Has anyone ever had steel wheels straightened? A friend has some new Wheel Vintiques Gennie wheels which are not straight. Can they be straightened?
I'd be more interested in having them REPLACED...IF the wheels weren't damaged in use and just arrived that way. Wheels can be straightened though...just gotta find someone or some company that does it.
The problem is that the crooked wheels were not discovered until tires were mounted 4 years after purchase. I guess it would be worth a call to Wheel Vintiques but I don't hold much hope for them replacing them after so long. I spent some time on Google after starting this thread and it appears that others have had this problem with Wheel Vintiques wheels in the past.
how bad? did you measure the run out? if there is no visible damage to show that they were hit..I'd take them back ..hopefully you have the reciept, i would think they would want to keep their cutomers happy..and it really wouldnt take much to true them if they werent real bad
Most wheels have run out, both in the side to side and up and down planes, even new ones!! I started building wheels a few years ago and I was shocked that I could not get them perfectly straight. I measured several wheels for run out and they all have it, even new wheels. Remember that you ride on tires, and not the wheels.
The gauges in my truck, sat on a shelf for way more than 4 years without ever being hooked up. I could see the same situation with the other guy's wheels.
I've been told by tire stores that 1/16" run-out is within tolerance, and also quite typical. Would like to add; I tried to get these wheel guys to straighten some steel wheels and they said they only do aluminum, and I couldn't talk them into trying either.
I had some work done on a second-hand set of Renault steelies to get them to fit on my DD VW Golf. The guy said they don't cut and weld rims any more, but they'll take the centres out of the rims, swop onto other rims or change the offset on the original rims. Presumably they'd be able to do the same if the centre wasn't parallel/square to the rim. There are lots of possibilities. Ah, that's #100. Hand me a grenade ...
"It took 4 years to notice??? " It took me 4 years to: 1>Convince my friend that it was FINALLY time to move from 1958 to the 1970s and put radials on his car after buying the new wheels. 2>for him to select which radials to use (Diamondbacks) Once he got the tires he had the them mounted. He followed Diamondbacks recommendation and found a place that would use the lug holes to mount the wheels on the balance machine. They used stick-on weights so they wouldn't show. (Not my favorite type of weights) He then drove to the Nats East. He had me drive the car while there because it had a vibration between 45 and 55. I told him the balance was off. He went to Sears on Sunday morning and had the oldest guy there rebalance the front wheels. The stick-on weights were installed in the wrong place! The old timer from Sears showed him how out of spec the wheels were. The rims were not concentric to the hub hole or the lug holes. I think they also were off from side to side. I told him about this post and told him to contact Wheel Vintiques. If they don't help him I think he is going to use the Wheelsmith as some have recommended here.
Here's a suggestion: Have the tires/wheels ballanced on the car with a dynamic ballancer and a guy who knows how to use it. At the same time measure the lateral and radial run-out of the wheels with a dial indicator...on the car. Also measure the radial run-out of the entire assembly...on the car. Any manufacturer will need this information in order to determine if the wheels you have are within their tolerances or not...and whether or not the tires you have are contributing to the problem. And... Rather than roast the manufacturer on HAMB, why not get the info they need and give them a chance to correct the problem first? Isn't that the way you'd like to be treated? Just my $.02
I bought wheels from pete Paulsen several years ago-nice wheels but hey cam ewith the warning that warranties were off if tires had been mounted on the wheels!? It wasn't obvious until the tires were mounted that one wheel didn't track straight. It's a rear and doesn't affect the car's handling that I can tell. But I don't lean on it very much,either. Not complaining about Paulsen-I accepted the wheels and the "warranty" so it's my responsibility. But knowing the problems that are commonly encountered that are mentioned in this thread, next time I buy wheels I'll read the warranty first.
Ok...steel wheels can be straightened... you have to cut the centers to do it.. It is more about them not being trued when built unless you see obvious damage marks... We true all our wheels to 20 thousand run out... Once in a while there will be a wheel that when the center was punched it shifted in the tooling..In the last two years I have seen maybe 3 of those total. we caught 1 of them here and the others were caught once mounted.. they were replaced for the customer.. After waiting that long...I don't know if they will help you out or not.... Jason.
I took my 34 Plymouth artilleries to the local frame shop where the guy has a press and jigs he made up for truing wheels. It was about $30.00 each, but they are true now and ready for paint and tires. You can do it yourself if you have a strong platform to mount and rotate them and a porta-power or jack to push.
There is a diff. between truing an original bent wheel and truing new built undamaged wheels.. His are not true due to the way they were built... On a side note, I had a guy swear he had a bent wheel.. I had him send it back and sent him a new one...He calls me all pissed off about sending him back the same wheel.. I tell him I made another even though when I checked the original wheel it was fine...Told him to swap sides the wheels were on... guess what... it was a bad axle flange and not the wheels at all.. Jason.
My intention was not to roast the manufacturer. I just wanted to find out if the wheels could be fixed and where that could be done. These are Gennie style wheels with some slotted area between the rim and center. It looks to me that they have plenty of weld to join the center to the rim. If the rims had to be removed and rewelded I think it would be cheaper and easier to get new wheels.
i payed $40 to have two steel wheels reversed, they were new and just were not going to fit with the amount of back spacing they had, a friend at a local machine shop told me they have straightened wheels by bolting them to a t-slot table and useing a jack.
Does anyone know what Wheel Vintiques tolerances are on the eccentricity of their Solids? I like Jason's tolerance of 20 thou but the 2 front wheels on the wife's 33 coupe are 125 thou out! I took them back to the supplier and he solved the problem temporarily by rotating the tires 180 degrees and rebalancing but the vibration is back now and I doubt that rotating the tires again will solve it this time. The wheel shop is 80 miles in one direction and the powder coater is 20 miles in the other and by the time I do that plus the cost of fuel I could nearly buy 2 new wheels. swifty
When I took them back to the supplier he first checked the wheel/tire combo on his balancer and the tire was showing 1/8" runout. He then pulled the tire and the wheel was out the 1/8". As I posted he solved that by rotating the tire 180 degrees but the problem is back again. I would like to know what Wheel Vintiques tolerances are for these wheels as I shouldn't have to keep shifting the tires to solve the problem.
What the tolerance is and what it should be are two diff. things.. An 1/8 of run out is too much.. You will have wobble and vibration.. W Vintiques tolerances.. I am sure are the same as mine.. Everyone has a bad day once in a while... The problem there is hourly employees that sometimes don't care... hard to track who built what wheel... My shop is diff. Only me or my brother build every wheel for each customer.. Easy to find blame.. so they better be right... Jason.
repro chit 1.steel wheels 2.bias ply tires Maybe some day, someone will step up and make some round stuff......'till then just jump through a bunch of hoops.
Yes, steel wheels can be straightened. Had our local alingment shop do them many times. They use a press designed for just this. I have had lips folded halfway over from wrecks and brought back to like-new.
The Jalopy Journal
