16" to 18" road wheel swap?

[suzublu]

Had straights on mine Karl, you can fettle Meteor and other caps to fit the straights

[The Mighty Quinn]

Originally Posted by suzublu

Had straights on mine Karl, you can fettle Meteor and other caps to fit the straights

I think the 11 Spokes on your car look the bees knees, Ronnie

But, I quite like the deep-dish centre caps (from the Serpent wheels) when on the Straights.. (particularly MK1 cars).

Ummm, decisions..

I'm too easily distracted , having far more important things to get done on my car at the moment


Cheers,
Karl.

[suzublu]

Originally Posted by The Mighty Quinn

I think the 11 Spokes are your car look the bees knees, Ronnie

But, I quite like the deep-dish centre caps (from the Serpent wheels) when on the Straights.. (particularly MK1 cars).

Ummm, decisions..

I'm too easily distracted , having far more important things to get done on my car at the moment


Cheers,
Karl.

That's very kind of you to say so Karl
Personally, I think the straights look a little dated but, up to you mate

[The Mighty Quinn]

Originally Posted by CMOORESY

Hello all,
Not been on for a while.
Got rid of my wife's Cimarron Green, facelift Con SE, CDTi facelift tourer in February 2019 after just over 10 years of reasonably reliable service (bar a few clutch and master cylinder issues). This was exchanged for a Jaguar 2.2 X-Type SE diesel Auto, with a reasonably low mileage of 77,000 miles. and what a lovely car it is.
I was going to try to keep my old facelift ZT going for another 4? years until I can take early retirement, but the final nail (or nails) to the coffin came in December. To add to the knackered strut top bearings and the defunct fuel gauge, It started loosing brake fluid and needed topping up once a week. On top of that the brake pad low warning light came on, then on the Saturday between Christmas and New Year, the alternator packed in. Unfortunately, Id overlooked the MOT for the Jag and the DVLA sent me a nice letter reminding me of this, stating that they were also cancelling the road tax. Great. The only car we had left roadworthy was my 50 year old Karmann Ghia and I didn't want to use that on the wet, salty roads, so the search was on for a new vehicle as there was no way I was spending the Christmas break wrestling with an alternator change as the decision was made to scrap the ZT due to the above issues.
I decided on a budget of £1000 and a radius of 20 miles or so. As I Looked in desperation at the heaps of overpriced carp for sale I started to gravitate back to MG ZT's and Rover 75's, I decided that I may as well buy a cheap 'keeper' (I did intend to go down the X-Type route for both of our cars eventually) so it would need to be another diesel auto so the choice was much reduced and the budget and radius grew...
After a few hours of searching I managed to locate a 54 plate Rover 75 Con SE Diesel Auto with 82,000 on the clock. It was 60 miles away in Long Eaton, so I jumped on the train. The car was as expected, I little unloved, a few minor dents and scrapes, but in generally good shape (bar the rust starting in the rear jacking points) It had been stood for a year as the elderly owner had given up driving so under the bonnet was full of leaves and cobwebs (as was the plenum, but it was dry) The seats however, were pretty much perfect, with no wear to the drivers bolster what-so-ever. £1300 was handed over and the car driven home (it was taxed and insured with a fresh MOT). During the drive home It struck me how different the 75 was to the ZT. A lot smoother and a fair bit bouncier than the ZT. It also felt quite sluggish. Smooth but sluggish.

On getting the car home, it had grown on me, and I decided to spruce it up and 'harvest' all the reliability modifications from the ZT, K&N filter, Silicon Inter-cooler hoses, EGR Bypass, etc. All these were swapped and the culprit for the sluggish permanence revealed. The EGR valve to the inlet manifold was 3/4 blocked. Really, that much. The inlet manifold was also cleaned out with some old petrol and a toothbrush.
Next the leather was cleaned and treated with Autoglym leather food as the seats were feeling pretty dry and tight. The headlamps were buffed to get rid of the oxidization on the polycarbonate, a brand-new pair of front indicators were fitted as I had bought these years ago as spares, The bodywork was buffed with compound and resin polished.
I have to say, I'm chuffed with the finished article. All I need now, are a couple of new Union Jack badges and a proper shaped rear plate and it will look damn good.

Which brings me to the title of the post. I have a set of 5, 18" 11 spoke straight alloys on the ZT, all with very good tyres, so much so it grieves me to let the car go for £130 scrap with them on.

Should I swap them over, or will it spoil the ride and aesthetics of the 75?

The 75 has my worst style of alloys, the 16" fork, while they don't look bad, they are a real b'stard to keep clean as you need a toothbrush to get into the forky bit. We had these on the tourer and cleaning them got on my wick.

My ZT is black and I had the wheels refurbed about 8 years ago in a dark silver colour (grey) which will not match the 75's platinum paint, they would need to be redone in silver. This isn't a bad thing as they have a few scrapes after 8 years.

Any advice or experience would be appreciated, will the ride be compromised i.e soft suspension with big wheels and lower profile tyres? What are the downsides if any?

Shame to scrap the ZT as it has some good bits on it, such as fully functioning powerfold mirrors, heated leather, Harmon Kardon speakers, message center, Hi-Line etc

Good luck with the new car, Chris.

I'm sure I've got a pair of new Union Jack badges in the spares cabinet (came in a clips job-lot I got a few years ago) and I won't have any use for them. So, if you want to PM me your address, I'll pop them in the post at the weekend.


Cheers,
Karl.

[The Mighty Quinn]

Originally Posted by suzublu

That's very kind of you to say so Karl
Personally, I think the straights look a little dated but, up to you mate

Yeah, I just don't know - I love the 11 Spokes (normally my favourite wheel), but the slightly more classic design (?) of the Straights seems to sit well on mk1 cars - particularly when paired with the Serpent centre caps (unintended bedfellows, though they are).

I love that pic of the Pewter Grey mk1 75 - not sure how much of that is down to the wheels and how much the colour..


Cheers,
Karl.

[CMOORESY]

Originally Posted by Bogbrush82

Very cheeky post, but if you are scrapping the ZT is there a chance I could have the wiring loom for the hi line/Harmon kardon system please?

Sorry not trying to be a misery here. While I'd love to take bits off and give/sell/swap them over onto the new 75 and even store them, I just don't have the time to start taking bits off it, especially these dark nights as its sat outside and the big chicken whats it gone ASAP because her Jag is having to be parked on the road.

It has crossed my mind to change some stuff as its also got cruse control message center etc, but I really don't need another project at the moment.

If someone wants to take the whole car away for £150 their welcome.

But not before Iv investigated/changed the leaking screen washer bottle on the 75.

Sorry.

[CMOORESY]

Originally Posted by The Mighty Quinn

I think the 11 Spokes are your car look the bees knees, Ronnie

But, I quite like the deep-dish centre caps (from the Serpent wheels) when on the Straights.. (particularly MK1 cars).

Ummm, decisions..

I'm too easily distracted , having far more important things to get done on my car at the moment


Cheers,
Karl.

Lovely colour and the wheels look fantastic. Had this style on my Monogram MK1 ZT many years ago (Spectre paint).

[Jay]

Try this

225/55-17

https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/s...highlight=300c

[CMOORESY]

Originally Posted by Comfortably Numb

I have never been a big fan of low profiles, although there are plenty lower profile, - stupid low in my opinion, if you value comfort (which I do, and why I have a 75 and not a ZT.) The other possible downside is that far more road imperfections are transmitted to the suspension components, which wear fast enough at the best of times.

Yes, agree, My ZT positively ate strut top bearings, I had them both replaced twice with genuine x-part complete items twice. Eventually just gave up and left them bumping as it wasn't an MOT failure.
The 75's are smooth and as they should be.
Might swap them over for a week and see what I think? Problem is the car ZT needs to be shifted soon and I'v little time at the moment to mess about with cars...

[CMOORESY]

Wheels swapped over and I must say the cars appearance and handling are totally transformed.

Can't say it drives the same as the ZT, but can't say that's a bad thing either, but its much better than the bouncy, rolly standard 75 on 16"s
Its somewhere in between which in my opinion is good. not as harsh as the ZT but holds the road better and feels much more precise than the squashy 75 set-up

The real transformation is in the looks department. It honestly now looks much more impressive. It looks a whole lot less 'pensioner'.
Really transforms the cars stance and presence.

I'll post an image when its light enough to take a decent shot.