Howdy!
> What does it cost to have a wire wheel trued? Where would I get it
> done? Is it worth the expense, or ???
I have looked into having my MGB wires retrued. I concluded that it basically
wasn't worth it. Most of the shops that I talked to would not really even try
to actually true the wheels - they would just cut out the old spokes and relace
it up from scratch. Their reasoning is that it was more time-effective this way
rather than dealing with rusted/rounded-off spokes. They would only try tuning
the wheels if they were new (no winters!). The expense of relacing the wheels
varied from $75 - $90 per wheel which is most of the cost of new ones.
I ended up getting some new 70-spoke 5.5" wires - delivered to my door for
$150/each. These are the ones described in the MGB Special Tuning manual. Other
than looking great, these allow me to put 185/14 rubber (Eagle GT) on this
wider rim. It is possible to put this wide of tire on the stock 4.5" rims but
the tire is significantly distorted. I have a friend who tried to put 195/14's
on a 'B but it scuffed too badly to be practical. I'm quite happy with the
setup and I can really FEEL the difference when I drive my other 'B with the
stock wheels/tires.
As far as current availability .... I had MG Parts Center locate these for me
in England a couple of years ago - there might be some left. I have since been
told by a friend that he got a set to the same design made up at a reasonable
cost by that big wheel shop/dealer in the mid-west whose name now escapes me.
Even though wires are nice - and not as much trouble to maintain as some may
say - they are very hard to keep in true. I would recommend that a owner of a
net set of wires run them for a month to get everything load-stressed and then
have them trued/balanced before the rains begin. For "serious" competition or
abuse don't get wire wheels.
*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
John Sanders
sanders@iris.ucdavis.edu "Fast women, fast cars, and fast computers"
916-752-6349
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