cool car interior accessories Article

Chrome Wire Wheels Or Period Alloy Ones For Your Classic Car?
By Tony Merrygold

Many classic owners think their cars are wonderful sporting chrome wire wheels, but over the past ten years I have come to the opposite conclusion. We have ten classic cars, at least six of which started life with wire wheels, either chrome or painted.

Our MGB and Triumph TR4A both had painted wire wheels, and when the tyres needed replacing on the TR4A my attention turned to the wheels. Some of the paint was flaking off the spokes so I checked on the price of having then stripped and re-painted, and this would have been about the same as, maybe slightly more than, replacing them with period Minilite style wheels.

On the TR4A the splines are bolted onto the hubs, so removing them was a simple task of unbolting them, installing new bolts of the original length and fitting a set of bolt on Minilites fitted with new tyres, all freshly balanced of course. The looked much nicer and tidier than before and the silver wheels suited the car. Then I drove the car. What a transformation! The had always rattled a bit and I just put this down to its age and general condition. With the new wheels fitted all the shakes and rattles had disappeared, the was much smoother and a pleasure to drive.

It all comes down to balancing. Most tyre companies aren't very good at balancing wire wheels as they don't always have the correct cones to make sure they fit on the balancing machines properly. If any of the spokes are damaged or loose, then this makes them even harder to balance. But the new alloy Minilites balanced perfectly - hence the transformation. And no danger of spokes coming loose or getting damaged or bent.

The other

benefit to us, as we hire out our cars, is that Minilites are much easier and quicker to clean than wire wheels.

So when our MGB needed a new set of tyres I bought another set of Minilites. Unfortunately on the MGB the splined hubs do not just bolt on as they do with the TR4A and I didn't want to change the axle, so I ordered a set of Minilites with splined centres fitted. More expensive that the bolt on ones but cheaper than changing the axle. Same result - complete transformation.

Over the years we have worked through all our other cars changing the wire wheels for alloy ones. I didn't think Minilites would look quite right on our E-Type Jaguar but then I came across a company selling alloy copies of the D-Type racing wheels so fitted these instead. Now I prefer not to buy a with wire wheels fitted. When we bought our Austin Healey 3000 it was fitted with a beautiful set of pristine chrome wire wheels and new tyres. I had a set of splined centred Minilites sent up to the dealer and he swapped the tyres over and we sold the chrome wheels on EBay.

We have just added another E-Type to our fleet and I will shortly be ordering another set of D-Type style wheels for that.

So if your has wire wheels, chrome or painted, get rid of them. Invest in a set of alloy wheels instead. Obviously don't go for modern ones, far too bling and out of character, so pick a period set like Minilites or D-Type copies that will suit the age of the car.

You will find the drives much better, much smoother, the wheels stay balanced properly, increasing tyre life and you have the added bonus that they are extremely easy to clean.