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Okay...I loathe using B4 front wheels on my CE. Narrow front track width drives me nuts, car drives good, but it drives me crazy to not have the car's footprint the same.

So, the mad scientist in me started looking at the spare set of Rulux front wheels I have...why cant they be "sunk" or dished down like the OE front wheels to bring the front end back out to "regular" width? I tried the GT wide axles, and yes, it brings the width out fine, but dont like the way the wheels pivots forward and back instead of on a point.

So I sat at looked over the wheels, dug through the tool box looking for a way to change the shape of the wheel, hopefully without damaging it too much or at all (let's face it though, it is me )

I present to you...exhibit A

The frankenstein tools of the trade:



The thought process:



WARNING: YOU MAY RUIN YOUR WHEELS BY ATTEMPTING THIS !!!!

Not pictured: heat gun.

I put the heat gun on the lowest setting, kept turning the wheels over and over until I could barely hold them anymore. Dropped the 33 tooth 48 pitch pinion into the hole and sandwiched the wheel/pinion combo in the vise (between the 2 pieces of wood with C clamp on top, vise jaws werent tall enough for me). Set it in front of a large fan in the garage for 10 minutes to cool off.

Comparisons:

Stock Rulux B4 wheels:



about 23 CM


"Dished" Rulux B4 wheels:



at 24 CM

some other comparison shots:

Stock B2/B3 fronts w/tires:


"Dished" stock B4 fronts w/tires:


Stock Rulux B4 fronts w/tires:


Yes, I tested on not only new, unmounted Rulux wheels, but stock B4 wheels, with tires mounted also. B4 wheels did "dish" out better and easier than the Rulux. I found the Rulux rear bearing hole would open a bit, I would use a pair of needlenose pliers to close it back down onto the bearing. The front bearing hole on the B4 stock wheels was tight, but a quick twist of a body reamer but that to bed quickly.

joey, did you have a wobble in the wheels?

Joey this is awsome There shoudn't be any wobble, really, as everything was pressed flat! Maybe the plastic was fragilized a bit, but even then... To prevent the inner bearing whole from opening too much you could pre-constrain it with a tie-wrap before you press the spokes in maybe?

The main issue I have with fitting 2.2 wheels to my rc10's is that the ride height gets completely messed up

now can you please work your magic on some rear wheels and let us know???

good job!

Paul

littleVETTE wrote:joey, did you have a wobble in the wheels?

Very, very minimal, on the rear side of the wheel due to the bearing hole spreading open (Rulux wheels only). The stock B4 wheels have a much thicker bearing "housing", they have no wobble at all.

Lonestar wrote:To prevent the inner bearing whole from opening too much you could pre-constrain it with a tie-wrap before you press the spokes in maybe?

That is a thought, but there isnt that much room to use a tie-wrap. This is still a work in progress, so if I have updates I will post them.

Rear wheels arent in the plan, I did the whole B4 CVD/rear wheels conversion, happy with that for now.

" I tried the GT wide axles, and yes, it brings the width out fine, but dont like the way the wheels pivots forward and back instead of on a point."

I don't understand what you mean here.

I've seen people claim this before. I ended up modeling it in cad to see for myself what they were talking about. Nothing happens. The offset wheels combined with the offset axles cancel each other out in motion resulting in the same path being taken through the rotation. The only time it would change is if different offset axles are used with the same wheels.

yeah, this is a fantastic mod, I'm really surprised the plastic took the set after being pressed out of shape as well as it did!

I do believe that the axle offset really will cancel out the wheel offset, making the wheel path neutral. That should give you basically no tire scrub, or very little. I think the real issue is that having tire scrub results in more consistent handling, and/or more forgiving when running.

the wheel/axle offset thing is just like a full size car, the load point on the rim ends up in the same spot, but the center of rotation changes.

jwscab wrote:the center of rotation changes.

That is the part I am talking about, it felt as if it were swinging the tires when turning, not pivoting. It may just all be in my head also

The wheels have had a few days to sit, untouched, they took the "dishing" quite well, they havent returned to their original shape at all. I feel quite accomplished for a hack

well yeah, that's the thing....moving the tire out should make it 'swing' more, resulting in more scrub. But if makes the car handle better, then I guess it doesn't matter.