Wire Wheels & Tubes

[dklawson]

My wife and I are getting her GT6 ready for a show in May after the car has been off road for more than a year. The tires are old, very old, and need replacing. The car has wire wheels. I know I'll need to tell the tire store in advance that we'll need tubes so they will have them available.

There's one other part we'll need and I don't even know what you call it. There's a "rubber band" that sits on the inside of the rim to protect the tube from the heads of the nuts on the spokes. (At the moment I believe our tubes are being protected by an antique band of duct tape). What is the proper name for the band and where can I get them?

 

[sail]

Rim strip or rim band. Big 3 have them ($10 at Moss) or you can make out of an old tube.

 

[dklawson]

Thanks for that.

In my Googling over the topic I see that some of the suppliers are now selling heavy PVC tape instead of pre-formed bands. Any comments on that product? Is the PVC tape any better or worse than the purpose-made bands or the duct tape we've had on there for years?

 

[Twosheds]

I had a long telephone conversation with a guy at British Wire Wheel on this subject.

He was very insistant on using PVC tape and not duct tape.

He was sorta emphatic.

 

[6TTR3A]

The tube idea is OK but it can be a problem covering both rows of spokes on a 60 or 72 spoke wheel. The plus points on the PVC tape are you can keep wrapping until everything is covered & one roll from either Moss or British Wire Wheel is enough to all five wheels. Also, for a tight fit you would want to cut up a 13" or 14" tube (try to find 5 junk tubes !)
Frank

 

[dklawson]

Thanks all. I'll order the PVC tape in advance of buying tires.

A bottle-neck was reached on the GT6 today. I was working on the Spitfire hardtop when my wife came outside and lifted the rear of the GT6's car cover. She said she was "checking something". It turns out she has neglected to pay taxes on the car for two years... so we never received renewal on the plates. I guess it's good we haven't driven the car for about 18 months. Regardless, she's got a month to straighten this out. I suspect this means the new tires will have to wait until sometime in May.

 

[billspohn]

Too bad Dunlop never sealed the spokes like Dayton now does.

Doing that means that you can run tubeless, BUT it also means that you can't tune the wheels as easily (but then Daytons seldom have spokes going loose)

 

[martx-5]

Too bad Dunlop never sealed the spokes like Dayton now does.

Doing that means that you can run tubeless, BUT it also means that you can't tune the wheels as easily (but then Daytons seldom have spokes going loose)

Dayton doesn't offer "tubeless" wheels on every wheel they make. Also, the tubeless wheels cost about $25-$30 more per wheel...just about the same price as a tube.

Allen Hendrix at Hendrix Wire Wheel (one of the wire wheel gurus in the US) feels that the runout on new wheels is more then they should be. They allow 0.040" and he wants to see ).020". Therefore, just about every new wheel he gets in, he re-trues. Well, he can't do that on the Dayton tubeless rims, unless he puts in a tube afterwards. I talked to him about all of this when I was getting new wheels and tires for my TR3. As a matter of fact, since it would've taken three to four weeks to get the wheels I wanted...painted, not chromed, he sent me to Moss Motors to work out a super deal and have their DUNLOPS shipped to him.

I asked him about the poor reputation that the Dunlops had, and he said that's a thing of the past. They are now making wheels every bit as good as the Daytons. He said the only thing that wasn't up to snuff with the Daytons, was their chrome plating. Not a problem for me, I wanted them painted.

 

[Geo Hahn]

I too run the Dunlop painted wires (from Moss) and couldn't be happier. With the smokin' price you can get these for from time to time I really wondered about the thread that mentioned having old wires restored with many replacement spokes, truing, painting, etc. Can you really do all that for less than the cost of new?