Despite a couple of goes at trying to centre it mine seems to be so close to the tyre wall that those allen bolt heads foul the lower shoulder of the tyre when cornering. I'm running MS rosepetals at the minute (with spacers) and R7's but had the same issue with 41/2 Miniltes with 008's on. What am I doing wrong ?
the std kad rear bar is too long for cars running 4.5" wheels.
you either have to faff around and shorten it, or buy the 'historic' version they sell which is pre shortend.
you will ruin the tyres in no time if your running the standard width one, the tyres will rub against the blades / allen keys and cook / rip them selves to bits
please note, these are my own, individual sales, nothing whatsoever to do with my employer, minispares
Looks like some nerk has fitted the wrong bar on my car then and it's not me. The same person that fitted the defective rockers and just about f*cked up everything he's done.
Anyone want to buy an anti roll bar ?
Looking at the website they actually don't list the narrower bar so I can see why this has happened. Having spoken to them they market that ARB for the wider track cars as that's what most customers have. Apparently it's only cos Swifty asked them that they even bothered to make a narrower one which you need to ask for when ordering. They have offered to replace just the bar itself for a bargain £100.
Last edited by Pete on Mon Dec 05, 2011 4:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
i forgot to mention, when we got the one for marks car we bought it unwelded, so we could shorten it ourselves (after we discovered this problem on my car)
kad do the 'historic' version pre welded - but you have to special order it
please note, these are my own, individual sales, nothing whatsoever to do with my employer, minispares
Pete wrote:Looks like some nerk has fitted the wrong bar on my car then and it's not me. The same person that fitted the defective rockers and just about f*cked up everything he's done.
Anyone want to buy an anti roll bar ?
Looking at the website they actually don't list the narrower bar so I can see why this has happened. Having spoken to them they market that ARB for the wider track cars as that's what most customers have. Apparently it's only cos Swifty asked them that they even bothered to make a narrower one which you need to ask for when ordering. They have offered to replace just the bar itself for a bargain £100.
For 100£ Can you not buff the welding off with a die grinder & burr (dremel) or perhaps an angle grinder, and reweld or even cut it of the fact that you are reducing the dimension.
I have an old 14mm minispares one from back in the day. Not excessively heavy and does the job. I don't know why anyone would consider a KAD one at all, they look crap to me. (sorry).
I'd suggest getting one of those and putting the KAD on ebay so some mug will pay for your MS one.
In the shed wrote:I have an old 14mm minispares one from back in the day. Not excessively heavy and does the job. I don't know why anyone would consider a KAD one at all, they look crap to me. (sorry).
I'd suggest getting one of those and putting the KAD on ebay so some mug will pay for your MS one.
its simple really, the KAD one is far better quality, fits far better, is far easier to set the static preload, and doesnt bend when the car bounced over kerbs (like the old minispares one did).
the only mistake KAD made was to assume that people would be running it on cars with 5-6" wide wheels with plenty of offset - it only became apparent that a small amount of customers would use 4.5" wheels, which is when the problem appeared - they solved this by selling either the bar with one end unwelded so you could shorten it yourself, or the pre-made historic version.
please note, these are my own, individual sales, nothing whatsoever to do with my employer, minispares
Looks like some nerk has fitted the wrong bar on my car then and it's not me. The same person that fitted the defective rockers and just about f*cked up everything he's done.
Sounds like a truly skilled craftsman.
Ha, ha, ha.
As Rioch says we bought mine in kit form & welded it ourselves.
If I was you I'd look at unpicking the one you have and getting it shortened. Should be fairly straight forward.
Hi,
I am Dean's friend from his earlier post about to fit the KAD bar to my Mk1. Thanks to you guys, he told me about the clearance issue before fitting .
I am currently using Minispares 4.5x10 Minilife FIA 'S' offset spec wheels, spacered rear drums and yoko 008's .
I have a new set of R7's and obviously would like the Rosepetals. For now the R7's will have to go on the Minilife's
I am assuming you guys are using the non spacered drums ??
I have been in contact with Adrian at KAD about the short bar. He is happy, providing my bar is unused and as new, to swap for the short one .
With my current set up he does not think I will have clearance issue .
My concerns are that if I were to get Rosepetals in the future:
1) Do I use the spacer provided , remember I am using the spacered drums .
2) If I do use the spacer and stick with the spacered drums will the Rosepetals/R7's stick out to far ?
if they are minispares rosepetals then you use the spacered drum (as per the original cooper s set up) and the thin spacer shim that comes with the wheels - with the longer nuts provided.
you would only not use the thin spacer shims if your are using the car in an application where there is a maximum track width, in which case the thin spacer shim can be removed and the shorter nuts used to bring the wheels in a little. if you do this you will need to machine the front drive flanges and the caliper - no machining needs to be done at the rear.
please note, these are my own, individual sales, nothing whatsoever to do with my employer, minispares
...and no as Rich says the Roses will not stick out beyond the bodywork even with the S drum and spacer provided with the wheels... and yes even with that set up (same as mine) the wider bar KAD sell as standard WILL foul the tyre when cornering hard. You're right to use the shorter bar.
KAD need to update their product description on the websire to reflect this.
Thanks guys , the shorter bar it is .
Not using it for any sort of racing just fun and track days.
Would only buy the Minispares Rosepetal wheels .
The finish of the copies looks wrong to start with but thats all another argument isn't it .........
The same person that fitted the defective rockers and just about f*cked up everything he's done. 
Can you not buff the welding off with a die grinder & burr (dremel) or perhaps an angle grinder, and reweld or even cut it of the fact that you are reducing the dimension.
Might lose some weight too, they're bloody heavy !