[6pack] Wheels and tires

[Richard Lindsay]

Hello Friends,
   Tonight I will share a few words and pictures regarding wheels. First up
let me state: My car did not come to me with Triumph wheels on it. Rather,
it has period-correct alloy wheels. Earlier here, someone commented on the
wheel name...but I have forgotten it.
   So first up, here is a picture of the kind of wheels that were on my car
when I got it.

http://aubard.us/75_Triumph/P1000397.JPG

   I'll keep this note short. Short for me anyway. Here's the story.
   I put the car up on my platform lift. That got it up about 24 inches.
More than adequate. I removed all four wheels and stored the lug nuts and
washers in a ziplock bag. I took the wheels to my local mechanic and had
the tires removed. Back home I removed valve stems and any remaining wheel
weights. The wheels then went to my friend Ashton for fine media blasting
and powder coating. She used Porsche wheel silver. The lug nuts and washers
were coated in satin black.
   While the wheels and attachments were getting refinished, I selected and
ordered new tires. When the wheels came back I installed new metal valve
stems, then mounted the tires and balanced them. My words are out of
sequence here because I also rebuilt the suspension and brakes before
installing the newly restored wheels and tires. They sat and waited while I
worked.
   So skipping forward, I mounted the newly restored wheels using the
refinished lug nuts, on the restored hubs. I then examined the chrome
plastic hub covers and decided the chrome was too far gone. So I roughed
them up with ScotchBrite and painted them with matching satin black paint.
They came out nicely but had no center emblems.
   A guy I met on some car list pointed me toward a site that makes high
quality wheel logo emblems (stickers). He didn't have Triumph artwork so I
kludged one up in PowerPoint then sent it to him as a JPG. Not cheap but I
got back four beautiful center emblems. They fit the hub covers perfectly -
since they were specified to fit them!
   I next measured the original screws that held the caps on and replaced
them with black socket head cap screws of the same diameter and thread
pitch. Before installing the caps, I ran a tap through the threads to clean
out any powdercoat. I then installed the hub caps with the cap screws,
lubricated with a little copper infused thread lubericant. Here's how they
look now.

http://aubard.us/75_Triumph/20171106_094521.jpg

http://aubard.us/75_Triumph/20171108_104056.jpg

   That's it for wheels and tires. Suspension and brakes yet to come. Then
interior rebuild as it evolves.

Rick
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