Wire wheels -- 1964

[Gary Tayman]

I'd like to hear from others. Do you have aftermarket wire wheels on your car, and if so who made them and are you happy with them?

Many years ago I bought some wires from a friend. They had a little rust, you could tell they wobbled slightly and one had a hop, but they balanced just fine and the car drove great with them. All I know, they had 52 spokes and they were tubeless.

One day I bought new wheels. I'll leave the brand out for now. They came with all sorts of warning and instructions, where they really want them to be handled and balanced by a shop that knows what they're doing. Fine. I found a shop, based on recommendations of other cruisers -- and while chatting with them, they seemed to know exactly how to handle the wheels. They installed them; car shook like crazy above 50. Took it back, they rebalanced. No better.

I took it to another shop that handles race cars. I had this shop speak with the manufacturer directly. They told me this shop knows what they're doing. They tried their best to balance them, and were not impressed with the wheels themselves. But they also told me things about the car that were not right. Well, after replacing the entire front suspension, springs, steering, tires, and even a new rear axle, the car handles better but the wheels still shook.

One day I noticed one wheel had broken spokes. Shipped it, tire and all, to the manufacturer. It came back, perfectly true and balanced. No better. I had a suspension specialist go over the car; he said the car is perfect but I have a bad wheel -- and he pointed to it. Shipped THAT one out, with the tire. This time the car improved greatly, but was still not right. I decided to live with it.

Friday night I was driving home and a wheel collapsed! What a mess! They want to see it of course. It's out of warranty now, but even before I had to pay shipping, which was not cheap. They tell me this is surprising, as they NEVER have problems with these wheels. Really? Three, so far. This is a safety issue. Of course the manufacturer is blaming it on the shop, three shops are blaming it on the wheels, and I'm the guy in the middle with the checkbook. I've really had enough. Once this is straighten out, if it ever DOES get straightened out, what happens if I get a flat tire? Do we start all over again? I think it's time to get these wheels OFF the car and replace them with something else. I'm leaning toward Coker. Comments?

 

[EdV]

Hello Gary,

I put Coker wire wheels, hubs and new radial tires on my ‘66 about two years. Based on my shop’s recommendation, Coker shipped the wheels directly to my shop fully assembled with balanced tires. They mounted the wheels on the car, but then called me to inform me that the Coker Tbird hubs would not fit the wheels! There was a second lip inside the hub that would simply not work with the wheel!

I called Coker to inquire about the problem, and they told me that, “ yeah, we’ve hear about that problem.” I was shocked at their response, and asked what they were going to do about it. They said it would take months to manufacture new hubs that would fit the wheels, and that I should return all four wheels and tires for a refund. I was blown away, since the car was sitting on a lift in the shop with the new wheels installed! They acted like that was simple to do!!

My shop knew that was a rediculus solution, and offered to hand-grind the hubs, which would take hours of labor, and would not be very accurate. Fortunately, the owner had the idea of using the brake lathe to mill the hubs to fit. It cost me several hundred dollars more, but at least it was cheaper than removing all four wheels and installing the old ones.

I informed Coker of this, and they said all they would do is refund my money if I shipped all four wheels, tires and hubs back to them! Very, very poor customer service! I have mixed feeling about ever using them again.

Having said that, I am very happy with the wheels! I live in Charleston SC, and the salt air is tough! No sign of rust, the car drives beautifully with no pull or shimmy!

Hope it helps!

 

[Towball78]

Hi Gary,
I have Dayton wire wheels on my bird. I haven’t had a problem with them in the way they drive at all. The people at Dayton were great to deal with. My wheels at 18” 100 spoke. And triple crossed. I did a lot of reasearch before I made the purchase.
I have had feedback from people who had other brand wheels about spokes coming loose after a few months of use.
The conclusion I have come to in relation to spoked wheels is that the radial spoked wheels are very soft and have a tendicy to come loose. Make sure the spokes are crossed to improve stiffness and strength. I know this as I have built and ridden on hand made bicycle wheels for over 25 years and I can feel the difference between a stiff/ strong wheel compared to a soft wheel.
Also what I have noticed with a lot of aftermarket wheels is that they rely on the wheel studs to keep the wheel on and centered. This can be very dangerous especially with wires because if the wheel is not centered properly it could start to vibrate and cause the spokes to come loose. To fix this problem you should make sure the centre hole of the wheel or wheel adaptor is a snug fit over the hub. This will ensure that the wheel is centre and stays in balance. On my Dayton’s I machined a ring for the wheel adaptor that is inserted in the adaptor to fill the gap between it and the hub center.

I hope this helps
Adrian