Hot Rods Do TrueSpoke wheels have any value?

I don't think it's the style as much as most people know of the 'issues' that attach to them. Keeping them clean is a big one, but certainly not the only one. They're heavy for one thing, and the extra unsprung weight does nothing good for ride/handling. Many require tubes, adding yet more weight plus the h***le of finding tubes and changing/repairing tires. And putting tubes into tubeless tires promotes heat build-up in the sidewalls, dropping the tire's speed rating by a notch or two. But the real biggy is they can go out-of-round. A heavy car and/or aggressive corner-carving can do this and having them re-trued is neither cheap nor easy. If you had a set that had been 'sealed' for use with tubeless tires, it was all but impossible.

In 1971 when Jaguar started installing the V12 into the XKE, they were initially offered with optional wire wheels. Jag withdrew the option by '74 as the much heavier V12 caused out of round issues with the wire wheels. When the XJS debuted in '75, wires were no longer available from the factory, all cars came standard with alloy wheels. But because of demands from customers, some dealers started adding them. When the owners had issues with these, they naturally complained to Jaguar, who sent out a 'service notice' that they would not sanction these and if you had a set, you were on your own.

I believe that the '62-63 Thunderbird 'roadsters' were the last production US cars offered with wire wheels.

 

Hello,

The different styles of Truespoke wheels have their own followers. The ones on your coupe fit the car versus using the low custom car full wire wheel version for older hot rods. The way it is on the light color and style of hot rod is in the middle of styling. Are you portraying a lowered hot rod coupe ala drag style or a lowered custom coupe version?

For some reason, the white wall version of the overall photo does not do it justice. Your coupe is nicely built, but it gives off the character of low custom car trying to be a hot rod.

The all blackwall tires changes the appearance of your car and now, it looks like a high performance v8 powered hot rod ready for a road trip or the high performance encounters on the street. Yes, wires take more time and effort to keep balanced.

As a former original, Buick Skylark Wire Wheel enthusiast with the only 58 Impala in So Cal with those spoke wheels modified and installed on the sedan in 1962-63, much care was taken on the upkeep. We used added emphasis to make the wires stay straight and keep the balance perfect for our own weekly cruising and sometimes, fast encounters late at night.
With the great artwork by @themoose , a wonderful look was saved. Blackwall tires made the look of being a custom, yet still gives the high performance look of the fast sedan. White walls, no way it would not have been the style. No one had white wall tires with these custom Buick Skylark Wire Wheels in play. Modified or not.

Jnaki

So, it has to be your choice as to what you want your wire wheels to portray. But black walls gives it more at***ude as a hot rod and not a coupe trying to be a lowered custom car. YRMV

 

True Spoke is still in business
I purchased a set for my 57 Tbird in 17 then ordered a 5th for a spare last year
not a big fan of wire wheels,
but
on the Tbird, as she said; “they look fabulous”

 

Wire wheels are kind of girly
they are definitely a higher maintenance than other wheels
they are dainty, don’t like a lot of weight or house power
but
when they are cleaned up the really do look good

as for True Spoke, they also make wheels using stainless steel for the spokes, they can take more weight and horse power
but
The rim and collars are still chrome, and can rust.
Also the stainless is not as bright as the chrome spokes.

 

Real Truespokes do have their following. My buddy Ron Moore had them on his 48 Pontiac ragtop for years and had them on his 29 A roadster before that. As Wheelkid said, the ones in the photo of the A coupe aren't Truespokes though, they are a different brand chrome wire wheel.
I remember that Ron had a hell of a time keeping his up on the Pontiac.

 

Not really sure if these are Tru-Spoke wire wheels, but the owner of this cool ride, opted to have them painted.

 

They're not that hard to keep clean guys, you just use a paint brush. For most designs, if your wire wheels are getting loose that means they were poorly constructed. Some of the smaller "British sports car" wire wheels are an exception to this, but I'd like to point out that mine don't do that and anything with thicker gauge spokes shouldn't either.

 

I went to a little gathering last night and saw a set in the wild, looking right at home on this full fendered roadster. Cl***y and hot roddy. They have their place.

 

if you are building Early Times style, these are the wheels

 

Had them on a 29, which was a mid 80’s build. They were ok, didn’t really love them.

 

Yellow roadster has Tru-Spokes, black T sedan has Buick wires, and flamed A sedan has Appliance wires.

 

My 33 had wires on it for decades. They looked good, but man they were heavy. Was always cleaning them, finally pulled them off for some more traditional straight spoke American Racings. I sold them instantly to some lowrider guys and got like 1100 bucks out of them like 8 years ago.

 

I had tru-spoke wheels on my 32 coupe back in the 80's I liked the look of them I kept up with the maintenance but after 30 years the spokes and ******s began to rust. think part of what caused that was the wire wheel cleaner I was using (acid/neutralizer wheel cleaner kit ) I gave the wheels to a friend, he sandblasted them and had them powdered coated. I see tru-spoke is selling wheels again, they are about $800 each, they have star wire and dayton wheels also. I would like another set but they are really time consuming to care for.
I wouldn't think you would trouble selling them, there is still interest in them.

 

I think truespokes are cool. Being worried about what's in or out of style isn't cool. If you like em, run em, if you don't, don't.

 

Get them out of the attic. the heat & cold cycles will result in surface rust or worse subjecting them to that environment over a prolonged time, it happened to me with a pair of 1932 Ford bumpers. HRP

 

Truespoke wire wheels are tubeless. They have an internal manufacturer-applied heat based silicone seal and DO NOT require inner tubes.