Dear all - please read carefully, I am clarifying all Scorpio alloy wheel related queries. The wheel and tyre assembly are an integral part of the car and I would request all of you to refrain from deviating from the OEM specifications which are as follows, for the following technical reasons which make a lot of sense. Wheel mounting PCD - 160mm Wheel offset - +55mm (wheel centre is 55 mm inside brake drum). Please DO NOT change this value as if this is changed, the scrub radius changes which completely upsets the suspension and steering performance. Aftermarket wheels have +10 and +45 mm offset which will increase your wheel track by 90 mm and 20 mm respectively. It will also introduce additional eccentricity on your wheel bearings which is not good. As the tyre envelope will change, the tyre will touch all over the place and make you miserable. By the time you will realise all this, you would have paid a lot of money to get your car spoilt and your ego will not even let you speak out that you were right royally taken. Please be careful. Except perhaps for the fact that aftermarket wheels look snazzy, they do nothing. We don't even know the material composition of what we are buying and everybody will agree that a wheel is a safety critical item. My recommendation - NO DEVIATION FROM OEM SPECIFICATION. Wheel nut geometry - the wheel nuts supplied for Scorpio with steel wheels and Scorpio with alloy wheels are of different geometry in the mounting area. Please DO NOT deviate at all. This is an assembly which must be useed as a set. No matter what any shopkeeper tells you, please do not compromise on safety. The steel wheel nut has a spherical seat whereas the alloy wheel nut has a taper seat. Wheel cap for VLX - the initial vehicles had the hub caps jutting out but now for 2WD, flat wheel caps are introduced in production. The bigger hub caps are used only for 4WD application. Somebody's query on downsizing wheel from 16" to 15" - why on earth do you want to do such things? Anyway, 16' wheel was done to accommodate the twin pot caliper and downsizing is impossible as the caliper will foul the wheel. Anyways, the tyre OD is same so why would anybody want to do something like this? Just leave it alone, please. A special request to the teamBHPian who started this thread - if you are buying the Scorpio VLX, please note that it is supplied with factory equipped alloy wheels. Please do not end up spending additional money to spoil / dilute the specifications. The wheels are tuned with the suspension spring rates and damper settings to provide correct balance of ride and handling. The spring rates and damper settings for the V series are different from other Scorpios.
Whew! I hope this clarifies. Please send me a PM if you want additional information.
Best regards,
Behram Dhabhar
Last edited by DHABHAR.BEHRAM : 29th August 2008 at 13:07.
Reason: additional information
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