So I picked up a pair of vintage mag wheels this evening. One of them is for sure a Sears Roebuck Rader (or is it Radir or Radar). The other does not have any manufacturer cast into the back of the spoke, and also looks different on the back of the spokes. From the front side they look identical, but the back is different. One of them is 3.25 BS and the other is just shy of 3.25 BS by about 1/16th of an inch. They are both 15x6 with 5x4.75 pattern. So my question is can anyone identify the second wheel, Who manufactured it? Untitled by JoeGilkerson, on Flickr Untitled by JoeGilkerson, on Flickr Untitled by JoeGilkerson, on Flickr Untitled by JoeGilkerson, on Flickr Untitled by JoeGilkerson, on Flickr Untitled by JoeGilkerson, on Flickr Untitled by JoeGilkerson, on Flickr Untitled by JoeGilkerson, on Flickr
I have googled myself to death, I just can't find any solid info or images on these wheels to help tell the manufacturers apart.
I'm going back into my memory banks but I think Rader made wheels for more than Sears. Montgomery Ward and JC Pennys come to mind. They had their signature ribbed spoke wheels that were exclusively theirs and they made the smooth ones for the retailers. I think other places like JC Whitney may have even had them too, and the more I think about it, I believe a lot of different department stores and auto stores carried the smooth spoke versions. Don
check close for cracks. Also the centers would come loose from the hoop. The rivets were harder than the center material. If you did a lot of burn outs with a stickey tire like a atlas Burcron or hit curbs/pot holes. These wheels were banned at military bases in ga in the mid to late 60s. Good score any way. I hope you did not pay a lot.
Ouch. That's not the info I was looking for. So is there not way to know for sure who made the second wheel? As far as what I paid, including gas money, roughly $150 total. And now I face the cost of having them polished and trying to repair the rust on the bead seat. There are no cracks anywhere so they are solid usable wheels, I just hope they will hold air at the bead seats.
What's weird is how the back of the unidentified one has a different coring of the back part...the Sears one doesn't have the extra ribs, but the unknown one does. I wonder if they had issues with them breaking and tried to strenghten them up a bit? Still pretty cool looking wheels.
That's my thought too; the added material was an engineering enhancement. It's most likely also a Rader ("Radir" is the current day wheel Co. making this style of wheel) that may have been made for a Dept. store or large mail order speed supply (Almquist, Newhouse, etc.). You may need to seal the rivets or run tubes if they're leakers...
Yes, I will agree that the no name wheel deffinately looks stronger. The wheel mounting surface is a solid ring as well as the extra ribs.
This may be a stupid question, but is it ok to run tubes with a late model radial tire? I once had to tow a car long distance on a car dolly and was forced to put tubes and radials together with an old rusty wheel, and the tire blew out just hrs down the road..
I am a fan of the single center rib ones, and there are different names on those. I also had a tri-rib with no markings, that did not use those spriral rivets. I have had ribbed ones marked M/T, as well as one odd named one that I can go look at. Some wheels had just the rivet, but some used a flat washer under the rivet. All the riveted centers were made thicker out at the rivet area, so that the spokes could be machined for 14 as well as 15 Edit; there are or used to be, tubes made for radials. I would blast the rust off at the bead seats, then smooth them out, also blast & put sealer around the rivet heads if those are rusty. Some truck shops had a black grease that was made to use on beads, that prevents rust and is supposed to seal good.
Thank you F&J I went to take one more look at the no name wheel. There are two markings on the inside of one spoke. There is an upper case C with a P inside of it, if you can picture what I mean. And the number 110. I also found on the inside of the barrel someone had engraved 7/65 B 2. Whatever that is supposed to mean. I assume the year, but what the B 2 means I have no idea.
Those markings could very well be just foundry markings to identify the company and when and type of material that was poured.
I just bought a set of 4 that are almost identical to yours, except mine are 14 x 6, with a Chevy bolt pattern. The backside are the same as yours. Two of mine have Sears Roebuck cast into them, and two do not. The slight difference in offset matches up, too. I bought mine from the original owner. He bought two of them from Sears in 1964, when he was a Senior in High School. His parents bought the other two from Sears as a graduation present. They only have about 1 year of driving time on a 57 Chevy and a 59 Vette. After graduating in 1964, he was drafted and went to Vietnam. As a result he sold his cars and stored the wheels in his mom's basement for the next 50 years. The seller remembered all four of them as being Mickey Thompson wheels. If you have leaks around the rivets try painting them on the inside, around the rivets, with Red Kote gas tank sealer. I used this on a set of 1950's era chrome reverse wheels that leaked around the old rivet holes. So far, the problem has been solved.
This is one of my 14" Raders. Only one was marked Sears and Roebuck on the back but they both have the center rib down the back side of the spokes. The centers were bare and the rims were flat black when I got them so I just painted them silver.
I inherited my grandads 66 mustang gt. I grew up in this car and it had the same wheels since the car was new. They had a smooth concave 3 leg screw on spinner centercap. Ol dad said they were mickey thompsons. As I got older and went to restore the car I found sears & roebuck stamped on the back. Dad used radials with tubes as they are a 2 piece wheel. I believe the new radials may have to be compatible with tubes. I hope this helps. I am thinking of restoring these wheels to put back on grandads car. He is no longer with us but his car will live on.
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