All this Borrani talk could not have come at a better time because I am working on a 67 330 G.T.C and looking for a set of 32mm hub's because i would llike to have a set of 16's made for the car then i would have a better tire selection and they won't look like their off a 4x4 like the 14's and i really did not want to unlace the 14's. Help
Not to be nit picking but to set history straight, Rudge-Whitworth wasn't a person, but rather the name resulting from the merger of two companies. Bob
Pardon my ignorance and hope you don't mind me asking, but I get the Italian part and do appreciate that for sure, but what are the West Texas and Bellflower parts?
Hey Pal... i'm not here to do metal cl***es, just havinf fun, light alloy is Huge argument to talk about it, the series 6082 alloy used on wheel as nothing to do with the light alloy used on avio stuff. Mainly the percentiage of Zinc and Silicon conbined with the HB grade can give you the level od ductility. Why the stainless steel is forbitten in "good quality" wire wheels? Main caratterictic of a wire wheel is flexability, the spoke must absorb the perpendicular and side forces, so basically must BEND, most used material is the 39 NcD/4 ... but this is a long story and I do not want to bore people having fun this the car talk. We are talking about wire wheels, so what you're saying is not correct and it shows to me that you have not idea how wire wheels are built. A wire wheel light alloy rim as nothing to share with casted alloy. The metal spinning is a technology developped in automotive over the 40 years i know a lot about it. let's have fun and talk about cars
Best wheel for is 15" and also the bigger tyre selection available. Contact Factory, i'm sure they will love your bu$ine$$ http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
I'm glad you're mixing it up style wise, Ryan...it can be done and quite well if you'se gotts taste. Blackwalls on wires...I love skinny whites but blackwalls are so ***y, Pete Chapouris had a cinnamon colored '50 Chevy HT and it just had blackwall tires (I'm thinking they were ever so slightly larger out back) on chrome wires. Beautiful car. Of course his car came from the time when a lot of cool hot rods were running chrome Buicks or tru-spokes on black tires. Sweet when done well.
Jeem, I love that car... always have... So you guys have almost talked me into blackwalls... What I think I'm gonna do is try on a set of skinny whites first. If that doesn't do it for me, I'm gonna do some 60's era Dunlops. First things first though... Does anyone know of a G78-15 or a 760-15 with a nice skinny white wall to it? My search isn't going well and I might have to go with a radial.
After searching far and wide I found no one making an appropriate bias-ply narrow whitewall in that size. If you find any, please share the resource. I ended up having some radials made by Diamondback for my Riviera. I would change them if I could get a bias-ply narrow whitewall. .
Sylvian, these are narrow whitewall US Royals I got from Coker, pretty sure they're the right size for those Skylark wheels.
They are but they are 1" whitewalls and I wanted 1/2" or 3/4". I could not find a bias ply tire with less than a 1" whitewall. These look nice on your Cadillac by the way. .
Oh Ok, yeah I don't think there are any that narrow. BTW, did those wheels bolt right onto the Riviera? I'd like a set for my 1966.
Yes, they bolted right on. Getting the spinners on and keeping them out of the way while bolting them on was a bit of a pain but with some finessing it's a piece of cake. .
One of the coolest MCs of the early 70s came with Borrani Wire wheels, The Laverda SFC <BR> <img src=http://www.vanderschalk.com/sfc/images/11000std.jpg>
Sorry, the Borrani alloy rims DO crack. I've restored multiple sets and have had to have the rims welded. They crack around the ******, some so much that the spoke pulls the ****** through the rim. As for stainless spokes, it is true that steel spokes are stronger, that is, until you chrome plate them. Then they become very brittle due to hydrogen embrittlement and stainless becomes the best option for a chrome wire wheel.
Load bearing chromed parts should always be embrittlement relieved - if for nothing else from a product liability issue - or you had better have damn good insurance. Normally within three hours of coming out of the chrome tank is good. Stainless - in it's various guises has to a greater of lesser degree, a varying nickel content. Nickel is soft and makes stainless ductile - which is why since the 1930s it chrome was electroplated on top of nickel as it wore away too quickly from door handles etc. Nickel has a yellowish cast and following on this is what gives stainless it's yellowish cast. The yellower the stainless, the higher the nickel content and the greater the rust resistance. Chromium has a clear to blueish cast and is used to protect the nickel. Ductility means the product will bend easier - not necessarily a desirable trait in a wire wheel.
It is true today of course! The molecular structure of any type of alloy will change with aging. This natural event plus the daily used, so heat and cold, will compitely modify the property of the alloy, so the result is the rim will do crack. Alloy eventually will turn into dust! But you must consider a fresh built products, not a 50-year-old wheel. i do have some cracked rims (for cars and bikes) decoring my garage, it does take few decades. Some automotive and specially bike rims built on 7000 series need heat to be able to be dimpled, alloy as series 6082 (with more zinc) you can do at cold, avoiding deformation while cooling off. It is correct that chrome will brittle the spoke, it is so true that all the race wheels are always painted. What i do not like about stainless is the oxidation, fearly soon it turn into a goldish shade that clash with cold alloy. I had bad experiences racing with stainless spoked wire wheels... don't try, believe me.
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