I'm considering upgrading my wheel flairs from the City-style trim to the Sportpack-style ones:



I know that you can run 13" wheels with these flairs with a modification to the wheel well, but what about smaller rims? There are 12" Minilite-style wheels on the car now, and I wonder if the flairs will be too large visually for the trim?



Does anyone out there run 12" (or smaller) wheels with these flairs, and if so, do you have a picture so I can see what it looks like? I don't want to spend the money on them only to discover that the wheels now look silly, requiring me to buy 4 new rims and take a cutting torch to my wells...

Thanks in advance!!

 

They will look too large for your current 12" wheels (no photos but I have seen it done and is not a good look IMHO). They can look OK with 12" wheels with a wider offset rim (outwards) and with 165 wide tyres fitted instead of the standard 145s.
Spacers (small) can be fitted but are not recommended and need longer wheel studs.
If you do fit the wider Sportpack arches try to get genuine Rover ones which although more expensive are much better made and fit properly unlike the Chinese sourced copies!

 

The ones in the photo above are from MiniMania and Mini-Tec (same photo, same description, same price)- is there a better supplier?

Sounds like I'd need to use either deeper-dish rims or spacers/longer wheel studs though in order to look right. Yes? The ones in the top photo definitely have a 1"-2" lip on the inside compared to the ones in the bottom photo.

 

There are a bunch of different flares out there. I am a big fan of the Wood&Picket flares. Not as big as the Sportspack and seem to fit the 12 wheel better. This is what I want to put on my cabrio eventually.
http://www.minimania.com/web/Item/MS.../InvDetail.cfm

 

I'm running 12" x 6" with Group 3 arches on my Mini Van (w/ body mod to the wheel well)

12" x 5" will not fill the wheel arch and will only make the mini look strange. Spacer can help fill the arches, but at the cost adding turning radius.

 

minitec flares will not fit your car.

 

Interesting you say that... Mini-Tec says that they will - I emailed them. What info do you have that they're missing? It would be good to know if I ever do decide to go this route.

I just wondered if the wheels would look funny. Seems like they will. Oh well - it's not worth it for me right now to spend $350 PLUS all new rims and trires for what ammounts to a handling DECREASE. Looks great, though, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for a good deal on some used 13"X6" or 13"X7" Superlites - I know those will do the trick.

 

Why not 15's??? they will look downright dubbish on such a small car. J/K

 

I think you have to enlarge the wheel wells just to run 13's, Adam...

 

That is why the J/K was there.....You have to cut metal for 13's right?....ugh....cut metal....

 

That's what I hear, anyway... I know a guy with the 7" deep rims and he says that they rub a bit at full wheel lock as well - he recommended getting 6" ones instead.

 

You will have to grind down the wheel as well if you use the 12" x 6". 6" wide will rub on the front part of the wheel well. Grinding about an inch of the front bend will allow full motion.

 

Check out my gallery. I have 13X7 superlights with the sportpack arches. The front wheels actually stick out a little farther than the back. If you want the back to match exactly to the front, you will have to add a spacer (I can't remember the size). Yes, my rear drums have the built in 1" spacer.

I originally had 13X6 superlights (I still have in my garage) but they didn't fill up the arches to my liking. I like the ride of the 13X6 better than the 13X7s. When I repaint the Mini, I may go for a smaller arch and put the 13X6 wheels back on.

I hope this helps.