banded steelies and springs.....

Banded steels are positively dangerous plus the stretched tyres cannot be safe!

loads of people roll about on bands round my way, perfectly safe and cutting the springs on cars is safe too, my cars have all passed mot's with cut springs, aslong as the spring is secure it wont fail, and they're **** easy to do on the 200's, we dont even take the suspesion off to do it!

If done properly, banded steels as already said are perfectly safe. I've yet to hear of an accident which is the direct consequence of a banded steel failure. Also, a small amount of tyre stretch is also perfectly fine, my Mini ran with a little stretch when it ran some 7x13 Superlites and also on a set of 6x12 Superlites, was absolutely fine!

DaneGuy said:

and cutting the springs on cars is safe too

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I'm no expert, but you're the first person I've ever heard say that. :/

I've also ran with cut srpings, as have several friends in the past. It's not ideal as it will increase the spring rate. From a safety point of view though, as long as they're wired into the shock cups (not an MOT requirement, just sensible) and the springs are shaped on the ends to sit properly it's not an issue.

It is far better of course to run with springs matched to the car's weight and shocks though.

I've just run stretched tyres on my Bora for the past 6 months, perfectly safe, no real difference in how the car handles, what is different
though is that they do seem to wear a lot quicker, but suppose that could be because my cars a bit of a fatty

Getting your steels banded wont be as cheap as you think, while it is a case of chopping and welding, there's also a lot of time spent
balancing and making sure they're perfectly straight. By the time you've had it done and bought new tyres to stetch, you would of been
better off finding some second hand deep dish alloys with tyres already on. Something like ATS cups could be another option? Although I
tried them on my 25 a few years ago and they looked tiny! But then that wasn't slammed, I'm gonna say to look good on your 200 you want something 16" minimum

Suspension, I'd just save and get some zr shocks n lower springs. Or if you can find some coilovers cheap, get them :broon:

should never ever cut springs, there made to have a flat bottom for a reason, it is absolutely dangerous!

ive got 15x8 on mine with 195/50 tyres and theyre not even slightly stretched in the late eighties all the pug205 s/309s "dimma" s had split rims asra gte s etc too not many companys that do banding now but if done right ok,everyone in minis/mark2 escorts used to just bolt the wheels on inside out,if you re willing to spend a few quid having steel wheels "banded"and if done propper it will be quite a few quid just have some springs made to your own specs they can then be progressive and rated at whatever you want and its still cheaper than a set of coil overs by far

Bespoke springs/shocks are going to be mega money! You'll be in coilover country.

cut springs wont fall out on a rover 200 as they all sit around the shock, and cut from the top not the bottom as the top sits on an angled rubber, there will be no noise or knocks at all even on full lock.