[DeTomaso] GTS Wheels

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/27/07 11 22 26, jmontero at fcmat.org writes:


> Is there anyone who makes the GTS type 10 spoke wheel for the narrow
> body car where the front wheels are dished?  I notice that in the
> Pantera East wheels of this variety the front have not dish at all. 
> 

I presume you're not talking about the GTS wheels (which have the same 
appearance as the standard narrow-body Campy wheels, but wider), but instead mean 
the GT5/GT5-S wheels.

Unfortunately the nature of the car's suspension precludes a serious dish in 
the front wheels.   That dish looks nice but was really just a band-aid for an 
improperly designed suspension; that is, the suspension was designed to 
support a certain track, and then they elected to extend the track by several 
inches on each side.   The only way to do that was to radically dish the wheels, 
which seriously compromised handling (the proper way to do it, and the way it's 
universally done now, is to lengthen the A-arms and move the spindles/hubs 
outboard, and then keep a flat face on the wheel).

Wilkinson makes ten-spoke wheels in various flavors; I think he has three 
different centers with different amounts of dish.   The widest one won't work on 
your car, but the intermediate one might?   (The narrowest one has no dish at 
all, I don't think, and is very much like Marino's design).

My recollection in the past was that Wilkinson's wheels were substantially 
more expensive than Marinos for nominally the same thing, like $4500 for a set 
of four wheels or something like that.   But prices fluctuate all the time, and 
they may have come down, hopefully substantially!

Roger Sharp and Paul Rimov both have these wheels on their cars; anybody have 
photos to share?

Personally, I'd either get Marino's latest-generation Campy clones in 16/17 
inch, or just keep your beautiful, lightweight magnesium Campys...but to each 
his own!

Mike


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