Hi folks, I have searched through threads trying to avoid this. I have a '32 Coupe. The paint and interior were done in 1958. When I got it, the chassis had been modernized with discs and coilovers, which I am ok with. The problem for me is the wheels. It came with O/E style chrome wheels. When I went to get them balanced, the one wheel was so out of round that we thought it was bent. I bought another from Speedway and it was almost as bad. I want to keep the late 50s theme and not get tire shake at 50mph!. I have a line on an early set of torq thrusts that moves me up to the early 60s. Not quite what I am after. I am asking for help in determining who sells an actual steel wheel that is true and round. If there is another thread that you are aware of that answers this, please send me the link and I will go have a peek. Thanks so much.
Nice coupe! I have wheel vintiques series 64 on the back of my truck. Only just got it moving, but don’t seem to have a problem with them. As far as I know they are the only company doing a true chrome steelie and not a smoothie.
First off beautiful car and I agree I wouldn't want to change it either. Now my first question is have you used this shop before ? I've seen guys mount tires to balance machines and the runout was user induced not actually the wheel. If it were me, I'd jack up the rear axle, get both rear tires off of the ground, then I take a can, any can will about do, spray paint can etc. As long as the can is just a little taller than the bottom edge of the rim. I then take a long blade screwdriver, lay it across the can, move the can and screwdriver close to the wheel with the tip of the screwdriver about an 1/8" away from the rim edge and spin the wheel. Watch for runout. Once done I write down what I find on the rear wheels. Then I go to the front, jack it up and do both front wheels. Then write those numbers down, add to my notes on the car. Ive done this for years for several reasons at work. Cars that have been in accidents, slid into curbs, and even many times because a customer said they had a vibration and tire shop said it was the wheel. Buddy of mine went thru this exact thing, went to a shop he had used often. We checked the new wheels and found all of them to be within an 1/8". Told him what we found so he takes it back to the above shop 2 more times, same thing, comes back to us and says we must have missed something, boss tells him we will take it to our preferred tire shop and if the wheels won't balance we'll pay for it all. We do and our preferred shop said nothing wrong with wheels, breaks 2 of them down, spins the tires 180° on the rims, they balance perfect and customer is ecstatic on how well it drives above 50 mph, said glass smooth to 100... ....
I love the chrome steelies and would not change a thing. You might be able to have a set built to specs for you and the chances of them being out of balance or round are slim to none.
I'll agree with Lostone, it's far more likely that it's a tire problem rather than a wheel problem. It appears you may have a set of Coker reproduction Firestone tires, they have a bit of a reputation for balance/out of round issues like this. As to the wheels, those 'smoothie style' wheels you have appeared in the '80s and aren't really a 'traditional wheel'. In fact, chrome steel wheels were rarities up until the early '60s as no one was commercially making them until then. The ones you did see were usually owner/builder built by knocking the centers out of a set of OEM wheels, chroming the bits then reassembling them, usually reversing them. Trim rings/hubcaps or full wheel covers on painted wheels were far more common in the '50s. There's only two manufacturers making 'traditional' vented center chrome wheels. Wheel Vintiques has their series 64 mentioned in post 2. These have the mid '50s/'60s style centers like what you have only vented. Wheelsmith make some also (again, vented), but theirs have a '40s style center and would be the more likely type found on an early Ford. And truthfully, not even these are totally accurate. Virtually all the steel wheel manufacturers use disc brake rims to construct their wheels, a real reversed wheel from 'back in the day' looked considerably different... ... but unfortunately, won't clear disc brakes. Plus the difficulty in even finding a vintage set in good enough condition to build.
I was thinking wheel smith as they are very well maid, if you want to change it up and stay fifties some full wheel covers like 55 or 56 Fairlane would be cool.
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