lancepar Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Out of the blue, while I was cutting the hedge today, a passer bye asked me if I would be interested in the following. Five used but serviceable, painted wire wheels with good tyres, two nearly new, chrome spinners and adaptors off a 1500 Spitfire.Now I am not a fan of wire wheels, I’m happy with the STD steels I have, but I was wondering how much these wheels etc are worth.I have not seen them yet and as they are only a couple of streets away I am thinking of having a gander. The seller is restoring a Spitfire out of two cars and prefers the alloys they have.My Spit doesn’t get used a lot and I though they would look nice for the summer, when hopefully they wouldn’t need cleaning if kept dry. 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyk5614 Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Pain in the backside! They wobble and cause punctures due to having to use inner tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piman Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Hello Jonny,"cause punctures due to having to use inner tubes."Not always true as there are tubless wire wheels now. I agree that they are a pain though and are weaker than conventional wheels.Alec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancepar Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 Yep, that's why I am not a fan of them, but you can get tubeless ones now.How much would someone that wanted them pay?Cheers 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velocita Rosso Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 1045 wrote:Pain in the backside! They wobble and cause punctures due to having to use inner tubes. ....as long as the rim tape is OK then you will not get punctures.It s only the same as bike wheels and tyresI had chrome wires on for years and never had a one puncture due to either inner or outer problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plk21e Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 i sold some wire wheels on ebay for £90 and the adapters and spinners for £60 on ebay recently,they were on my mk3 but got rid of them mainly for the reasons stated previously put some mk4 wheels on instead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyk5614 Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I replaced all my rim tape and bought the best inner tubes. I still had two punctures in one day! It is not the spoke ends that rub, it is merely that the inner moves against the sidewall of the tire. As for the tubeless ones, several specialists have told me that they aren't reliable either.Up to you though. If you get them, when you fit your tires. Inflate until the tire seats on the rim then deflate. Shake/bounce the tire around to separate the tube from the tire then re-inflate. This is so that the inner is central with no stretches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrapman Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Insides of modern tyres can be very abrasive, and the movement of teh tube against the tyre wears holes in it and you get punctures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithy Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I've had wires on lots of different cars, never had problems. The technology ain't new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TR7th Heaven Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Me too Smithy.I've had several MGs with wire wheels and never had any trouble.They're a bit more time consuming to clean and getting them balanced properly is important but they look great.Well worth the effort IMHO.Rich ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithy Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 You're not just good looking Rich, you're also clever. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancepar Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 Ok, So I guess £250.00 ono is too much then(think) 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithy Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 About right I would have thought. You'd get your money back on Ebay if they turned out to be banana-shaped, I reckon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 need to be very good for £250. Check for ANY wear on the splines. Try to get them clean, and try the hubs on the wheels. Play is very bad news. Lots of grease is handy for hiding the play (but is used when putting them on the car) hence clean the grease off to see the true state of affairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithy Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 £50 a wheel and tyre Clifty? That's not too bad. (Perhaps I'm too rich, although it's never been said). You're right about the checks of course.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Always suspicious of used tyres. Especially "new" ones that are sometimes 10years old. Nasty :(Now, a nice new set of decent tyres, that would be a different matter :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithy Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 You're right about that too, damn ye! ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Hey, I'm on a roll ;DI can vouch for slippery old tyres. I have just ditched (appropriate expression) the old ones I have been using for autosolos. They are about 12 years old. They seem to have gone from about 6mm of tread to zippo, zilch, nothing in about 45minutes of use. That's 3 autosolos.I am hoping some "new" as in not old, but quite worn, tyres will provide rather more grip next time. Just acquired some that are about 18 months old :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docman Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Try getting a new adapter (the existing adapters could be worn) and check the wheel splines for play. The wire wheels should fit almost snug on a (new) good adapter.Next step, find someone that can properly balance wire wheels. Check for abilty to be balanced and wobble. Some slight wobble can be adjusted providing the spoke nuts aren't rusted.I bought a second hand set of (5) wire wheels with adapters, lug nuts and hexagonal hub nuts, quite inexpensively. The adapters were worthless as was one of the wheels (the splines were mushroomed over so bad that it wouldn't fit on a new adapter, only one that was worn and dangerous.One other of the wheels has a slight wobble. I will use the wobble one for the spare and I bought a new one from scparts for 80 GBP.Wire wheels are one of the things that you either love or hate, I happen to love them. I've had them on (2) TR4s and my TR6 which I drove for 140 K miles (before selling) with no issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancepar Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 Bob or anybody,Help me understand what I am looking at in the right and wrong image No 5(think) 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 that is balancig wire wheels. Virtually all tyre places will not have the correct equipment, as in they will bolt the wheel up as per the lower diagram. They will say it will work, but they really have no idea (and it won't!)As Doc says, check the spines carefully. A friend demolished a garden wall (not his) when a wire undid itself and bounced down the road, left him on 3 wheels and caused chaos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancepar Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 Thank you, just come across the explanation in the Moss catalogue as well. 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancepar Posted November 8, 2011 Author Share Posted November 8, 2011 Had a look at the wheels, not perfect paint finish, but useable.Couldn't find what width they were but the tyres were 165 so I assume they are 5" (don't 4.5" usually use 155?). 8)BTW Seller is looking for a 1500 rear bumper ::) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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