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Knock Offs - Whats the deal?

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Don, at some point the old wheel stud part number 112429 was superseded to 158729, but I don't know if there was any change other than part number. Seems to me the studs were always the same, so ?????

"kodanja," been there, done that, etc.! Several years ago, I worked on a Spitfire 4 for a fellow member of my local club. He'd let his brother-in-law talk him into a used set of wire wheels and hubs out of a junkyard, bought nice new Michelin 175/70R13 tires and everything. I had the sad duty to report to him that at least three of the wheels and hubs were far too worn to be safe...after a road test where I encountered that same grind sound and distinct lack of retardation on the part of the brakes. Sadder still was the fact that, in reverting to the original and narrower steel wheels, he had to buy yet another set of tires...but I ended up with the 175/70s, which got used on a Honda Civic I had at the time!
 
It's always fascinated me how sidescreen cars delivered to the US were mostly non-overdrive with steel wheels. Perhaps it was known that the 48 spoke wires fitted to sidescreen cars were weak and went out of true at the first swipe of a kerb, which was a common enough occurence in our exuberent youth. Another draw back was that the factory kept the 48 spoke wire wheel rim size to 4", but widened the steel wheels to 4.5" to accept a larger tyre.

I've always chosen TR's with wire wheels and overdrive, as the brakes stay cooler in mountain country, and the overdrive makes for more relaxed long distance driving.

Wires were a lot harder to keep clean though, but that's overcome today with spray on/hose off cleaning products that are safe with chrome.

Right at the moment I'm in a position to compare the US and British way of addressing wire wheels. Our 66 Mustang vert with fake wire wheel hubcaps is garaged beside the TR3A, with its (upgraded) 60 spoke x 4.5" wires on centre splines with knock offs. The US style throw away wire hubcap is less costly to maintain when dinged, and there are no splines to wear out, but it's easier stolen. The TR wire wheel with centre knock off can probably be changed a bit quicker.

But I'd guess both types are just noticed as spoked wheels to most people when you drive past.

Regards,

Viv
 
tell me about it, not a sound i want to hear again.
 
kinda sounded like anti lock brakes with out the brakes'


GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIINDDDDD'
 
TS39781LO was wearing wires when it came to me. The rear tires were in pretty bad shape, so my first project was replacing them. Had very little money in those days (had to clean out the piggy bank and the couch to buy the car), so I removed the wheels myself and took them to a local tire shop to have some take-offs from a VW Bug installed. Knockoffs were really hard to get off, but I figured it was just a DPO-ism and moved on.

We lived near the top of a hill back then, and my driveway was slightly uphill as well, so no problems backing out onto the street. But when I tried to drive forward up the hill, there was just this loud WHIZZZZZ! That's why the knockoffs were so unholy tight, the DPO had been using friction as a substitute for the ruined splines!

Fortunately, I had a set of steel wheels on hand from a previous project (aborted when I discovered I could poke a finger through the frame), so I rolled the car backwards to the curb and had the 'new' tires moved to them.

One of the neighbors must have witnessed my predicament, because I got a visit from the local police just as I was tightening the lug nuts. He informed me there was a city ordinance against working on cars on the street, but fortunately agreed with me that it did not include changing tires :smile:
 
My 71 TR6 had chrome wire wheels when I purchased it 3 years ago. it doesnt appear that the wires are chrome look like polished SS, I thought they were original. Are they?

Hondo
 
I have my own wire wheel (hubcap) horror story.

In 1986, we bought a new Oldsmobile Cutlas Ciera (my first, and LAST GM product). I put real nice wire wheel hubcaps on her and she looked pretty good for a 4-door sedan. After about a week, the wife and I decided to go for a drive in a new upscale neighborhood that was being built a couple of miles from our place. Once on the road, it started raining, but it was already dark, so it didn't really matter. In the neighborhood the roads were shiny, but it was raining.

The next morning I went out to the car, in the garage, and to my horror, it was oil-covered up to the door handles! The darn roads had been OILED, with no signs, no nothing! The weather was cool, and the oil had had overnight to harden up. I tried everything, and finally got the universal solvent, gasoline, to clean off the car. I worked all day on it. Thank god I had waxed it a few weeks earlier.

Then, I took a look at those new wire wheel hubcaps...straight into the garbage, and went with the original wheel covers the rest of the life of the car.

Epilog: They really DID look good, for the week that they were on there.
 
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