Just trying to think of a sixties or seventies Rover that could be ordered with wires…
I’d say they were unique to Jaguars, as most wire-wheeled British cars of the time had 42mm centres.
I have seen British P6s with them, but likely 42 mm.
I don’t remember them ever having wires from the factory. There were aftermarket fitments, but rare… from what I remember, they would all have been bolt-on splined hub adapters like Triumphs - and yes, 42mm. Thinking about it, did anyone apart from Jag (&Daimler), Alvis and Jensen use 52mm hubs in the sixties and seventies?
I think that is correct: I certainly never saw any over here.
MWS offers a fitment, but the cost is eye-watering.
Hello, further to Dave’s question re molasses rust removal, yes it does work. There was an article in the New Scientist magazine many years ago that described the process which I can’t find at the moment but basically the process is that, molasses contains chelating agents which envelop metal atoms on the surface of an object, trapping them and removing them. I used the process when restoring a Healey 100, I lined out a 6’ x 4’ box trailer with thick builders plastic & filled it with a molasses solution. If I remember correctly I bought a 20 litre container of molasses from a livestock agent & mixed it with 200 litres of water to fill the trailer & cover the rusty body panels. The panels had been paint stripped prior to dipping. After two weeks they were removed one by one, washed & scrubbed in hot water & then blowed dried before hitting with metal primer. Has to be done quickly on a warm dry day as the metal will oxidise, I probably wiped the metal prior to spraying with a metal deoxidine. This was done 20 years ago & have had no problems with rust returning. It is a slow & slightly smelly process but cheap. I have also dipped wire wheels, painted not chromed & it works. On the inside of the rim where the nipples are is usually the most rusted place, the molasses will eat all the rust away leaving clean metal, just like sand blasting.
Cheers Peter
Aston Martin? Bristol?
Peter do you remember whether the chrome stripped off the paint, ie it only removed the rust not paint please?
Dave, I assume you mean molasses & not chrome in your question. When I dipped my painted wire wheels the paint certainly was not completely removed. The paint on the wheels was not the modern type high gloss paint but rather the silver paint finish you would get from a spray can. If I remember correctly the paint stripped body panels had some paint residue left on them when they went into the molasses bath & when they were removed the paint residue was obviously soften & easily removed with hot water & a scrub. I cannot comment on whether chrome would be attacked by the molasses, perhaps someone else on this forum with a chemical background my wish to comment. Perhaps you could try your worst wheel first to see the out come before committing your better ones, Peter.
Terrific, thanks for your advice.
Yes, Aston changed to 52mm post-1969 according to MWS fitment guide. No mention of Bristol, not sure about them. Come to think of it, don’t remember many of the 400-series Bristols having wire wheels - usually disc with hubcaps. Not really aircraft practice, I suppose.
cheaper I guess than molasses is lemons / juice it eats rust doesn’t damage steel BUT DO NOT put in aluminum as it will eat the aluminum!
get a bucket juice up enough lemons to cover the wheel or whatever item and wait a while I am not sure how clean the metal will be noting above says molasses leaves it like sand blasting?
I’m not sure I see the point of dipping chromed wire wheels in a rust remover of any kind. Any rust removed will leave bare steel, it won’t replace the missing chrome - only a rechrome will do that! Bare steel is usually pretty quick to rust again, in my experience…
Interesting comment about the spare wheel being black. The spare in my SE 140 is also black, with the original four mounted wheels having painted spokes. I’ve since bought five new 54 spoke wheels and had them painted the standard British Wheel Silver (not an accurate name, I know) which looks good against the Pearl Grey body. I wondered where the black painted spare came from and maybe Hornburg Jaguar did that if it wasn’t Jaguar authentic.
I doubt it would be cheaper Terry. Molasses is $1 per litre at our produce store while lemons are a dollar or moe each!
I can vouch for the 10% molasses solution as a rust remover - works very well as long as you’re not in a hurry.
Garry
Someone here who did the similar process.
I just derusted an entire frame. The dip tank was my neighbor’s swimming pool. He had no idea - the cover was over it and I worked at night.
I bought the molasses in 55 drums. I had the fire department transfer the molasses to the pool, they to fill pools for a small donation around here. I sold the molasses for $10.00 more per gallon than I paid. I advertised it as molasses ‘fortified with iron’ and they believed it. They’re supposed to come with a tanker next week. Are you still with me here? …Why?
The frame came out sweet!!!
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Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but as I started it anyway, I think I’m allowed.
I’ve finally got around to removing the tyres from my old wire wheels, and have uncovered the numbers in them. To recap: my car sat in a garage in CA from '82 to 2018, when it was sold and shipped to the UK. It is a SE (MC), and I think, but don’t know, that it had special order chrome wires. It came with: 3 chrome wire wheels, 54 spoke, with varying levels of corrosion. 1 black wheel, which I now discover is a 60 spoke so cannot be the original spare. Photos of the numbers (but not bothering with the black one):
(last digit is ‘W’)
I would really appreciate the opinion of our resident experts as to whether or not these might have been originally chromed wheels. I accept that despite their appearance, they could have been chromed at a later date. I also seem to have two with date codes ‘SD’, and one with date code ‘N’, which could be anomalous.
Thanks all,
Roger
Well, DRC means Dunlop Rubber Company; 5 means the rim width between the beads is 5 inches; K is a rim rolled shape defined by the Tire and Rim Association; 16 is the rim diameter.
I have some wheels from an April '53 car and the one I can see without pulling down a lot of stuff has DRC 5K 16 DP if that is a date code.
There was a change in rim width from 5" to 5-1/2" in about May '52, but maybe that only applied to disc wheels?
Just outta curiosity, the “K” would be the bead spec for tube-type?..while the more modern “J” or “JJ” would be for tubeless?
Rob’s comments are best so far…
DRC = Dunlop Rubber Co
5K = rim specification, being 5" (inches) wide x ‘K’ rim profile which is a very detailed specification of the total rim cross-section, not just the beads, and indeed one of the main aspects of Tyre and Rim legality and legislation to ensure tyres fit properly and securely in the rim…
16 = nominal rim diameter in inches.
SD etc is variable, and is believed to be a code for something, possibly a date-code, but not enough reliable sightings at this stage to be anything more than a GUESS.
MADE IN ENGLAND = self explanatory
W suffix letter, usually/often there but also often nothing there, but to date only W has been noted.
Again some sort of code, but no guesses even at this stage…
So maybe there is something in the SD (Variable) or W that indicates chrome plated or not; no idea at this stage, and may also indicate 54 spokes, and indeed seat-of-spoke profile - all a guess, need to find some old official technical document from Dunlop…