New Alloy Wheels or Old Magnesium ?

Chromaphase

Chromaphase

True Classic
Hello Everyone,
So I searched some topics about wheels and tire, found some interesting ones here and here, albeit a bit old with missing links and photos.

About me and my X : 1500 EU 1985 Carb.
Use as street car and also plan on using it on track day and VHRS Rallye (mountain, regularity rally, TSD)

here my questions for you :

I can buy old magnesium wheels CD30 for 800e 13/5.5 (CD32 not good as they are 4x100, thanks Jeff)
Or I could buy brand new Minilites/Superlites for 400e, 13/6 or 13/7 (page)
I really like the design of the minilite black with the chrome circle.
Also the CD32/CD30 I can buy here in France are second hands, with some chips, paint problems etc..

The weight between the magnesium and the minilite/superlite is kind of big, anyone here has tested the difference ?
As my X is just a bit better than stock, I gues lighter wheels would help a lot...

Another part of the question, the tires :

if on the CD32/30 13/5.5 > 175/60 on front, 205/60 on the back, or 175/60 +185/60 ?
if on the Minilite 13/6 > 185/60 front, 205/60 on the back ? Or else ?

I dont have any suspension modifications...
Also the 13x7 Minilites look gorgeous (for the rear), but I have read in different threads that it will bea problem for the fenders...
But not sure if its because these Xers had the car lowered or not.

In short, I need your help to figure out what is the best for handling and grip...
I couldnt find on the internet the real property of oversized tire, etc... I understand its good for the front wheels to not have too much wider tires.

Thanks !

edit : Added what I have now, Cromodora Alloy from Uno Turbo, 165/70 tires. I dont like them very much.
 

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The Cromodora CD32 is for BMW 2002 (4x100mm lugbolt pattern), not for a Fiat. The comparable-looking Cromodora wheel for Fiats would be the CD31, which has the proper 4x98mm lugbolt pattern (as does the 4-spoke CD30 you have shown).
 
Magnesium wheels will be lighter, stiffer, and better at temperature control. Basically better than an alloy in all facets. The only downside of magnesium is they can be brittle, so they don’t bend so much as crack with impacts.
 
On a stock X1/9, wheels with a 7" width will typically require some fender work, especially in the front wheel wells.

If you look at the "SuperLite" vs "MiniLite" variations you will see that you can get new lighter wheels. The 13x6 size is a better fit for the X if you plan to keep the body in stock form.

The answer to your question is that you need new and old wheels. I know this because I have about 6 sets of wheels for only two X1/9s. I would not have all those wheels unless it was necessary. Right? :)
 
visualistics said:
Magnesium wheels will be lighter, stiffer, and better at temperature control. Basically better than an alloy in all facets. The only downside of magnesium is they can be brittle, so they don’t bend so much as crack with impacts.
Click to expand...
and for our cars - they are all old. Very old. Which means unknown history and fatigue. I have a set and my thinking is that for a car that is going to potter down to the local shops or do the occasional relaxed weekend gentle tour or for a show - fine. But for higher speeds, harder cornering or race - no. Which means multiple sets of wheels per @JimD above.
 
JimD said:
On a stock X1/9, wheels with a 7" width will typically require some fender work, especially in the front wheel wells.

If you look at the "SuperLite" vs "MiniLite" variations you will see that you can get new lighter wheels. The 13x6 size is a better fit for the X if you plan to keep the body in stock form.

The answer to your question is that you need new and old wheels. I know this because I have about 6 sets of wheels for only two X1/9s. I would not have all those wheels unless it was necessary. Right? :)
Click to expand...
Hello Jim, you are right ! I think i will keep the cromodora I have on my X and repurpose them with maybe a track tire for some special occasion !
Do you think the 13x6 would work on the front with 175 tire ? I can put the 13x7 only in the back.

Yeah I meant superlite when I was talking about minilite, for some reasons ! 5.5kg itsnt bad at all.

I have made some research a bit about the magnesium wheel and yeah the problem at even repainting it... seems I can only buy the CD30 but as you can see the color is a bit weird... maybe I could just repaint them in all gold ? Sand them a bit and paint it over ?

What kind of tire/wheels set do you have ? Are you doing track or its more like snow tires etc..
 
visualistics said:
Magnesium wheels will be lighter, stiffer, and better at temperature control. Basically better than an alloy in all facets. The only downside of magnesium is they can be brittle, so they don’t bend so much as crack with impacts.
Click to expand...
Indeed, on the top thread I just found the post about the wheel that kind of exploded... its scary.
Also the repaint seems to be a problem...
 
I'm running 13 x 6 front and rear. I forget the offset but I picked these wheels to center it between the strut and fender. I also folded up the fender lips front and rear. My first set of tires on those wheels were 185/70-13 (no 60 series back then) so that required folding up the front lower part of the fender slightly for turning clearance. After that I switched to 185/60-13 which had way more than enough clearance. I don't know if the folks that are installing 185/60-13s these days have clearance issues to deal with but somebody should know.
 
Chromaphase said:
What kind of tire/wheels set do you have ? Are you doing track or its more like snow tires etc..
Click to expand...
On the shelf, I have a set of 13x5.5 CD31 wheels, a set of 13x6 ATS classics, a set of 13x6 Western/Ansen wheels. I use 185/60/13 tires on all my 13" wheels. On my 85X I have a set of 15x6.5 Monza wheels mounted with 195/45/15 tires. The 15x6.5 wheels/tires did require a little fender adjusting, but really just using a mallet to clearance the lips a bit.

daytona_1.JPGIM001735b.JPGIM003161.JPGIMG_2047.JPG
.... CD31................................Ansen/Western............ATS Classic...................Monza

I do have 2 sets of steels wheels, but I only use those as rollers when needed during a project. The tires on the steelies are probably over 20 years old and don't hold air very long. :)

I don't do any real racing. I do have a set of Hoosier SRF 185/60/13 radials I will be mounting on 13x6 wheels for a little autocross fun. All other tires are just normal street units, since 99% of the time I am just cruising around town.
 
Steve Thomas said:
and for our cars - they are all old. Very old. Which means unknown history and fatigue. I have a set and my thinking is that for a car that is going to potter down to the local shops or do the occasional relaxed weekend gentle tour or for a show - fine. But for higher speeds, harder cornering or race - no. Which means multiple sets of wheels per @JimD above.
Click to expand...
Great point, I had forgotten that.
 
Steve Thomas said:
and for our cars - they are all old. Very old. Which means unknown history and fatigue. I have a set and my thinking is that for a car that is going to potter down to the local shops or do the occasional relaxed weekend gentle tour or for a show - fine. But for higher speeds, harder cornering or race - no. Which means multiple sets of wheels per @JimD above.
Click to expand...
You are right, safety first !
And also yes... VERY hard to know the history/use of the old wheels, its already hard to know what happened to our X from the past ownors !
 
Guys, would you say for the rear, is it better to have
13x7 with 185 tire,
13x6 with 185 tire

One will have ligned with the wheel, another one will have the tire wider than the wheel,
What would be the pro/con of this ?
 
Well I along with many others run 185 tyres on stock 13x5 wheels and they work fine.

If looking to change the wheels, I think it comes to aesthetics and personal taste. As long as the offset is right you can fit whatever size you like at the rear, depending on where you are and how stick they are on tyres sticking out a bit from the bodywork. I know in the UK it is a big no no
 
Chromaphase said:
Guys, would you say for the rear, is it better to have
13x7 with 185 tire,
13x6 with 185 tire

One will have ligned with the wheel, another one will have the tire wider than the wheel,
What would be the pro/con of this ?
Click to expand...
Usually the MFG of the tire will show the tire size they designed it for. Hoosier I think says a 7" measure rim width, where a different brand may have a different measured width. I found it safer to go with the wider rim as their is no chance of the tire being squeezed in on the rim and not providing as much surface contact as possible.

In regards to the original question, it comes down to looks. For my race cars, I always did newer just for safety. However, I did crack one of my minilights rims from just doing autocross. Their are also some good vendors in Italy who can get you some really nice rims as well.
 
Chromaphase said:
Guys, would you say for the rear, is it better to have
13x7 with 185 tire,
13x6 with 185 tire

One will have ligned with the wheel, another one will have the tire wider than the wheel,
What would be the pro/con of this ?
Click to expand...
If you don't have flared fenders and don't intend to add flared fenders, I would recommend 13x6 at all 4 corners with 185/60/13. That's just my opinion of course. It simplifies fitment if you intend to keep the body stock.

However, if you don't mind modifying your X, you could cut off the stock wheel arches and get a set of flares. Then you could run 13x7 at all four corners and possibly 13x8 at the rear.

I went back and re-read your original post. Since you don't have any suspension modifications, you will also need to check the clearance between the tire and the spring and spring perch. Wider wheel/tire sets can also require switching to coilovers to provide additional clearance.
 
For day to day I would have no qualms about using a vintage magnesium wheel.

For any competition I would be likely to want to use an aluminum rim due to the bend versus fracture issue previously pointed out.

When looking at notably wider rims, a 7” rim is notably wider given these cars originally shipped with 4.5 rims initially and then later with 5.0” inch wide rims, you will need to look very carefully at the back spacing and your overall tire diameter to not interfere with the spring perch on the front struts in particular. Your rear struts with the higher ROW spring perch would be less likely to be a problem in terms of rear interference.

I wouldn’t run staggered rims on an X as many have noted a strong tendency towards oversteer when doing so, particularly if you choose a tire which is taller than standard as they would raise the rear roll center.

Both of the vintage rims you show work very well on an X. The “Abarth” ones can be had as modern aluminum reproductions as well as the vintage magnesium alloy so your car could look the ‘same’ in either regime if you decided to run one type for the road and the other type for your other activities which might include an off course bit of agricultural work.

Staggering tires doesn’t work that well with an X but we don’t have a variety of sizes available here. I could see 186/60 13 on the front with 195/60 on the rear. If you were to jump up to 14s 185/55 14 is a good size, particularly if you could locate some Alfetta rims either in the 5 star configuration or the more vintage version one sometimes sees on the sedans.
 
Thanks guys, actually 205 tire are extremely hard to come by, even here in europe, but plenty of choice for 185...
We will all agree that its better to have 175 on the front for handling ? Or it really makes no difference ?
I have read that 185 on front could be a problem as well...
 
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