Alloy wheel sizes on a Super Custom

Hey all, would RX8 alloys be ok on my SC, they are 5x114.3 with correct centre bore of 67.1 but et is 50 which I think maybe to high, will I have clearance issues with the inner side/caliper area ?

mickB wrote:

Hey all, would RX8 alloys be ok on my SC, they are 5x114.3 with correct centre bore of 67.1 but et is 50 which I think maybe to high, will I have clearance issues with the inner side/caliper area ?

What size are the RX8 wheels?
The standard 2WD Hiace is only designed for 15" steels IIRC so I'd suspect anything over 16" would allow enough room for the calipers to fit.

It would be interesting to see if they do fit, any easily accessible alloy alternate for the Hiace would be useful to know. I have 18" Ray's on mine with 45 tyres, ride comforts not bad but I reckon a 17" wheel would be the ideal size IMO if you are changing up.

ET50 is probably too high, but it is hard to say. And the Hi-ace is much heavier than an RX8.

On the 4x4 version, the standaard wheels are steel 16 inch with ET20.

Hiace4wd wrote:

ET50 is probably too high, but it is hard to say. And the Hi-ace is much heavier than an RX8.

On the 4x4 version, the standaard wheels are steel 16 inch with ET20.

My stock steels are 15"(x6").... I think ET30.

I got a second set for winter tyres but wasn't able to find winters in the correct size (195R15C), so fitted undersized (205/70R15C) ones.

I'd be careful about weight... Hiaces are pretty heavy vans... cheap, cast alloys may not be as strong as you would like and and a rim failure could be a bit of a pain....

Cheers,
             W.

In a word NO.

As said the Hiace is heavy. It is the lateral force that will buckle the wheel(s).

Good point about the weight - way heavier than a RX8.
I guess you want a VAN wheel.

Note that it may still be possible to import some suitable alloys from Japan, does the UP garage have an online section?

I can actually see my alloys in this shop LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wuf7jER4Zs#t=69.547543

Cheers all, the rx8 alloys are oe not after market and it seems the car is a hefty beast according to the Web, still not sure on 18's if I'm honest, watching 2 sets on ebay now. One 16 the other 17

See, you got me thinking now and just won a set of 16 mitsubishi lancer alloys instead, going to try both see which looks the best
Oh, checked hiace kerb weight and as it's not a fully loaded panel van at 2.8ton it's pretty close to rx8 and lancer kerb Weights

I think the 2WD Hiace is about 1920kg, split 1060kg front, 860kg back.

GPW wrote:

I think the 2WD Hiace is about 1920kg, split 1060kg front, 860kg back.

Hi,
RX-8 kerb weight is about 1400Kg. Gross will be quite low, as it's not designed for carrying a payload.
I think your SC is about 1950Kg, kerb:
http://www.cars-directory.net/specs/toyota/hiace/1992_5/7059/

Again, the payload will be relatively low (for a Hiace...) as this is a 7-seat minibus, not a van, but the tyres are specced with a load index of 93 (650Kg, the lowest I've seen on a HiAce), so your rims need to be at least that strong. Total load on those tyres should be under 2600Kg (assuming even distribution F/R: unlikely) and so with a kerb weight of 1950, you only have capacity to load 650Kg... That's not generous for seven people (7*75=525Kg, plus luggage...) so those tyres are arguably marginal...

It's worth bearing in mind that the high CoG of a van tends to put more strain on the wheels in cornering- there's more weight transfer onto the "outer" side of a corner. Certainly my experience driving vans over the years is that strong sidewalls improve the handling a lot, reducing body roll and sensitivity to crosswinds/truck-wash. Low profile tyres will help this, too, of course, albeit with other compromises.

It's very likely you'll get away with it- people put underspec. wheels on vans all the time and very few of them die... but my advice (which is, of course worth what you've paid for it: SFA!) would be to be cautious... rim failures do happen, especially on cast alloys which can be vulnerable to cracking, and the possible consequences are the stuff of nightmares.

Cheers,
W.

Agreed.

My van handles very well but also feels like a sports car as it has 45% tyres (225 x 45 Momo's on 18" Rays), but the Rays look very strong (i.e. they were selected in Japan for the Hiace as the correct fitment).

Sticking RX8 wheels on a Hiace would be interesting but I'd not go beyond 17" because the tyre needs to cushion the weaker wheel.

Do you recall in Top Gear Africa when James May's Volvo split two cast rims?
The danger on the Hiace is going around a bumpy corner and putting the brakes on - the maximum load on the outside front wheel - hit the right bump - after enough wheel flexing bumps - like James did and you'll get instant deflation from a stress/fatigue crack.

For normal smooth roads however I suspect RX8 wheels may be fine, but personally I'd be looking for 17" wheels from a heavier vehicle - a van or MPV that starts off around the same weight (1920kg is from my export certificate BTW) as the Hiace.

It would be VERY useful to find such an easy to source 17" wheel for the Hiace, due to the lack of local UP garages in the UK and the cheapness of 17s, anyone who finds such a wheel would be providing a huge service as I can see a cheap decent 17 that works would be massively useful as it's a good looking and useful size.

hey all, good info and advice, I'm certainly not ignoring any of it hence me looking and winning the 16" Mitsubishi Evo alloys last night, the van will never carry more than 3 people, mostly will be me the wife and the dog if I'm honest as our kids are both adults now and certainly don't want a camp adventure weekend with mum and dad I've also took out the single swivel seat in the back to make access in and out better and my that was a weighty seat

mickB wrote:

I've also took out the single swivel seat in the back to make access in and out better

I was thinking of doing exactly that - did it come out OK and does it show it's missing on the floor?

GPW wrote:

mickB wrote:

I've also took out the single swivel seat in the back to make access in and out better

I was thinking of doing exactly that - did it come out OK and does it show it's missing on the floor?

It has made access in and out so much easier but you loose that option to make a full bed if you want an impromptu overnight stay, you remove the 4 square caps on the trim, unscrew the 4 cross head screws and then the 4 bolts holding the seat to the floor. The oe carpet is shaped around and under just showing the 4 areas where the bolts go, I have put a small piece of carpet in for now

Yes that opens it up nicely.

I see you have curtains too!
I'm on the lookout for gliders that fit my tracks.

My double seat swivels but it swivels the wrong way - i.e. to turn it to face forward in your pic no.2 I'd have to turn it counter clockwise, so it briefly faces away from the door. I need to re-fit the base 180deg opposite so the 90deg or half turned point looks out of the sliding door. Then I'll be able to have a coffee watching the world go by.

BTW I also have mats over the carpet, I'm going to remove them all for a carpet vac and do the same for the base ones still in the van. I also need to upgrade the stereo, I'm still looking for a place to put a hidden sub - maybe even just an 8" one somewhere.

hahahaha my exact thoughts on the double swivel too it swivels the wrong way and I too want to sit looking out the side door

I have just bought a Subaru double din unit for mine, I thought about an Toyota Avensis Sony double din but it looks too new for the age of my van and the Scooby unit looks the part, just need to get it and work out the plug loom changes

I thought about a double DIN - there's a CD radio thing in there now, but having just fitted a brilliant Pioneer singe DIN into the car (£45 new!), I'm even more set on a double din converter giving me a single DIN head unit and a cubby-hole for stuff.

Although having a satnav there is tempting, but my tomtom just sticks on the window.

BTW re seats, I was thinking of a conversion swivel base for the passenger seat at the front, I'm not sure how useful it would be but you never know..

Ooh, that's interesting but I think you would struggle to swivel your feet past the engine cover and the van is quite low headroom wise,
I'm tempted to sell it to a vw camper owner as it will go like hot cakes, flat base fixing, in built seat belt, swivels it's a cert they'd love it as I'm an ex Bay, T25 and t4 camper owner

I think a conversion swivel base only adds up to 20-25mm to the height, fitted under the front passenger seat it would allow it to swivel (without anyone on it!) to face rearwards, just giving another interior seat to the back cabin space, then a person would enter the side door and sit to the left.

Perhaps you are right though and the headroom is too low there though as the roof dips at that point, it was just a vague thought for the future. First I have to make that seat slide as for some reason it doesn't, although it's only held onto the engine cover by 4 bolts so that mystery should be quickly solved

mickB wrote:

I'm an ex Bay, T25 and t4 camper owner

Do you think the Hiace has more space inside than the T4?
It looks around the same as the bay VW camper to my untrained eye.

In comparison to the T4 the space is quite similar. Both have a normal and long wheel base, with both around 30cm difference. The Hiace has been there with an extra long wheel base which the T4 didn't have. But that was mainly shipped to countries were the T4 was not sold, so not a direct rival. The T4 is hardly sold outside Europe (unlike the older T3 and so on)
Only a T5 and other vans (like Opel and Renault etc) have more upper space as they are square like.

GPW wrote:

I think a conversion swivel base only adds up to 20-25mm to the height, fitted under the front passenger seat it would allow it to swivel (without anyone on it!) to face rearwards, just giving another interior seat to the back cabin space, then a person would enter the side door and sit to the left.

Perhaps you are right though and the headroom is too low there though as the roof dips at that point, it was just a vague thought for the future. First I have to make that seat slide as for some reason it doesn't, although it's only held onto the engine cover by 4 bolts so that mystery should be quickly solved

Do you have a middle seat? Because that would be in the way. And probably the door should open for you to swivel the seat.
I checked it, but it will be hard. Also not so attractive to make the main seating area around the front area, because you can never swivel the driver seat in an easy way because of the steering wheel.

There is in fact a really complicated system for the new Hiace (H200) which is really expensive, but it does the job.



I thought about buying this and adapting it to our version of the Hiace. But it is so expensive that it would be cheaper to fabricate this from scratch.

That's very cool!!

My seating is identical to mickB's in his pictures above BTW.

GPW wrote:

mickB wrote:

I'm an ex Bay, T25 and t4 camper owner

Do you think the Hiace has more space inside than the T4?
It looks around the same as the bay VW camper to my untrained eye.

I'd say the T4 is wider than the Hiace but length wise about the same, I compare my van to the old bay window with the flat front etc it compares well imo - the widest van with most interior room was the t25, I could lay across the front seats in mine easily and I'm 6'2

Hmm, I could not imagine that. I guess that wasn't stretched out?

I know the T5 is wider, like more new vans. But the T25 is not that big.
I used a T5 to carry something big of around 180cm and it did fit, but there was not much space left.

Would be nice if you didn't have to make a bed in the length direction of the van. But I'm 6'3 / 190cm and it's not going to happen (at least not in the Hiace)
But I really like having a wide bed though. We now have a bed of 155cm wide and 200cm long, so I'm really happy with that.

We travel with our two very young kids (one baby and one 2,5 years old) so we also need the upstairs bed for the kids.
Kind of a challenge in a normal sized van, but it works.