Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Issue with Minilite rim on Plus4SS

In November we discovered that the right front wheel rim is ingrained caused by contacting some elements of the suspension. My dealer tried stiffer springs but without great success. The abrasion is continuing. There may be some solutions concerning different wheels as the inner diameter of the Minilite rims seems to be too narrow. But which solution to chose is not my main point here - and it is another story, not so very easy as well...

It is not said that this is a series issue but what happened to my rim could also happen to yours.

My motivation for posting about this topic is, that I feel obliged to make this note for all users of a Plus4 SuperSport with Minilites to check for your safety. In other words despite the very engaged support from my dealer I feel guilty if not sharing.

I´m very confident, that MMC is thinking about a reasonable solution if this issue should concern more customers than me.

And I want to keep on having fun with my Mog as you all want to as well.

If the pics are integrated you will see the difference between a proper rim and the ingrained one - with not much reserve of rim material.

Good post - that is a disgrace, just on one side of the car then? Guess it is rubbing on the outer edge of the top lug!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PJB

I suspect if you were to look... you would find it common amongst those with Minilite wheels when fitted to front ends of Morgans.

That's both new and retrofit.

That car could fail an MOT for two reasons.
i) The contact that is obviously occurring.
ii) The fact the bolt on the rear of the kingpin plate is fitted upside down. Good engineering practice is always to place them downwards as that way, if the nut falls off, the bolt is still there. This may seem like nit-picking, but don't try otherwise with my local MOT garage!

That looks like it could be a safety issue and cause a wheel failure if it goes long enough without attention

What we are looking at in the photos is the new adjustable camber plates. The "washer" that is on view above the nylock nut at the attachment point to the bottom of the kingpin isn't just a simple washer. It is welded to a short piece of threaded bar which forms part of the adjustment mechanism. The threaded bar is adjusted by the other nylock nut (with the blue nylon core showing) which is facing us in the top photo. As this nut is screwed in/out it moves the "washer" with it, and so alters the kingpin bottom pickup point to adjust the camber angle.

From Heinz's photos, I cannot really see why/where the contact between the suspension and the rim has occurred. It looks like it is the end of the threaded bar sticking out from the bottom of the kingpin, but if that we're the case then presumably it would be touching most of the time. Unless, there is enough wheel deflection permitted by the wheel bearing during cornering?

Given Cereal's assertion above, shouldn't this warrant a safety recall of cars with Minilites and the new adjustable camber plates fitted?

IMHO, of course

Surely contact at the top lug in bump conditions. PJB

It seems that the contact may not be at the bottom, but at the top, as the camber would likely move the bottom out and therefore the top in. IMHO, It must be evident where the contact is being made and therefore what needs to be altered.

When you move the lower end of the kingpin out (for neg camber)then the top of the kingpin pivots about the upper spherical end of the kingpin in the upper lug, so should not get closer to the tyre/wheel. Makes me wonder if the addition of the brake reaction bars overhangs the top lug too much too? PJB