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Wire wheel question.

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Lukens

Lukens

Jedi Warrior
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How many of you with wire wheels have no problems?
I'm not anal but I expect my3A to run down the road at 70 mph all day. I know they can because this isn't my first rodeo. I've got the proper adapters to mount the wheels on modern dynamic balancing machines. I've had 'em balanced but they still shake at 55. I know of no one local that will true the wheels so I've spun them all on a front hub and trued them myself. I tightened some loose spokes and think I've got the wheels in spec... within a 1/16 lateral and radial runout. I guess I'll have them balanced again and see if this improved things. I've talked to anybody that should know around here and they all say "live with it". I'd be willing to have them shaved and balanced on the car, but no one around me does that. And shipping them out of state is just not reasonable.
Is it me? What are you guys doing.
Shakingly yours,
Russ
 
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I had my rims balanced at a local Firestone and they use silica sand to balance them. Run down the road with no problem...Have a a shake at 55 but thats due to a tranny mount and that disappears after 60. Smooth up to 95 held for a 5 minute stretch.
 
KSIS said:
I had my rims balanced at a local Firestone and they use silica sand to balance them. Run down the road with no problem...Have a a shake at 55 but thats due to a tranny mount and that disappears after 60. Smooth up to 95 held for a 5 minute stretch.
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Are you talking about putting the sand IN the tires? I know this is being done on motorcycles... DynaBeads. Interesting.
 
Just something to consider : the problem might not be the wheels. I installed some new rotors a few years back that were significantly out of balance. After drilling into the edge to get them balanced, now I find that at least one of them is significantly warped ... should have just pitched them to begin with, I guess.
 
I've had my TR3 some 30+ years. I enjoy spirited driving and went through a set of 48 spokers and another set of 60 spokers. Rough railroad track crossings were especially destructive. At the time it cost the same to replace with new as to have them rebuilt. About 15 years ago I replaced the wires with Mini-Lite style knockoffs and have had no problems since. They have a different kind of classic look which I like, and they take tubeless tires. The only negative feature of the Mini-Lite knockoffs is their weight.
 
JFS said:
I've had my TR3 some 30+ years. I enjoy spirited driving and went through a set of 48 spokers and another set of 60 spokers. Rough railroad track crossings were especially destructive. At the time it cost the same to replace with new as to have them rebuilt. About 15 years ago I replaced the wires with Mini-Lite style knockoffs and have had no problems since. They have a different kind of classic look which I like, and they take tubeless tires. The only negative feature of the Mini-Lite knockoffs is their weight.
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Hmm, what is the weight diff? Those wires aren't exactly light.
BTW I found that I can drive through the shimmy... smooth at 70 mph. The shakes come in at about 55.
 
Sometimes you have to pay the piper if you want the job done right. When I got my new wires, I sent them to Hendrix Wire Wheel. He re-trued the new wheels, mounted the tires, shaved and balanced them for the ridiculous price of $75 per wheel -- I see that they're up to $85. An awful lot of money to pay, but well worth it as far as I'm concerned. I have never driven in a car where the wheels are as smooth riding as these wires are on my TR3...at least up to 90mph.

https://www.hendrixwirewheel.com/
 
Sounds about right....I will give him a call tomorrow and find out what he used and how much.
 
martx-5 said:
Sometimes you have to pay the piper if you want the job done right. When I got my new wires, I sent them to Hendrix Wire Wheel. He re-trued the new wheels, mounted the tires, shaved and balanced them for the ridiculous price of $75 per wheel -- I see that they're up to $85. An awful lot of money to pay, but well worth it as far as I'm concerned. I have never driven in a car where the wheels are as smooth riding as these wires are on my TR3...at least up to 90mph.

https://www.hendrixwirewheel.com/
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Yep, Hendrix seems to be the deal. I'll definitely consider them when I need new tires.
 
This is one more vote for Hendrix and shaved tires.

I had Hendrix shave/true the tires on our GT6. They were unable to true all the wheels by adjusting the nipples as some of the spokes/nipples were rusted tight. They did what they could, shaved and balanced the tires, and marked each wheel with their recommendation for what position to mount them on the car (front/rear/left/right). The wheels and tires still do not produce the ride of my modern daily driver but the GT6 drives better than it has in years.
 
GlennG said:
I don't have my TR4A running yet, but when I had trouble balancing the wheels on my MGB, I got my own tools and did it myself. I wrote up a synopsis and put it here: https://www.glenngoodspeed.com/volvo/WheelBalancing.htm

I was leery of wire wheels and went with Rostyles on the MG, but my TR4A has a set of wires, so I might try to stick with them. -G.
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Glen,
I came across your write up before... excellent. I like your ingenuity.
I've been able to improve the "trueness" of the wheels by spinning and tweaking each one separately on a front spindle. Unfortunately I don't have a balancing machine so I've not yet re-balanced them. I've found that I can drive through the "shakes" so it's not a high priority at this point. My boat outboard currently has my attention. :mad-new:
 
After a long and frustrating battle with both 60 and 72 wire wheels shaking on my TR3a I finally installed non-knockoffs mini-lites. Problem solved!
 
GlennG said:
I don't have my TR4A running yet, but when I had trouble balancing the wheels on my MGB, I got my own tools and did it myself. I wrote up a synopsis and put it here: https://www.glenngoodspeed.com/volvo/WheelBalancing.htm
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Great write up on a do it yourself approach for balancing and tire trueing. I have also been fighting vibration issues. Glenn's web site prompted me to purchase a tire spinner off of ebay for $50 + shipping. It will be an interesting experiment once it gets here.
 
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