how many of you wouldn't run a street car with narrowed wheels? We want to try and have some aluminum Lincoln wheels narrowed by 2.5 inches for the front so we can run bigs and littles. Good idea- bad idea? Any HAMBers narrow wheels? here is the outfit we were thinking of using: http://www.weldcraftwheels.com/Wide.htm thanks!
I spent five years in the race wheel business and we only sold aluminum and magnesium wheels and most of those went to racers. Since racers don't always have unlimited $$, I saw some interesting modifications and repairs. I also saw where wheels tend to break. In theory, cutting a band out of the middle of the "drop" and after truing it up in a lathe, welding it back together is a decent way to do the job. Back in the 70's a Brit company called Melmag sold wheels that were bonded together and aside from magnesium porosity (they leaked about as badly as the race tires did) they worked fine. Wheels tend to break/crack between the bolt circle and the center hole. If the hub is a bad design/poor fit, wheel crack outside the bolt circle. I have also seen a few breakage around the bead area though I suspect that the machined area that seats the bead had a sharp edge that was the genesis of the crack. With all of this in mind, my only concern with narrowing a wheel is the material. Most cast wheels are full of porosity that you will see when you saw one in half. This might affect the quality of your weld. Pressure cast wheels are better than sand cast for sure, but like alloy engine blocks, holes do appear. A billet wheel would be no problem in this respect. The best width change I ever saw was on a forged Porsche wheel. the guy took the inner half of the wheel off in a lathe, then drilled and tapped for our spun alloy rim halfs. He used our rims and gaskets and it was a slick job. It probably worked as well as it did because a forged wheel will take a thread pretty well, you couldn't do this with a cast wheel. Anyway, back to your application,if the wheels are used, inspect them very closely for cracks before you spend more $ on the changes and in theory, a properly welded, two-piece wheel on a correctly designed hub should be okay.
I live not too far from Weldcraft and over the years I've run into quite a few people who have had work done by them and it's always been top notch. I called about having them change the bolt pattern on a set of old mags and the people were really helpful, I ended up getting a different set of wheels though.
Nothing wrong with it if done well. Look at Cragar mags...cast welded to mild steel bells. Aluminum to aluminum is pretty simple.
I would not hesitate to run them, if they were done correctly. Eric Vaughn and Weldcraft both have a good reputation.
The Jalopy Journal
