Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

I have often thought about this because there are more wire wheeled classics on the road today than there were in the 1960s and 1970s pro rata.

A case in point is a Jaguar Mark 2. Have a look at the comparison here :





A steel wheeled Mark 2 in my view looks a dignified saloon but do wire wheels add a "caddish" aspect to it? There are more wire wheeled Mark 2s to be seen now than steel wheeled ones, the same applies to "S" types and 420s/Sovereigns.
I only ever saw one of these - A Rover 2000 with wire wheels although Prince Charles once owned one.



Whereas I saw quite a few of these :



I think the Triumph suits wire wheels but I'm not so sure about the Rover.
Here's one car that looks superb on wires :



I always thought a Triumph Spitfire looked better on wires than a Midget/AH Sprite :



I could continue with the MGB, I rather liked the Rostyle style of the later models.

What are your opinions?
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[kevin2306]

Steel wheels every time for me Ellis

Kev

[Ellis]

[ukdave2002]

From an aesthetic perspective I prefer wire wheels, but only on the right car! They just don't look right on later cars IMHO wire wheels look good on an MGA but don't suit an MGB.

From a practical perspective steel wheels would win; they don't flex like wire wheel do and require a lot less maintenance, but hey, do we run old cars for practical reasons?

Dave

[alastairq]

....plus, there's the issue of splined hubs wearing , perhaps prematurely?

Wire wheels look good on many cars [Triumph Vitesse for one, IMHO]....and rubbish on others.
They are fine whilst clean & in good fettle.....but a nightmare if not.

My Sprite [back around 1970] had wires..also came with a full set of Pierce Magna alloys [centre knock-on]..which I sold on as superfluous.

What I do dislike, associated with wires, is the change to a nut-shaped spinner, instead of the ones with ears.

Also the need to carry a Thor, or hide, hammer?
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Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
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Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.

[Ray White]

I think it depends on what image the car portrays. A sports car will carry off the wire wheel look better than a staid saloon car. A Rover P4, for example would simply look wrong with wires but an MG TC looks spot on.

There are always border line examples and I would place the Mk2 Jag in that area. The image Jaguar wanted to give was a combination of "grace, pace and space" as they put it. The bigger Jags, however, would not look good; imagine a mark 10 on wires! Horrible.

[Ellis]

[kevin2306]

[Ashley]

My Healey looks right on wires but my TR3 didn’t so I switched to steel. I never thought Jags benefitted from wires.

[Rick]

Painted wheels on a Mk2 look fine to me, I'm not keen on chrome wires at all though. Body colour wires on a BRG Mk2 or Mk1 look great IMO.

Bolt-on wires never look good IMO.

RJ
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[badhuis]

[Bitumen Boy]

I would always prefer steel wheels over wires (or indeed alloys) any day. Steel wheels are such a doddle to refinish at home that they're always going to look good to me - if something looks like a PITA to maintain I pretty well automatically don't like its appearance, I guess I'm just lazy...

[Ashley]

Wire wheels are easy to clean, just squirt them with proprietary cleaner, leave for a few minutes and rinse off with water and a soft brush.

[peter scott]

I like the look of them but I'm for ever breaking spokes and I do find them a pain to clean. You are also forced to use tubed tyres.

Peter


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http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Ellis]