I dropped by O'Connor Classics Friday to talk to Mike about wire wheel
rebuilding and to take a look at an example of the show finish that
British Wire wheel offers. Unfortunately the only sample he had was a
solid wheel but he did have a wire wheel with the straight finish for
comparison. The straight finish didn't look all that bad but it's not
as as the show. Later I took a little rubbing compound to to one of my
wheels to get an idea what the original finish looked like and concluded
it was probably a little nicer than the straight finish but probably not
as shiny as the show finish. I'll probably go with the show finish.
I also asked Mike about sealing wire wheels for tubeless tires. He was
pretty enthusiastic about them and told me that he had them on his
modified TD. On the other hand, he's only had them for a short time.
He showed me an example of one he had in the shop. The sealing is done
with silicone, which is what I suspected. It appears silicone is
globbed into the nipple depressions. This still seems a bit suspect to
me. In my case it doesn't really matter because BWW will only seal new
wheels.
I'm still not sure what size tires I'll be putting on these 6" rims.
I've gotten recommendations ranging from 205mm to 225mm. I'll probably
settle on 215/60s but I'm going to give Bruce at BWW a call before
settling on the size.
I also did some tire shopping over the weekend. According to the BF
Goodrich dealer I talked to, the T/A Comp R1s are only available to
selected people. They won't sell them to just anyone walking in off the
street. Seems I'll need an SCCA contact or some such if I want a set.
I haven't called the BF Goodrich hot line to confirm this yet, though.
I also check the Goodyear dealer that offers Nor-Cal SAAC member
discounts. They're the ones who recommended 225/60s. With the club
discount I can get 225/60 15 VR Gatorbacks for just under $130 each. I
have no idea if that's a good price or not but I did notice that The
Tire Rack listed them for $120 in the Aug issue of Road & Track. I
assume there are other charges involved in mail ordering tires though.
While I was at the Goodyear place I casually mentioned I was considering
T/As. The salesman offered his completely unbiased opinion that the
Goodyears were far superior and that I would find that the car would
handle much better with them.
Roland
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