Wire wheels are not a pain as long you start with good ones, don't drive into
curbs & perform periodic maintenence.
If you get used wheels, they are only as good as their hubs. I suggest
purchasing new wheels if you can.
If you go driving into curbs or other low obstructions at angles, you can
pop the wheels out of true. If you have a good place to have them trued
nearby (I live near British Wire Wheels & recommend them highly (they do
mail order repair)) it takes a 10 days or more & costs $ to get them rebuilt.
Normal maintenence is easy. Every 6 months remove each wheel, clean the
old greese out of the hubs, regreese them & put the wheels back on. Use a
water proof grease. If you do not do this, the grease will eventually be
replaced with rust & you will be unable to remove the wheel from the hub.
Also, periodically take a hammer to your knockoffs to make sure they are
tight. A loose hub will destroy the hub splines (it can be cheaper to
buy a new wheel than to have the hub replaced). Also, if it gets lose
enough, it can come off taking your well greased wheel with it.
So maintenence takes an additional hour every six months & an extra 5 minutes
whenever you do a normal fluid check. I think it is a small price for
wire wheels.
TeriAnn
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