I had a set that was actually really rusty looking when I got them but they polished up great with the rust barely visible. If you keep them clean and take care of them with regular polishing they will be good. They are not show chrome but they are somewhere between show and driver quality. The center caps are the clincher they rust very quickly so buy an extra set when you buy the rims. They are pretty cheaply made and not of the same quality as the rims themselves. Hope this helps.
I've got them on my 60 T-Bird and haven't had any problems but I keep them waxed. They are the 60s look, don't care weather Voodoo likes them. Do your car the way you want it, not his way.
this statement is purely false. the 1990's tri spoke wheels are the ugliest wheels ever made like the ones in this pic: Smoothie rims with whitewalls on an old classic is a thing of beauty!
Thanks for the info- I am going to pull the trigger on these. I love that they are drilled for multiple patterns since I am running a ford rear in my 57 Chevy. Thanks again gentlemen!
Have had three sets one cragar and two American racing all went rusty. One set destined for our 37coupe were in the shed two years and didn't even get fitted to the car before rust set in ,so we dipped and powder coated them,the other two welll one set on our 54 is two yrs old and just starting to go. The other set was older so pretty bad and are now history. Seems I am too stupid to learn by my mistakes, but do like the chromies. I dont think its real chrome just a claytons facade of shine.But they can stick the rust issues. Of course here in NZ stff oxidizes faster.
One more thing summit racing is the cheapest outlet for the rims and they include a center cap with the purchase of each rim they vary in price based on width but expect between $65 and $90 a wheel(plus shipping) if you want chrome they offer primer versions for a slightly higher price. Most other places charge you for the rims and caps separately. Ill have to run through my stack of parts catalogs but somewhere had the cap set at $14.95 plus shipping which is the cheapest I found it. A set of these will be going on the 1966 2 Door Cadillac I just bought. I love them.
Yeah they look awful guess it really depends on the car. Brians car looks incredible with them . The chrome almost always will rust with aftermarket smoothies and oe style wheels.if you take care of them though and park indoors you can fight it pretty good.
The key to smoothies is...don't use the baby moon caps that come with them. There are better options that fit, and don't rust as fast. MBL had a set that came on his '55 Dodge, and there is no other set in the world that had been more neglected! I just got some fine steel wool and some WD-40, and the wheels shined up almost like new. The baby moon caps not so much...but they did improve enough to be acceptable for a while. Like was said before...some wax goes a long way towards protecting them. When my coupe was almost done, I tried to buy a set of chrome reverse for it, but there was a 2 month wait...so I went with my second choice of the chrome "Gennies" which are supposed to be Ford copies, with Shannon cones, but there was a 1 month wait for them...the Smoothies were in stock, about the same price as the Gennies, and with the Shannon cones I wanted to run, looked very close to the Gennies, so I ordered them, and had the car at the show I was trying to make. I don't care when they came out (or the Shannon cones either) as I build my cars in a traditional style, not period correct. I also have an old 50's magazine that shows a custom with some chromed solid wheels that look just like Smoothies. They were Packard, or Hudson, or something like that....so the wheels aren't exactly out of place... As for Voodoo's take on them being the "ugliest wheel ever made".....I guess he's never seen ANY wheel ever put on an S-10, Sawblades, Hurricanes, those "Teddy Bear" wheels, the "penis spokes", or any number of "wagon wheel" style steel wheel....not to mention all the billet crap out there....but as Nad's is referencing....it's more of a lame attempt to "slam" me for having ONE of my FOUR (soon to be FIVE) finished cars rolling on Smoothies.... Here is the "offending" car....oh God, I'm so pathetic...why don't I kill myself!
Cragar five spoke have shitty chrome and they don't stand behind there product. Nicely polished mags are way better looking any way.
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