Almost hate to open up this can of worms and I know it has probably been beaten to death on this and other forums, but… I need new tires for my CJR C-type and I’m not in love with my wheels either. With one or two exceptions, I have never really cared for wire wheels painted an color other than silver. Mine are BRG. They are also 72 spokes which I also don’t really care for because they don’t look right to me on a 50’s car and they are terribly hard to keep clean. I could simply repaint them again back to silver, but I’m now wondering if this isn’t the perfect opportunity to change to 60 spokes, so two questions for the group.
Assuming money is no object (lol), what is the best radial tire for a C-Type with 16in wheels.
Are you safe doing “spirited” driving with new 16in 60 spoke wheels?
Hi Paul…what calipers do you have fitted…this could impact on wheel choice as its not unknown to have to grind down the caliper so it dosnt touch the wheel…i would take advice from Phi & Olie your car builder’s… Steve
I would not go to 60 spoke wheels.
If you drive it hard, and have a decent amount of power you will end up with broken spokes.
I had them on my XK150 3.8 and I broke a lot of spokes.
After changing to 72 spokes, never any issue anymore.
The C types raceing at Goodwood revival were on 60 spoke…dont know if they had spoke problems?.. what do you call “spirited” driving…track days…or just normal road use at top end of speed limit… Steve
Steve,
These are very good questions. The truthful answer is I’m not really sure. I’m just getting to know this car, but so far I’ve been very impressed with the power and acceleration that this car is capable of. Track days would be a blast, but I have not explored venues for this, and they would most likely be a rare occurrence. We have many miles of quiet country roads here with little if any traffic, perfect for exploring some of what this car was made for in a reasonably safe manor. Driving this car on the limit would be unsafe on public roads, but only driving it as if it were my wife’s Suburu seems pointless to me. Right now my biggest concern is driving on 14 year old tires.
I have these 60 spoke MWS C type replica fitted…car has continental spinners as its waiting for its iva test… these wheels do sit a few mm further out than the copycat wheels so ensure you check hub dimensions and inset/offset befor purchase
I believe the 60 spoke wheels will be fine for all but the most vigorous competition. One thing you need to do is always do a spoke test, with a screwdriver and the wheel off the ground.
Properly-tensioned spokes make a bright tink,, while loose ones make a dull thunk.
Xj6 S1 used 3 pot calipers single disk…S2 S3 used 4 pot vented disc im useing the 3 pot so can easily use the mws 60 spoke wheel…with a 4 pot i think you will need to grind them down to fit the 60 spoke
I think you are right. Phil Cottrell told me I would need new smaller calipers to do the 60 spokes. I think I’ll just live with what I have now, perhaps just repaint them when time allows.
