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MG MGB Technical - Balancing Wire Wheels

I know wire wheels these days make life more interesting for their owners. Be it by having to clean them more ofter and more thoroughly or by having to install tubes. And according to my experience more tire centers turn you away when you utter the word tubes and funky wheels.

I am only aware of one or two tire centers in my neck of the woods that would take on my wheels or repair flats, and even they sort of scratch their heads when I come waltzing in.

My immediate issue is twofold: one, balancing wires as per the recommended way has never been successful at either dealer and we have had to do it the conventional way. Is there anyone that makes an adapter plate to balance the wheels on a conventional machine? or are there any plans on how to assemble an adapter using old hubs? and, no, neither center can balance the wheels on the car.

My second question is how to true the wheels. I have a 1 year old "Dunlop" wheel with a slight but distinct wobble in it. Must have hit a pothole. Is there a way I can true it at home? There are no British car repair centers near me and the closest one only had a suggestion of coming be and checking out their inventory of used wheels to find a "truer" one. I'd rather not.

I remember that I never had issues with the WWs in my '70 roadster. As I worked in a garage at the time I used to balance them the conventional way and never had issues. I believe they even were the original Wires.
Luigi

Luigi
It might be worth checking some of your older tire shops locally that have been in business for years and be ready to get laughed at but ask if they still have one of the old bubble balancers stored away in the corner that you could purchase. I did this and found one that is over 25 years old and have been using it for years with great success.
Steve C.
Steve C.

Ya'know Steve, thats a good idea. Think I'll get up early on Saturday.
Luigi

http://hem.passagen.se/larsragnar/
Page 3
Ingemar

Try checking where the local Ferrari or Maserati
folks go as the earlier cars were fitted with wires.

You might also search "Borrani Wheels" as they
made the wire wheels that went on them - and any
place that can fix & balnce a set of Borranis will
most likely have the tools and skills to handle your
Dunlop wires, or be able to direct you to a place
that can.
Daniel Wong

Luigi,
Like to hear how you do on finding that balancer. After asking around the MG Car Club I found a place in town that does them on the car. Expensive ($20 a wheel) but when you're done, it's right.

I have had the best luck here in Denver at two types of places:
1. Motorcycle shops - one here started out doing motorcycle wheels and gradually expanded to do auto wire wheels. They know their stuff and can repair and true them but aren't cheap.
2. Low-Rider car repair/tire shops as they all use wire wheels. When I went in the first time one of the guys gave me one of their old hammers since I didn't have one.

My painted wires have been headaches. Next time it's chrome tubelss Daytons with stainless spokes.

JTB
J.T. Bamford

Luigi,

The only way to balance your wires is with the bubble balance or on-the-car spin balance. Check out our website www.daytonwirewheel.com and download our instruction sheet for balancing spline-drive wheels. Its going to be easier to find someone to do the on-car balance than it would be to train and supervise one of the current tire jockeys how to use the spline-drive fixture on the Computer Balancer. And I think you can still buy bubble balancers from JC Whitney.
For a reputable wheel truing facility the closest to you is I know of is Hendrix in North Carolina.

Rich
Richard Cutright

I contacted British Wire Wheel, and they referred me to JB's wire wheels, Santa Cruz, CA (831)465-0617. British Wire Wheel may be able to refer you to someone closer than California. Anyway, I sent my Dunlop wheels to JB's, and they did a good job of truing. Good luck

Dave
David Tye

Luigi,
Just got mine trued & balanced last week at Hendrix. I didn't know an MG could ride so smooth. I would highly recomend contacting Alan or Jerry at http://www.hendrixwirewheel.com/index.shtml . Maybe they could advise. (By the way I'm not affiliated with them in any way just a very satisfied customer)
Paul
Paul S. Canup

Harbor freight (www.harborfreight.com) will sell you a bubble balancer and a manual tire change apparatus for about $100. Opinions vary, probably based largely on the skill and patience of the operator.

Steve Aichele

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll take them all into consideration and follow up on Monday if the thread is still up. Shipping a wheel for truing isn't really an option when it'll end up costing as much as a replacement anyway. I've checked with a bunch of motorcycle shoppes but no-go. Lots of Ferrari (plural?) in town, seen none with WWs but may stop in at the local dealer just to get laughed at ("no trade in value for that, sir, please park it round back behind the skid") There is a Northern Tools store in town so I think I'll drop in. If not, JCW may get some $$ from me in the near future.

J.T., I'm with you on the Daytons next round. Tubeless, stainless wires, and Lifetime True. Just have to wait til' Santa comes around.

Richard, will do, thanx. Unfortunately the two shops that will handle my wheels don't have the necessary spacers or cones to spin balance them correctly. We even tried fitting them backwards as someone suggested to me once.

Paul, maybe I should do a roadtrip to NC :) Wife wants to hit Ashville sometime in the Spring.
Luigi

Trueing yourself will require a lot of patience. For an idea of what is required ask a motorcycle shop tech (someone who handles motocross bikes) or look for advice on the web. Basically, raise the car enough to turn the rim. As you rotate the rim locate a dial indicator to find the high and low spots (you can also get by with a piece of crayon or pencil used similarly). Figure out which spokes need to be tightened and the opposing ones loosened slightly. Make sure you have a proper wrench to rotate the nipples. Before you turn anything take a deep breath and decide whether you really want to do this. Much patience and head scratching is required. It can be frustrating as you think you are doing the right thing but the results do not obtain. When you've mucked it up worse than it was, send it to a pro or buy the tech a case of beer to come by and help (be charming). BTDT

Good luck,
Edd Weninger

I made up a jig from the front axle and hub of a midget. I mounted (welded) the axle on a steel frame and it serves many purposes. One is to hold the wheel while cleaning or sand blasting. 2 is to paint the wheel and three I can fit an indicator to replace spokes and true as needed. I then use a bubble balance. It has worked for me for twenty plus years now.
Sandy Sanders
conrad sanders

Luigi,

I had this experience recently with my '72 roadster: Bought a set of Michelin Hydroedge tires from a dealer who claimed to be experienced with wire wheels. They mounted and balanced the tires, but on my way home the car started to bounce at about 60 mph. Took it back, they re-balanced all four tires; still bounced. The owner of the tire shop took it out and felt the bounce. They un-mounted the tires, put lots of lubricant on the bead, re-mounted them and inflated to about 60 psi. You could hear the bead popping in the rim as they seated. Problem solved. Apparently, the beads were not completely seated, causing a slight out of roundness. This all transpired over 3 days in which the tire shop was sick of seeing me, but at least they stood behind their product and work. Hope you have similar good fortune.

John
John R

Steel wheels are just as bad as they expect to hold them on the centre holes. OK on modern cars as that was what they were designed for, but on cars of our age the hole is only to allow the hub dust cover to poke through and is not particularly accurately located. So unless they have an adapter to mount the wheel by its stud holes they can't do those either. It is this mounting by the centre hole of steel wheels that makes being able to mount centre-lock wheels very common if not universal. But whilst they hold the wheel on the back in the correct place i.e. with an inner cone, I have not come across one with an outer cone for holding the wheel in the correct place on the front face i.e. an outer cone. The standard 'spinner' holds the wheel in the inside face instead and so is useless for balancing, and I have had them show me how much wobble there is on my wheels which run true on the car.
Paul Hunt

Another factor to consider when trying to adapt wire wheels to spin balancers; the back edge of the hubshell MUST NOT touch against the mounting plate. In actual use on the car the wheel is suspended by the rear inside taper and the front outside taper. Theoretically the drive spines should not align the wheel, they're only a driving mechanism.
Richard Cutright

This thread was discussed between 15/01/2004 and 17/01/2004

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