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Conversion To Wire Wheels
- Thread starter britbits
- Start date
P. Scofield
Bronze Level Sponsor
You can buy original painted wires or chrome from:
Painted are $285.00 ea.
http://www.britishwirewheel.com
They also carry the hubs but not cheep to get them new. Good used sets are hard to find. New on New is the best.
Sunbeam Alpine original conversion to wire hub sets Front $240 Rear $185
Paul
Painted are $285.00 ea.
http://www.britishwirewheel.com
They also carry the hubs but not cheep to get them new. Good used sets are hard to find. New on New is the best.
Sunbeam Alpine original conversion to wire hub sets Front $240 Rear $185
Paul
67basket_case
Donation Time
I have the wire wheels on my '67 they consist of the wheel the threaded hub and a center "knock off" it was a spinner type "lug", if you will,... that was spun on and tightened with a rubber mallet. but if your wheel hubs aren't set up for the wire wheels and have lug nuts you need to swap them out. I may have a set of series three hubs in my shop attic if you need them, no promises tho.
Jim E
Donation Time
I would study long and hard before converting to wires. Doubt there is such an animal as a good used hub, well good front ones but not for the rear. Then there is the whole rear hub pulling and getting it sealed back up deal, toss in doing the ring gear bolts while it is apart. Plus mounting and balancing tires on wires, most shops will not do it and I have yet to find a shop that can do it right. Wires are nice to look at there just is no local suport for them. I converted my SV to wires for a while until I just could not put up with it anymore and converted it back to steels.
L
Lee DeRamus saoca0404
Wasn't there two types of knock off's? I remember reading that they were the same, but had different threads per inch. If this is so, they would have to match the hubs.
Lee
Lee
RootesRacer
Donation Time
No, all alpines had the same TPI, but there are rightys and leftys depending on which side of the car you are on.
Wire wheel conversion...
I have 'put up with' wire wheels for years with no real problems.If a spoke breaks replace it.If one gets loose tighten it. I take mine off to paint (tires and all)with a spray bomb every year and run a wrench around the spokes and tune them like a guitar.Tink tink tink Donk-tighten that one.Any tire shop worth it's salt can work on them.Avoid commerical outfits like Wes Schwab.If you keep your spinners tight you will never have problems with spline wear at least I have'nt and I put 7,000+ miles on mine every year.
I think it's fun to beat the spinners off and on and it usually amazes some onlooker and is a breeze to change a flat.I usually get three or for a year from dirt roads out west and it is no fault of the wire wheel.
I would never discourage anyone to run wire wheels.As most of you already know in North America the drivers side knock-offs have right hand threads and the passenger side have left hand threads.All SI-IV use the same wire wheel hubs.SV hubs (steel&wire)are unique having a different bearing and sealing surface.All wire wheels and spinners fit all series.Ring gear bolts have nothing to do with rear hubs....
I go to Autozone and rent a hub puller,beat the snot out of it with the same club for the spinners and then return it.Mission accomplished.Final cost-Zero.No more steel wheels-priceless!
If you must run steel wheels or own a butchered Alpine(I beleive they call them Tigers) at least the have the decency to run Mini-lites....All else to me seems very unsporty and therefore very un-British.....
cheers etc...
'John Bull'
Al Mason
I have 'put up with' wire wheels for years with no real problems.If a spoke breaks replace it.If one gets loose tighten it. I take mine off to paint (tires and all)with a spray bomb every year and run a wrench around the spokes and tune them like a guitar.Tink tink tink Donk-tighten that one.Any tire shop worth it's salt can work on them.Avoid commerical outfits like Wes Schwab.If you keep your spinners tight you will never have problems with spline wear at least I have'nt and I put 7,000+ miles on mine every year.
I think it's fun to beat the spinners off and on and it usually amazes some onlooker and is a breeze to change a flat.I usually get three or for a year from dirt roads out west and it is no fault of the wire wheel.
I would never discourage anyone to run wire wheels.As most of you already know in North America the drivers side knock-offs have right hand threads and the passenger side have left hand threads.All SI-IV use the same wire wheel hubs.SV hubs (steel&wire)are unique having a different bearing and sealing surface.All wire wheels and spinners fit all series.Ring gear bolts have nothing to do with rear hubs....
I go to Autozone and rent a hub puller,beat the snot out of it with the same club for the spinners and then return it.Mission accomplished.Final cost-Zero.No more steel wheels-priceless!
If you must run steel wheels or own a butchered Alpine(I beleive they call them Tigers) at least the have the decency to run Mini-lites....All else to me seems very unsporty and therefore very un-British.....
cheers etc...
'John Bull'
Al Mason
Jim E
Donation Time
Al good for you! a tip of the hat to you!
Metioned ring gear bolts because most car need them tightened or replaced and if you are pulling hubs you may as well do the ring gear bolts if it has not been done.
The best wire set up I have seen was new hubs and a set of rims and tires from one of the wire wheel places, this place even shaved the tires so everything was nice a true. Overall I am sure this was better than new.
Tire shops I would trust are few and far between, most are just going to pinch a tube, actually most will not work on them, unless they do it by hand, no machine. When it comes to balancing the wheel would end up with wieghts sprinkled all over it. Mine was better balanced with no wieghts at all and I just avoided the speed where it vibrated the worst. I supose if you have your own tire tools and mount by hand and perhaps a bubble balancer it would work out. Toss in learning how to replace spokes and true the rims.
Oh amd make sure you have a band on the rims so the spokes do not eat the tube. Friend of mine had a wire going flat over and over, he hand mounts by the way, could not figure out the problem for a while... turned out to be a sticker on the inside of the tire rubbing a hole in the tube.
Forgot my S3 had wires when I bought it, on that car both the front and rear hubs were shot and ready to spin in the wheel. When I replaced the hubs it lead to new hub seals, the ring gear bolts and new U joints. Not the hubs fault it just needed done.
I agree wires have the look and to me the car seemed to handle different/better in turns perhaps due to the flex. They are just not a walk in the park and perhaps a hgher maintance item than some want to deal with.
Metioned ring gear bolts because most car need them tightened or replaced and if you are pulling hubs you may as well do the ring gear bolts if it has not been done.
The best wire set up I have seen was new hubs and a set of rims and tires from one of the wire wheel places, this place even shaved the tires so everything was nice a true. Overall I am sure this was better than new.
Tire shops I would trust are few and far between, most are just going to pinch a tube, actually most will not work on them, unless they do it by hand, no machine. When it comes to balancing the wheel would end up with wieghts sprinkled all over it. Mine was better balanced with no wieghts at all and I just avoided the speed where it vibrated the worst. I supose if you have your own tire tools and mount by hand and perhaps a bubble balancer it would work out. Toss in learning how to replace spokes and true the rims.
Oh amd make sure you have a band on the rims so the spokes do not eat the tube. Friend of mine had a wire going flat over and over, he hand mounts by the way, could not figure out the problem for a while... turned out to be a sticker on the inside of the tire rubbing a hole in the tube.
Forgot my S3 had wires when I bought it, on that car both the front and rear hubs were shot and ready to spin in the wheel. When I replaced the hubs it lead to new hub seals, the ring gear bolts and new U joints. Not the hubs fault it just needed done.
I agree wires have the look and to me the car seemed to handle different/better in turns perhaps due to the flex. They are just not a walk in the park and perhaps a hgher maintance item than some want to deal with.
SIVAllan
Gold Level Sponsor
Let me toss in my 0.02$ worth regarding wire wheels 
I think that it is obvious that a wire wheel requires a little more effort than a steel wheel, except for changing a flat. Then the opposite is true. I can change a flat inside a few minutes, no problem. I would not even have one lug nut removed in the time it takes to change to the spare wire wheel
But so far I've not had anything to complain about. The local Goodyear tire store fixed me up with a spare tire and tube as my car only had 4 tires and an empty spare wheel when I bought it. They balanced all 5 tires, and aligned the car. It has been tested up to 70 mph (per gps) no problem.
I told the Goodyear guys that if the inner rubber band was not too good, just make up something that worked and I guess they did but I forgot to ask about that.
Regarding truing the wheels, I don't have professional experience, but fully believe an amateur such as me can true a wheel "pretty good" if not to race quality. One of mine needs some work, and I'll find out how to do that this winter . Note that the wheel tracks true, just appears to have a wobble, much the same as a bicycle tire can do.
I understand that the proper way to balance a wire wheel is to do it on the car, but I've not had that done.
For racing and other high impact sports, steel wheels likely are superior when stressed sideways. For normal street driving, long trips &&etc, I'd expect no appreciable difference.
The surprise speed limit device that I encountered may have caused a spoke to break, so I have removed that broke spoke, but the wheel continues to work fine while I look for a spoke, or figure out how to remove and reuse one off a spare wheel.
Just my opinion, mileage may vary, & so forth, but for many the wires have classic style looks, and with minimum annual or bi-annual attention should perform admirably...
I certainly hear both sides of the issue, respect them both, and this might make a good separate thread should the current one be hijacked.
Thanks!
I think that it is obvious that a wire wheel requires a little more effort than a steel wheel, except for changing a flat. Then the opposite is true. I can change a flat inside a few minutes, no problem. I would not even have one lug nut removed in the time it takes to change to the spare wire wheel
But so far I've not had anything to complain about. The local Goodyear tire store fixed me up with a spare tire and tube as my car only had 4 tires and an empty spare wheel when I bought it. They balanced all 5 tires, and aligned the car. It has been tested up to 70 mph (per gps) no problem.
I told the Goodyear guys that if the inner rubber band was not too good, just make up something that worked and I guess they did but I forgot to ask about that.
Regarding truing the wheels, I don't have professional experience, but fully believe an amateur such as me can true a wheel "pretty good" if not to race quality. One of mine needs some work, and I'll find out how to do that this winter
. Note that the wheel tracks true, just appears to have a wobble, much the same as a bicycle tire can do.I understand that the proper way to balance a wire wheel is to do it on the car, but I've not had that done.
For racing and other high impact sports, steel wheels likely are superior when stressed sideways. For normal street driving, long trips &&etc, I'd expect no appreciable difference.
The surprise speed limit device that I encountered may have caused a spoke to break, so I have removed that broke spoke, but the wheel continues to work fine while I look for a spoke, or figure out how to remove and reuse one off a spare wheel.
Just my opinion, mileage may vary, & so forth, but for many the wires have classic style looks, and with minimum annual or bi-annual attention should perform admirably...
I certainly hear both sides of the issue, respect them both, and this might make a good separate thread should the current one be hijacked.
Thanks!
L
Lee DeRamus saoca0404
Can anyone give me an exact measurment of the outside diameter of the threaded part of a hub? I am toying with the idea of making fake centers for a set of minilight wheels, and using the knock offs for looks.
Lee
Lee