Spider Wheels

[whitenviro]

I bought a nice set of Spider alloy wheels and they arrived today. A full set with five center caps and lug nuts. They will need a once over, but look pretty good to start with; no big dings or curb rash. A couple of the center caps are bunged up, but I think they can be straightened out and polished.



I have a shop nearby that will bead blast them, then I have to decide how to refinish them. I like the polished rim look, but don't want to "over-bling" - the only other chrome on the whole car is the trim around the windscreen.

The one thing I didn't check: will the alloys fit on the original wheel bolts for steel wheels, or are they so thick that they need longer bolts? When I put alloys on my last VW van I had to change out all of the wheel studs.


[/img]
1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.

[Beans]

No need to change the wheel studs with these TR7 Alloys

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="3"><font color="red">My full Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size3"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

[TR Tony]

Like Theo says, the wheels studs are the same, just the "lug nuts" are different from the steel wheels, but you have got them so should fit straight on.

Spider alloys were the same as standard alloys except I think they had a slightly different finish to them. The part number on the wheel has an "S" after it to denote Spider alloys, but I don't think there is any physical difference to the wheel, just the finish.

I have noticed that most refinished factory alloys are too shiny compared to the original finish, which was a rather muted silver grey - rather like your picture! Your car looks quite standard so why not keep it that way?

Tony

<font size="1">1981 TR7 FHC Cavalry Blue
1980 TR7V8 DHC Jaguar Regency Red - sadly sold!
1977 TR8 FHC EFI Factory development car Inca Yellow</font id="size1">

[whitenviro]

Thanks.
I've wanted to keep the car as standard as possible, so even buying these was a hard call. But I've decided to someday do a Sprint conversion, so originality will be out the window. These wheels may only last until then, because I will most likely have to do a brake upgrade. That probably won't happen until the right engine shows up and something bad happens to my current.

I decided to get the wheels because I like the look, and being the S stamped spider wheels it kind of made me think of John Manske the Spidermaster!


[/img]
1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.

[jclay (RIP 2018)]

The standard "Alloy" as used on the TR8 is a light gray, while the Spider "Alloy" is more of a silver finish.

If you are going to a Sprint conversion and want to upgrade your brakes and still use these wheels, then get a set of "original" TR8 rotors and calipers. This will increase your braking and let you use the alloys as they were designed.

More info here:
http://www.triumphtrs.co.uk/wheels.htm

Clay

[url="http://www.jclay.me/"]My Triumph Site[/url], [url="http://www.triumphtechnical.me"]Technical Stuff[/url], [url="https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B8MWEvqOpX3udEF4SmFQUW9RS09hbU5uNW5Wd0xrUQ/edit"]My Public Folder[/url],

[Beans]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by jclay</i>

The standard "Alloy" as used on the TR8 is a light gray, while the Spider "Alloy" is more of a silver finish ...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Which of these two was used on the later TR7's from model year 1980 onwards?


<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="3"><font color="red">My full Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size3"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

[Graham Robertson]

I recently got my alloys powder coated in a chrome effect finish and don't think they look "over-bling"?



Graham

Graham 1982 TR7 dhc Pharoah Gold

[FI Spyder]

To my eyes, the TR8 wheels had a slight greenish tinge to the grey, especially when side by side to the Spiders. I prefer the Spiders accent grey center/bright ring to full chrome effect. That's a good question, Beans, are 1981 TR7 wheels just TR8 wheels or are they TR8 wheels with Spider colouring? Can't say I've seen a 1981 TR7 but will be on the look out for that from now on.



- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

[TR Tony]

My June 81 TR7 coupe has it's original alloys & I know they have never been refinished. They are finished in the muted silver grey colour.

AFAIK the TR8 alloys are the same as those used on the TR7, I don't think there is a different finish apart from the Spider alloys which were a shinier finish.

There is a development car here in the UK which has standard alloys finished in a gold colour by the factory, presumably as an kind of styling exercise, but that is the only other factory applied colour I have ever seen, and not used on production cars.

Tony

<font size="1">1981 TR7 FHC Cavalry Blue
1980 TR7V8 DHC Jaguar Regency Red - sadly sold!
1977 TR8 FHC EFI Factory development car Inca Yellow</font id="size1">