Sceptre Tryes sizes

[SegaSceptre]

I wanted to look for new tyres for the sceptre, trying around to see where I can get them cheapest but I forgot the tyre sizes for radial, my Uncle thinks its 165 width which sounds about right but we were wondering what you guys go for on your sceptres.

[rusty nuts]

I've just checked an old bill and the tyres i bought were 165/80/13.

[SegaSceptre]

Thanks, Ill do the rounds of the tyre places then and see what its going to cost.

[rootesmadnick]

im running peugeot 405 rims on my car

(because the originals are missing)

improved the handling no end....

[SegaSceptre]

Intresting choice, Tyres are cheaper than a whole set of wheels though so thats the option Ill take. Its possible to get 4 under £100 if I can get acesse to the tyre changing and wheel balenceing equipment to do it myself.

[rootesmadnick]

i have got a nice set o fperiod chrome wellers for it but they need rubber so they will have to wait till I get the seatbelt situation sorted

[sceptre511]

I found Goodyear the best handling tyres on standard Sceptre wheels.
I'd forgotten Peueot had the same stud patturn,I had Mk5/6 Escort wheels on my Sceptre a while ago They are 6"x14" with 185x60x14 tyres the good thing was that the back spacing was the very nearly the same so you didn't get any funny stearing problems .I used MK1 Vauxhall Carlton trim rings and welded on 3 'buttons' to hold the Sceptre hubcaps.It made a huge difference to the handling .
I thing i had to use 1/4 spacers on the front hubs to stop the wheels hitting the top ball joint.

Hope this is of some use to some one

Olly

[rootesmadnick]

ive got uniroyal rainmasters on mine, and to be honest ive yet to get them squeaking and I can be a spirited driver at times..

I have to confess to having plans to lower my car by 50mm front and back, I am doing this purely because my first sceptre had also been done in this way and it does wonders for the handling (which isnt that bad to be honest) and the fact my car looks a bit 4x4 on the 14" rims..

for those interested it is being done with new manufactured springs designed specifically for the purpose at the front and aluminium lowering blocks and longer shackle bolts at the back, I know some people lower by cutting springs but I would like the option of offering the original ride height to a potential buyer should I ever have to sell her, and of course purpose built springs are probably safer than cut ones as they will seat properly in the cups in the suspension

[sceptre511]

Cool,when you lower it remove or add shims on the top wishbone to set the camber a 1/2 degree negative (i think !) camber so that the top of the front wheels lean together ,not as originaly set with the camber positive.This helps plant the tyre square to the road when the car is pushing around the corner.There is alot more to it than i could write here ,but it will improve things .Also if you can alter the castor to 1 /12 or 2 degrees this will also help matters ,although it will make the stearing heaver.

P.s you'll probably have to cut the lower bumpstop in half to get more travel in the suspension.

Cheers
Olly ( looking forward to taking my Sceptre around Mallory park in May at the Practical Performance Car Magazine show )

[rootesmadnick]

might have to drop you a mail about these angle things mate... the original sceptre had been done before I got it with cut springs and lowering blocks, never really noticed anything untoward with steering weight or tyre wear and it outhandled the mk3 escort we had at the time with ease ! the steering on this one is a lot heavier than on the original sceptre , dont know if this is down to the pug wheels, they certainly seem to fill the arches more than standard rims would do..
thanks for the constructive input though,

[sceptre511]

No worries,just let me know if you need any info.
Isn't it funny how a question on tyre sizes has changed topic !

[turbinecol]

You've been on that retrorides proboard site looking at that Minx Estate too much Nick

I found between my 1971 Sceptre on 165 width tyres and my 1976 Hunter on the same tyres and rims, the Hunter is much lighter on the steering. The tyres are all Goodyear so shouldn't be much if any difference at all there - I suspect slight rim offset differences between the Sceptre rims and the Hunter on Rostyles.

How do you specify the front spring lowering to someone making springs up, by the way? If you are going 5% stiffer they would need to make the spring shorter to accomodate the fact it will deflect less when loading to the default ride height, and then they need to remove the ride height drop as well. Do you give them an original spring to work with?

[rootesmadnick]

they said they had on record the factory setting of the original springs...
I said I wanted original damping but with 50mm drop..

they said hey no problem.. 2 week turnaround..

110+vat delivered