What width wheel spacer needed for new wheels?

[TominMO]

Hello. I've been wanting to take off these little 12" wheels and maybe go to an easier find 13 or 14. Would i have to do all these mods to my brake system and shocks and cambers. And if so, where should i start first

If you simply switch to 13" Geo/Chevy Metro wheels with 155/80-13 tires, you won't have to change anything. Same with 165/55-14s, as long as the wheels have a good offset, like 35-38.

Early Metro wheels were 12"; later were 13", starting with 1995 IIRC.

A bonus is that you can keep your best 12" tires/rims for full-size spares.

[Eviljimchicken]

Hello. I've been wanting to take off these little 12" wheels and maybe go to an easier find 13 or 14. Would i have to do all these mods to my brake system and shocks and cambers. And if so, where should i start first

I would suggest starting with the aspire brake swap. You will want the rear beam with the hubs (keep the ebrake cable with it), front knuckles/spindles, and don't forget the master and booster. It is possible to use the stock master and booster but it doesn't work as well. You will probably want to take the wheels too because the bolt pattern will change to 4x100.

You will also need aspire outer tie rods. Escort(?) tie rods are the same and are cheaper.

The aspire rear beam has a built in sway bar which can cause under steer. You can drill out the sway bar with a hole saw or re drill your stock rear beam to accept the aspire hubs. The stock beam is somewhat lighter.

Someone let me know if I'm forgetting something!

[Petna]

Hello. I've been wanting to take off these little 12" wheels and maybe go to an easier find 13 or 14. Would i have to do all these mods to my brake system and shocks and cambers. And if so, where should i start first

[TominMO]

I have a set of 14x5.5" wheels with a 40mm offset. Planning on running the 165/55r14 like is suggested on here to keep the speedo fairly accurate. My question is what width spacer did you use to keep the rear wheel from rubbing on the stock suspension? Anything else I may be overlooking please let me know. Thanks!

Those 14s are actually 0.3" smaller radius than a 155/80-12. And as narrow as they are, I can't imagine why you would need any spacer at all. But if you do, a 1/4"/6mm one should do it.

I'm running this size tire on my Festy with the DIY VW coilover setup, which drops the body about 2". No issues. The coilover spring setup is of course far smaller diameter than stock.

I've never used hub-centric spacers, and never had a problem. You will need either aftermarket, longer lug bolts, to properly grip the thicker aluminum wheel; or switch to actual screw-in studs with red Loc-tite (far better).

[Adam Thomas]

Here goes another project! Thanks!

[ryanprins13]

Yeah, you got me there. Please send me the link to the suspension bits. Thanks!

Ha, directly above your comment is the link. Just click it and itl take you to the post. Ill have to find some more videos for you later its pretty cool what these cars can do.
Heres quite an old one. The setup has improved since this was made iirc.

https://youtu.be/q5F7RWJ7Sro

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[Adam Thomas]

Yeah, you got me there. Please send me the link to the suspension bits. Thanks!

[ryanprins13]

I have a problem with overdoing every project. Here comes another!

Its a blessing just keep telling yourself that. Have you seen any videos yet? Heres a lemons festiva (sub $500 build) racing some track prepped corvettes and stuff. (Builders are very smart and spent many hours on this) https://youtu.be/7Z7yXQRj2Uk
I like this video. Its a 50hp carberated festiva with the advanced suspension putting down some impressive numbers in autocross.

https://youtu.be/fZUXkn0xFv8

How do I go about getting the Advanced coilover set up? Is this something I need to piece together or I can buy everything at once?

You gotta buy different parts but its easy. Summary thread with what to buy is here:

https://fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57936

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[mikeyuncensored]

Over-kill is under-rated!
I like the RX7 "phone dial" wheels. Good find!
If you have to replace suspension components (struts etc) I strongly recommend doing the Advanced coilover setup. It turns even a stock festiva into something that will put a grin on your face every time you drive. Best $5-600 bucks you can spend, and you wind up with all new suspension components.

How do I go about getting the Advanced coilover set up? Is this something I need to piece together or I can buy everything at once?

[skeeters_keeper]

Over-kill is under-rated!
I like the RX7 "phone dial" wheels. Good find!
If you have to replace suspension components (struts etc) I strongly recommend doing the Advanced coilover setup. It turns even a stock festiva into something that will put a grin on your face every time you drive. Best $5-600 bucks you can spend, and you wind up with all new suspension components.

[Adam Thomas]

I have a problem with overdoing every project. Here comes another!

[ryanprins13]

Good question. I was reading about the camber plates being made here, just don't know how far to go with this car. I picked it up in the spring to save a few bucks on gas. Ended up replacing pretty much everything on the car as it was all original, and sat indoors for about 15 years. It came with steel wheels, and I hated them. Got some of the 12" aluminum wheels for it, but now I want to run some bigger wheels. Zero camber is ok to start, unless I'm just going to end up throwing camber plates in there later. Tell me what you think.

Well on the one hand those plates may space your hubs out far enough to not need spacers. On the other hand it would look goofy to have -3.5 degrees camber on the rear and 0 on the front.
I have stock(ish) suspension and i used plastic shims to get -2 degrees on the rear and i slotted the strut holes to get -2 degrees on the front.
I just daily drive and never race but the handling improvement was incredible
Its a lot more fun to corner and taking cloverleaf onramps is a lot of fun. You can also adjust the front for less toe in and your car still drives straight. The negative camberhelps your car drive straighter with less toe in so your tires last longer. Same with the rear. I had a lot of toe in stock and was able to get rid of it with the shims.
Downside kinda is you almost need to be able to do your own alignment. Or youll have to pay a shop more than the normal amount to do it. I can walk you through doing your own alignment with tools that cost the same as paying for one alignment at a shop if you like...
This is mine at -2 degrees.

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[Adam Thomas]

Good question. I was reading about the camber plates being made here, just don't know how far to go with this car. I picked it up in the spring to save a few bucks on gas. Ended up replacing pretty much everything on the car as it was all original, and sat indoors for about 15 years. It came with steel wheels, and I hated them. Got some of the 12" aluminum wheels for it, but now I want to run some bigger wheels. Zero camber is ok to start, unless I'm just going to end up throwing camber plates in there later. Tell me what you think.

[ryanprins13]

How much negative camber do you want to run? None like stock or do you want to use some shims? The negative camber improves handling even with stock suspension but would require the tire to be spaced out further.

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[Adam Thomas]

They are the 8 hole RX-7 wheels.