TR2/3/3A Wheel Finish

[mgedit]

Found spare info I posted earlier. Cheers, Mike

 

[DavidApp]

The rims that came with the car are 4" x 15" I think. Seems to be for the earlier TR3s

Will I be Ok running 165/80R15s

David

 

[mgedit]

I had about a dozen rims when I restored my car. Only one was straight, the rest varied from a bit crooked to quite warped. Might be worth checking yours for run-out. That's why I ended up with alloys and the one good rim for my spare. Personally, I wanted a modern tire close to stock size. That's why I went with the 165s. They should fit the original rims. Best to contact tire manufacturer regarding match between tire you sellect and rim size. Cheers, Mike

 

[DavidApp]

Hello Mike

I have started with 5 and found that 2 wobble/undulate badly. The rest are probable Ok. In the process of getting a set made up.

Looking up on Google it seems that 165/80R15 is as big as I can go with a 4" x 15" rim

With as many Trs out there it would seem that someone would do a run of steel rims.

David

 

[mgedit]

Hope you can get yours straightened. I found an old time shop that was equipped to do this work but he told me mine were bent on the inner portion not at the bead. He told me they were beyond repair. He spent several hours working on my rims and did not charge me as he could not fix them. Some interesting discussion here too:

https://www.tr-register.co.uk/forum...702-steel-road-wheels-where-to-find-new-ones/

Cheers, Mike

 

[DavidApp]

Taking a second look at the damaged rims I thought that one may be savable as it seemed to only be rim damage no side to side wobble. May be able to hammer it straight. Then I noticed that there was a 2" split where the rim/tire bead face meet. Must have hit the curb hard.
So both rims are wall hangers.

David

 

[TexasKnucklehead]

A lot of club members got better wheels for their TR6, and I was given a set in better shape than the TR3 wheels I had. TR3 wheels are 4", TR6 are 5", opening up the options for wider tires that fit. But, it also bumped my car into the "modified" class at VTR. I sanded them to bare metal (not the inside) (but including the 'inner' side) and primed with white epoxy primer I had left over (used as a base coat so the grey would not show through the light yellow). Then I painted with a rattle can of Duplicolor "track tested" wheel coating. The finish from the can looks/feels almost like wrinkle paint up close, but after 20,000 miles, they still look good (especially considering the cost) and rinse clean. I'm running a set of 195/65 R15's from Discount Tires. It took several tries before they got them balanced, and I'm sure a better set of wheels would be nicer at highway speeds, but these work. -Attached is a picture from last year...

There's a lot of wheel and tire options, but I decided that I was already too far over budget. Sliding around the track is more fun than I could imagine.