Bob,
Save the embarrassment... The rubber strips against the spoke ends are
known as "rim straps". You can buy them from many of the usual suspects.
FWIW I agree with you about powder coating wire wheels. Best to media blast
them clean and then paint even if you have them trued and tunes before hand.
I can almost guarantee that within a year or two they will need tuning again
(lateral stress of cornering) and bang goes your powder coat job. If you
use a decent rattle can paint on them, its pretty easy to touch them up
again after truing. Of course this is all assuming that you don't have the
bucks to put the really nice chrome wheels on the car... ;-)
Cheers!!
Jim
On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 12:03 AM, Kitterer Bob <bkitterer@me.com> wrote:
> Vincent,
>
> Wire wheels require tubes but there is a difference between tubes for a
> bias ply tire and a radial - I do not know what makes them different. This
> is true regardless of the type of tire. You should have "rubbers" that
> cover the ends of the spokes inside the rim, this keeps the spokes from
> rubbing holes in the inner tube. I have use masking tape for this job or
> find a cheap inner tube and cut it up to make the "rubbers." OK get you
> minds out of the gutter.
>
> Be careful about powder coating the wheel/spokes. If they are coated
> assembled the coating will be broken when the wheels are trued so you may
be
> better off painting the wheels. You could get all the parts coated
> separately or I have seen stainless steel spokes. Either of these choices
> of course requires a complete disassembly of the wheels in which case,
> besides the work, the wheels will diffidently have to be trued.
>
> If you happen to be any where near San Diego I can put you in contact with
> a shop that can do the tubes and tires.
>
> Bob Kitterer
>
> 1960 Austin Healey Sprite (Mk IV in disguise)
> 1966 Austin Healey Sprite Mk III (Trevor) - still in boxes
> 2000 Miata Special Edition
>
> On Oct 13, 2009, at 3:15 PM, vincent diorio wrote:
>
> OKAY!! Here is a POSER! I am REALLY close to being finished with my
>> restore
>> of a 1966 MG Midget, and run into a wall with wheels. The wheels (wires
>> w/splines) I have can easily be sandblasted and powdercoated, but
>> replacement
>> of the tires has me stumped. I could not easily find tires! The ones ON
>> the
>> wheels are ORIGINAL (the car only has about 25000 miles) but are so dry
>> rotted, I fear ANY bumps in the road. They say "tubeless" and are 13x4.5
>> 60
>> spoke, but I was told I needed tubes, rubbers, and I am having a really
>> hard
>> time finding someone to take off the tires from the wire wheels for the
>> above
>> work, then replacing and balancing them. I am SERIOUSLY looking into
>> minilites with splines for regular tires. Any suggestions? HELP!!! I
>> was
>> told minilites with splines will not fit the square openings of the wheel
>> wells, sandblasting the original wheels will ruin the "true", etcetcetc.
>> HELP!!!
>>
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--
Cheers!!
Jim
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am
not
sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
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