G'day guys,

Currently have cortina 13inch steel wheels on my mk1 unarched Escort, which are a nice "upgrade" from the 12 inch standard ones.

The tyres on it are 185/60r13 which I have been made aware are not roadworthy for the width of the wheel.

I am rather happy with the tyres, which have only done about 8000km and would like to hold onto them and have looked at the retroford reproduction lotus cortina wheels.

The retroford 13x7" have a 0et offset, but I'm not exactly that savvy in regards to offsets.

Does anyone know if these will fit a non arched mk1 escort or would I require a different offset?


Sorry for the long winded post, I just wanted to give as much info to the escort brains trust as possible.

Cheers, Jeremy

7” wheels generally require a 12p offset to fit correctly. The offset you have will bring the wheel 12mm further out than ideal meaning it will likely foul the outer wheel arches.

Thanks for your reply Paul, much appreciated!

Ah rightio, so would it be best looking at other alternatives, such as the JBW ones which you can choose the offset required for a bit of extra cash?

Or even getting them rebarrelled for the exact measurements I require locally?

Just to lend my two bobs on this. Watch out for backspace measurement, as offset is only useful if you know the width of the wheel. You can get caught with wheels (tyres generally touch first) touching struts.
I find offset gets a bit confusing when comparing different width wheels. If you keep backspace as tight as possible then you have width to play with to avoid fouling guards.
If you going to engineer the car then read up (VSCCS) on the 'up to 25mm track width variation' from OEM
Hope it helps

I assume they must be early cortina rims less than 5" wide to be invoking legality issues. On the same note, 185's on 7" , whilst it was a trend in the UK to stretch a narrow tyre on a wide rim, not sure it is legal either. For your 185's a 5 or 5 1/2 would be better suited.

Offset has nothing to do with wheel width as it’s purely a measurement in reference to the wheel centreline. An 8” wheel may have a 12P offset but you will have an extra 1/2 less room at the back and front when compared with the 7”.