I have never even DRIVEN an MG that doesn't have wire wheels. I have done
thousand mile trips driving 10 hours a day. I have gone to get bagels on
sunday mornings countless times, and have gone back and forth to work many
more times than that. I have never had a problem with a wire wheel. Take
care of your wires and they'll take care of you.
At 02:09 PM 9/17/97 UT, doug russell wrote:
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-mgs@autox.team.net On Behalf Of Mike Lishego
>Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 1997 2:52 AM
>To: mgs@autox.team.net
>Subject: The truth about wire wheels
>
>Ok, I've converted my MGB to run on wire wheels.
>
>Comment> Sounds like you have your head screwed on correctly!
>
>My '77 had wires, but I only drove
>it a few times, and not for very long.
>
>Comment> Surely this had nothing to do with wire wheels.
>
>I'd like the skinny from someone who's had
>them for a few years, and the problems they ran into with them.
>
>Comment> The skinny: They're great and you will have minimal problems
>provided you avoid hitting curbs, frost heaves, sinkholes and thick boned
>varmints at speed.
>
>I've got about 12 or
>13 used wheels, how many of these can I expect to be good?
>
>Comment> You should avoid forming any expectation without an inspection!
>Check the wires. Are any broken or loose? Look into the spline - are the
>edges sharp or are they flat? Flat is bad, sharp is good with the following
>caveat - sharp can be bad but this is rare (if the wheel spline is so worn,
>the flat edge begins to sharpen again due to loose fit and clunking and this
>is very bad but also rare).
>
>How do wire wheels handle
>nog trips of about 10 hours?
>
>Comment> Well, I have not made any nog trips lately (perhaps around
>Christmas) much less ever made one that was 10 hours long. But let's say
you
>were to make a long trip of 10 hours or so. The quality of handling will be
>determined by the quality of the wheel. Let's say you are using some of
your
>12 or 13 used wheels and neglected to do any inspection other than "Golly,
>that one sure is purdy!" when you had your tires mounted and balanced. Now
>let's say that the right side wheels had a few broken/loose spokes (say 20)
>and the left side had flat/worn splines. Here's what you can expect. When
>making a left turn you will hear a crunching sound. This will be the
sound of
>the spokes colliding into each other while other spokes join in on the break
>up party. Now when you go to step on the brakes, as you pull over to see
what
>that terrible noise is, you will notice that brake function has
disappeared no
>matter how hard you step on the pedal and an even worse zipper like grinding
>noise will appear - but don't worry about this worry instead about that
parked
>car you are about to hit (the emergency brake may help a little here).
Truth
>be told, the above is unlikely to happen because prior to all this tragedy
you
>will find yourself puzzled while still in your driveway. You see, the
moment
>you let your foot off the clutch in first gear, you will hear a zipper like
>grinding noise again but this time from the rear. This will be the splined
>hub spinning freely within the wheel spline.
>
>The moral here Mike is to make sure you inspect the spokes and the wheel
>splines. Equally important, check the hub splines. When both are in good
>condition you can expect many miles of trouble free motoring provided
there is
>no significant abuse (hole shots, curbs ...). The splines should all have
>nice sharp edges. When you put the wheel on the car **do not
overtighten** (I
>believe it's hand tighten then 1/2 turn although my recollection here
could be
>faulty) and then check to make sure the wheel is solid with a good 6/12 and
>then 3/9 back/forth (in/out?) jerk (this checks to make sure spokes are not
>loose or spline too worn!)
>
>What is the average cost of having these babies tuned
>and trued?
>
>Comment> Never had them sent out but a recent post suggested that British
>Wire Wheel charges $130 per to do a complete (like new?) rebuild. Be
careful
>who you have mount and balance tires on these babies. Make sure you are
>convinced that they have some experience with wires - otherwise they could
>damage your wheels and not balance properly. I'm sure others will have a
lot
>of suggestions on this from DIY to whatever - I use a service station
locally
>that's been around since the 50's (cost per wheel for mount/balance $6) -
you
>do what's comfortable and affordable for you.
>
>Any facts about these prolific rims would be appreciated.
>
>Comment> Has nothing to do with facts and everything to do with soul - glad
>to see you're getting some!
>
>Dr. Doug
>A group of 69 MGs in my garage - all wired with soul!
>
>
>--
>Michael S. Lishego
>St. Andrews Presbyterian College
>Elementary Education Major,
>English Minor, Class of 1999
>R.A. of Winston-Salem Hall
>
>
>
>
Andy Ramm
aramm@concentric.net
DoD #1682
So much to brew, so little time....
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