car was driven hard and often, and I'm sure the once sticky fat front tires took a toll on the steering rack, esp the inner tie rods and the rack bush. Handling aside, I think the 60's are way too short and leave too much empty space around the wheel arch. A set of ever so slightly narrower, and taller, 65's would give it a better visual perspective (it now tends to the fork-lift/ricer look), and would probably ease up on some of the rack loading.
Mark Childers

Check out www.minilite.co.uk

I bought my 15x8 wheels from them for my Sebring/'77 MGB conversion and put 205/60-15's on them. They fill out the arches nicely. Haven't got the car on the road yet so can't tell you about performance.

Cost was 200 UKP each. I thought about 215's on the back but wanted the same size on all 4. There's about an inch to spare between the tire sidewall and the flare on the back. Fronts aren't even close with the high arch of the flare.

Where did you get the flares? Mine are MGOC and it took far more work to get them to look right than planned.

HTH
Simon

P.S. On the minilite site, there's a picture of a GT with the Sebring flares and I just asked them what size wheels were on that car.
Simon Austin

Simon, do you have a photo of your car? I've considered the same wheels and arches for my next project.
Steve Simmons

"Before you go down the Sebring route it might be worth trying to find a picture of the Nicholson modified MGC..."

What is this then? Sounds very interesting.

There is a picture of some chaps car in Practical Performance Car this month (I think that's the mag., I'll check tonight) that has subtly flared rear arches. Hardly looks different, very tasteful, but I reckon it creates an extra 2 inches of clearance.

jim
j w mcglynn

I saw the Nicholson modified MGC GT at Silverstone some years ago. It may have been a Coys Historic Festival rather than an MGCC event.

He modified MGBs and MGCs in period. 1960s and early 70s I think. Some of these cars were driven by people who went on to be famous, such as Senna. In fact I think Senna was married to Nicholson's daughter at one time.

The MGC GT in question was dark blue. The rear arches in particular were cut away at the top and had eye brows. This allowed significantly wider than standard wheels, say 8 or 9 inches, without on too many steroids look that can spoil a sebring arch car.

The bonnet was also very interesting. The radiator had probably been lent forwards and there was a steap duct coming up behind it. The duct emerged on to the bonnet just behind the front of the hump.

It was all finished to a very high standard. I will look through my old photos at home to see if I can find one of it. It must be 10 years ago that I saw the car. Somewhere I should have a copy of Autocar from 1979 or 1980 that features one of his modified Bs.

Sorry for the ramble.

David
David Witham

This thread was discussed between 14/06/2004 and 16/06/2004

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