Banded Steel Wheels - safe to race?

[kbf71]

I've been trying for a very long time to try and find some standard 5.5j steels for my Stock Hatch Nova GTE. We have to run a 185/60/14 Yokohama A048 tyre and it balloons the sidewalls quite badly on a 5j (standard wheels required by the rules, you have the run the 14" steel or the 14" alloy).

I never realized how much this affected the handling until I started racing a Saxo with the same width tyres. The Saxo wheels are 6j and the handling is massively improved.

As there are no 6j Nova wheels in existence, I was thinking about getting a 5j set banded to 5.5j to try and stiffen up the sidewall a little so I don't generate so much heat and flex in the tyres. I have picture of the car with the tyres nearly ripped off the rims on full cornering loads! And before anyone asks, 185 is the narrowest tyre I can use because they specify a 60 profile and the A048 brand...

Any thoughts?

Failing that, any 5.5j wheels going? ;)

[Stuart]

Surely you can lodge a complaint that the rules dont fit with OEM nova parts and that its unsafe...

If you stick to a 14" 5.5 or 6j aftermarket rim of a similar weight to that of original then I cant see how that is cheating compared to say the saxos etc. Its got to be worth a chat with the rule makers.

[Royston]

You need to look for 5.5J x 14" Astra SR/ Cavalier Commander wheels, they are identical to the 5Jx14" Nova SR anthracite/silver rim steel wheels, but 0.5" wider. circa mid/late 80's

Unfortunately they are quite hard to come by..............

Some of the later Vauxhall steel rims may also be suitable.

[MK999]

As Stu said imo... if you have to run standard Nova wheels, and you start running banded steels or steels from another car, you're most likely just as much in breach of the rules as picking up any other 5.5j wheels, less noticable of course but if you start winning you'll be amazed what people start noticing.

[kbf71]

To be fair, I could just lump it. I have won this championship twice already lol

It's just something I only got my head around when I moved up a class and raced something else. I would still be ignorant of the problem without having raced the Saxo, but the money involved to be competitive in Stock Hatch is getting prohibitive - front running cars costing £10000 to build from certain places - when I sold my old Nova for £2500 with two championships attached. So I'm going back to Classic Hatch in search of cheaper competition.

New GTE should be ready for Cadwell in October either way. With 5j or 5.5j ;)

Any argument I make about the size on safety grounds will be overruled based on previous success so I would need to find the right wheels I guess.

[mowgli]

i had a set of 6j 14's in the same pattern. they were off a german registered opel kadett... i sold them & they ended up banded.

didn't some of the mk2 cavaliers & astra mk3's have them fitted too?

ps. you have pm.