[DeTomaso] Rim Offsets

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/3/13 6 58 37, steve at snclocks.com writes:


> Thank you all for your quick responses!
> 
> My new car comes with a set of early Coddingtons - which I gather are good
> rims for the car if one wants to drive it hard on a track. 
> 
>>>Not especially.   Big wheels like that are heavy.   You want much 
lighter wheels for serious track work.   They are quite good for the street 
though.

> > But, that is not
> my goal.  As I think I mentioned in previous posts I have put 130,000 
> miles
> on a Jag XKE.  Originally the XKE came with 185/70 15's.  Today it rides 
> on
> 205/65 15's - pretty much the same height as the originals, so pretty much
> the same, or even better ride, with the more flexible sidewalls in current
> radials.  I did upgrade the rims to gain 1 inch width and went with
> stainless spokes.  The car rides like a dream.
> 
>>>Sounds like a great cruiser.
> 
> >My goal is to drive 5332 on trips, explore country with it.  Perhaps not
> like I have done with my XKE - not sure I would even take it again over 
> some
> of the jeep roads it did years ago when exploring Colorado, but I want to
> put miles on it, enjoying driving it. 
> 
>>>Which is exactly what they're for!
> 
> >I was talking to a friend yesterday, he has a variety of cars, think 
> Aston
> Martin, GT40, that sort of thing.  He also has an XKE that he modified 
> much
> like I have modified mine, with a focus on reliability and ride.  He is
> continually blown away by how well it rides on 205/65 15's when compared 
> to
> his other, much more expensive rides. 
> 
>>>Much of that is down to the Jaguar's excellent suspension, don't forget. 
  It was well ahead of its time.
> 
> >I've test driven 5 Panteras so far, and know I will not be keeping the
> Coddingtons on the car for most of its miles.  Heck, they are easy to put
> back on for shows, but I am looking at putting tires under it that will 
> not
> unduly flex the frame from excessive loadings on corners, or overstrain 
> the
> original brakes, or shake me to death on roads that are less than perfect.
> 
>>>Your wheels will do none of those things.   The strains that a chassis 
sees are directly controlled by the nut behind the wheel.   If you beat the 
car to death, it won't matter what kind of wheels are on it--stresses will be 
felt.   If you drive it like an old lady, you could have Fred Flinstone 
wheels and the car won't feel a thing.   

> >And, if the rear tires spin on take off - heck, that is part of the 
> fun.  
> 
>>>That's down to tires, not wheels.   Old, hard tires, or new, 
high-mileage, cheap tires, will provide less traction--no matter what size they are.

> >Of
> course, if I wanted to have serious power I would have bought a different
> car - like the one up in Seattle with a Windsor crate engine.  It spun its
> wide tires with no problem.  And heck, you didn't even need your hands on
> the wheel - it would follow any groove in the pavement with no help from 
> the
> driver!  OK - that is a scary thing on a badly dished road.
> 
> >>>True!

> >Long e-mail, but, bottom line, I am looking to go back to the original
> width, or even (gasp) 7 inch rims front and rear.  With this in mind, any
> suggestions will be appreciated on the options that are out there.
> 
> >>>Putting narrower than stock wheels on the car would be ridiculous.   The 
stock 8-inch rear wheels were arguably too narrow, from an aesthetic 
perspective.   The 7-inch front wheels had insufficient scrub radius, and 
generally handling is improved (even with exactly the same tires) if 8-inch wheels 
are installed in front.

Given your desires, IF you wanted to put different wheels on the car, you 
could not possibly do better than to install stock, original wheels.   They 
are beautiful, lightweight, and most importantly, they are *right* for the 
car.   Back in the 1970s and 1980s, so many people removed the stock wheels 
and replaced them with cheap, tacky, junk hot rod wheels, under the mistaken 
apprehension that they were 'upgrading' the car somehow.   All they did was 
cheapen how the car looked.   It's still possible to do exactly the same 
thing today.

As there were several different styles of original wheels between 
1971-1974, it's important to get a matched set, and a set matched to your car.   
Yours is a '73L, so that should help narrow your search, as L-model wheels are 
decidedly different from pre-L wheels.

I happen to be a big fan of original wheels, and have them on my car 
(albeit in 8- and 10-inch sizes with much wider tires than the car originally 
wore).   But having said that, I think you should just drive your car as-is for 
awhile, and see how you like it.   If it drives nicely, leave it alone.   If 
you are committed to getting rid of the Coddington wheels (and I must 
confess that while the wheels they used to make for Pantera East are great, I 
find their current offerings to be absolutely vile—which kind do you have?), 
you should be able to sell them and/or part-exchange them and get nice, 
original stock wheels and suitably-sized tires on the car, and end up with some 
cash in your pocket when you're done.   An average set of stock 7 and 8 inch 
wheels is probably a $200-300 proposition; the nicest ones in the world 
shouldn't cost more than $500 for a set.

It's unlikely that you will feel much difference, except that the steering 
will probably be lighter with narrower front tires.   The original tire size 
for the Pantera L equates to 205/60 front and 255/60 rear.   BF Goodrich 
Comp T/A tires in those sizes are available from several sources.

Mike