7 replies to this topic

[scars]

tried searching for this answer with no luck. I was wondering if anything other than the hubs and disc brakes need changing to convert to 10 inch wheels. this maybe a stupid question but does the speedo cable need to be changed for 10 inch set up?

[stickycreambun]

it will read a bit out but chances are you wont notice, its probably not great in the first place!

[james962]

to can get a 12" to 10" brake disc conversion from minispares or minisport, and that contains all the stuff that you need to do the conversion. I went for the minisport one, and i love it.

A cheaper alternative to this is the Fiesta conversion. I was going to do this, but decided to spent the extra cash on the conversion from Mini Sport.

I had to also alter my speedo as it was incorrect, so i changed the speedo drives. Alternatively, you can get your speedo calibrated from somewhere like Speedy Cables.

james

[minimender]

If you stand a 10" and a 12" side by side there is little or no difference in the height so speedo OK.

[Rhys]

You need to get a 7.5" cooper s setup which includes - New flanges, new calipers, discs and pads, you only need the hubs if your running front drums i think

I got mine from minispares and it was around £300

Rhys

[scars]

thanks for the quick replies!

[Southy]

If you stand a 10" and a 12" side by side there is little or no difference in the height so speedo OK.

That's not true mate as ive found out with mine, have a look at this pic on the Blackpool run last year......you can easily see the difference

 P1010033.JPG   752.36K   25 downloads

[Dan]

If you stand a 10" and a 12" side by side there is little or no difference in the height so speedo OK.

Only when the wheels are unloaded. The speedo relies on the rolling radius of the wheel which depends on the loaded height, being lower profile the tyres of the 12" rim will deflect less than those of the 10" under load. The situation is not as bad as it appears when you look at a 12" and a 10" wheeled car next to each other though because the height difference in the top, unloaded half of the wheel is irrelevant. The important difference is only in the section between the rolling centre and the road. There is a chart somewhere in the depths of the FAQ section listing the different loaded rolling radii and the rolling circumference based on that for various different wheel and tyre combinations. I seem to remember that the difference between 12" and 10" tends to be around 1% to 3% depending on the tyre profile. That could be a problem depending on how accurate your speedo currently is, whether it or the gearbox are original to the car and whether the final drive in your gearbox has ever been changed, many people tend not to bother changing the speedo drive when they chage the FD.

As for changing to 10" wheels, you dont specifically NEED a Cooper S setup. There are other ways to do it. You can use the Fiesta conversion (not my personal favourite) or an aftermarket Alloy 4-pot setup designed to take 8.4" discs machined down to either 7.5" or 7.9" but fitting your original drive system, or you can indeed fit a complete Cooper S setup. Exactly what parts you need to swap will depend on which system you choose to fit. If you have 12" wheels and disc brakes currently though, the one thing you won't have to change is the hubs. They're fine as they are.

Edited by Dan, 22 January 2008 - 10:45 AM.