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Best Matching Silver Paint for Wire Wheels or just buy new wheels?

cdk84

Donation Time
Anyone have good success matching the original silver paint from Rootes wire wheels with a modern product, in terms of gloss, luster, size of metallic inclusions and overall 'feel'?

I would be most interested to learn your experience.

I'm thinking to bead blast and refinish an original set of wheels.

If your experience suggests it would be wiser to buy replacement wheels, that would be of interest, too. Best price I've gotten is $440 per wheel from Dayton, which seems ridiculous for painted wire wheels. Open to suggestions.

Thanks All,

David
 

alpine_64

Donation Time
With original wire wheels before even considering refurb.. Condition of splines and hubs must be asessed
 

rixter

Gold Level Sponsor
My contribution for what it's worth. I initially attempted to do exactly what you are contemplating, but ended up buying a set of four from Victoria British, now out of business. They were Dayton wheels and I think around $1200 on sale. The first wheel I worked on I blasted and painted with Eastwood Vintage Racing Wheel Coating. I thought it looked good, but not sure 100 % original looking. What had me going to new ones in addition to considerations from Alpine_64 was that I had a wheel with spoke issues. I had replaced two spokes on another wheel earlier with spokes and nipples from Victoria British, but I couldn't budge the next ones I tried. I contacted a place in North Carolina to inquire about wire wheel truing as there are no places in my neck of the woods (south New Jersey), that I could find to provide such services. I think they told me $12 per spoke to repair any they found on top of whatever they wanted for the truing. I figured with my luck there would be more frozen spokes than would be cost effective. This on top of the shipping charges each way for four wheels. So these are are just a few more things to consider. Here is a before and after of the one wheel I did (now my boot spare).

Rick

wire wheels.jpg
 

studmobile

Diamond Level Sponsor
I faced a similar dilemma on the Harrington LeMans. I talked with Hendrix Wire Wheel in Greensboro, NC. (They were actually going to give a tech talk at our cancelled 2020 meeting). It ended up being cheaper to buy new 13" wires rather than repair. New hubs, new spokes. About $250. They mounted and trued the new tires. As I remember, about $450-500 per wheel total, including tubes. I don't know what shipping would be, I was able to pick them up. They are interesting characters, but easy to deal with.
Looking at their website- https://hendrixwirewheel.com/wheels.html, they list the Alpine 13" wheel for $390, but the same part number for Sprite and Midget is listed for $285.
Hendrix Wire Wheel, (336) 852-8909. 1921 West Lee St., Greensboro, NC 27403-2614
Hope this helps, David
 

rixter

Gold Level Sponsor
Yes, this is the place I was referring to in NC that I had contacted. There are fewer and fewer shops doing this stuff.

Rick
 

alpine_64

Donation Time
Anyone have good success matching the original silver paint from Rootes wire wheels with a modern product, in terms of gloss, luster, size of metallic inclusions and overall 'feel'?

David

David other than my earlier comment re the issues with condition of the original wheels if you want the correct silver, that somewhat mid grey silver i would contact MWS in the UK.

The original wheels are dunlops and supllied on the BMC Jags and Astons of the time... MWS supply original spec dunlop wires for the cars so should have the correct original paint spec.
 

mikephillips

Donation Time
You can find some threads on this site talking about assessing the condition of wheels and hubs, that's one of my pushed button things.. And if you go to YouTube and search for "SAOCA invasion wire wheels" you can find a couple videos of a presentation at an invasion several years ago where I talked about how to look at the wheels and hubs and how to figure out what is good and what isn't. And the main thing is, if you replace a wheel or a hub, unless condition is perfect you should always replace the other since the wheels/hubs wear as pairs and matching new items to used can cause accelerated wear for both since the splines wear patterns will not match.
 

Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
Further to what Mike says above I very much agree with the wheel and hub wearing its each other. It makes total sense. You wouldn't replace a camshaft then use old followers, or swap the pushrods around, you keep them where they have worn or replace in 'sets'. On our spoked wheel cars we mark each wheel and hub individually when new and that wheel stays on that hub, and fitted to the specific splines that it originally went on. If we get a puncture the spare goes on for a short while then then original wheel is re-fitted to exactly the same place that it was. They didn't do this when new and it may seem a bit over the top but to us it makes sense and is easy to do with a simple set of paint marks on hub and wheel under the spinner.

Tim R
 

Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
On our spoked wheel cars we mark each wheel and hub individually when new and that wheel stays on that hub, and fitted to the specific splines that it originally went on.
So, you don't rotate the tires? Just curious.
 

mikephillips

Donation Time
I don't. What happens over time is that the splines wear and bend on both the wheels and hubs. The front hubs tend to bend to the front and wheels to the back as the pressure over time is from braking slowing the hub and "pulling" the wheel into slowing. The rears are the opposite due to getting most of their push from the drivetrain moving the car forward. As this happens the pressure points on each hub/wheel combination match each other along the spline lengths. Since no two hub/wheel combinations wear the same in terms of the slow bending of rotating assembly, changing wheels from hub to hub will mean that the wear does not match and can result in the load being carried on smaller sections of the splines rather than across the face. so wear can accelerate and you can get that clunking sound as the wheel shifts slightly under acceleration or braking. End result, they wear out faster, wheels can become stuck on hubs and in a worse case, splines can eventually fold over under heavy acceleration/braking. Ask me how I know that one.. You can rotate them, but you have to do it at very short intervals and be religious about it. I'd say every 100 mile or so, so that the wear patterns don't get much chance to become too different. Even with this being a hot button item for me I wouldn't manage it regularly.

So before buying new wheels check the condition of the splines. They should look like equilateral triangles with the tops squared off when in new condition when looking from the end. If you run a finger lightly across them they should feel dull and no step from the front where the wheel engages to the rear 1/4-1/2 inch where the wheel splines end. If they feel sharp and/or are bend into right triangle shapes, they're too worn for new wheels and that expense would in the end be wasted if the hubs are not replaced as well.
 

Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
Thanks, Mike. Given the cost of wheels and splines vs. tires, that sounds like a solid approach.
 
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