. They were mostly for minis and escorts but were frowned upon.
Did anyone on here ever tried to widen a steel rim?
A.Staniforth talks about it in his book high speed low cost.It seems to be a procedure done by a lot of racers in the early days.
Can't figure if it was worth the hassle and money saving or was it done because there simply was no alternative?
A friend of me bought 15 inch steel widend rims.
They were cut in half and welded a part between the two halfes. I don't know who did this but i would like to know who can make wide rims.
That is illegal in the UK.
Adam
You used to be able to get them in the olden days . They were mostly for minis and escorts but were frowned upon.
We did that in South Africa on the Beach buggys. they dont balance very well and they are dangerous if not done right.
The trick was to roll a band of steel plate two or three inches wide. Turn the wheels on a capstan lathe and pair off the rim. Add the ring and weld
into place.
This is where the trouble started as the welding distorted the ring if not done right. Then the rust used to start on the welded area and was almost
imposible to stop(running on the beach was the biggest culprit) They worked but for sand running and slow road work not for raceing. Wide mags are so
cheap in this country why would you want to use this method in the first world. Third world dodge for a cheep way to bypass paying for imported
wheels....this is the first world.............nuff said
A friend of mine tried to get some banded wheels from Weller when they were in Tunbridge Wells.
He was told they were illegal, and that was in about 1980!!
ATB
Simon
In the early to mid seventies, banded wheels were all the rage. You could buy them from several outfits, but in rural N. Ireland, we all made our own.
Some I saw were disgraceful and downright dangerous looking.
I jigged mine and never had much of a run out problem.
My poor old Beetle had 15 inch wide braced rims on the back and looked so beautiful (well I thought so at the time!)
Cita, I presume you're enquiring about them for your hill climber? I would check with your local race sanctioning body, but I think you'll
find they are outlawed, even for closed circuit races.
Best bet is to purchase some rim halves and turn a centre to suit your hubs and offset. That way you can swap them about and have whatever width you
want at a reasonable price.
Thanks for the reply's guys but i have no intention to build such rims.I'm having trouble in cutting a straight edge on a 1 inch tube so
cutting a rim in halve would leave me two halves that never again can be matched
I just was curious how on earth you can line two halves up,weld a steel strap all around and still have rims that look reasonable.
Those guys in the old days must have been very skilled or their cojones where bigger than mine
I'm gonna stick to my cheap Mercedes alloy rims for the time being
Thanks.
Are those alloys 15"? They look emormous on your tiny single seater!
Adam
quote:
Originally posted by phelpsa
Are those alloys 15"? They look emormous on your tiny single seater!
Adam