My Jaguar has chrome wire wheels. One spoke broke. I took
it to the local wire wheel tuner to have it repaired and
tuned. By the time I paid him for his time, and the
necessary spokes (not just the broken ones need to be
replaced) I spent $225. So you decide, buy new, or have the
old one trued?
The wheels on my Jag are NLA so my choice was to buy a whole
set ($$$$), or fix the broken one.
When I bought a set of spline drive chrome wires for my MG
(about 2 years ago) I paid about $1000 for a set of four.
So you can do the math.
Larry Hoy
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-mgs@autox.team.net
> [mailto:owner-mgs@autox.team.net]On
> Behalf Of Max Heim
> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 3:41 PM
> To: Dodd, Kelvin; MG List
> Subject: RE: sills and wheels
>
>
> Yeah, but what about chrome wheels? Moss charges
> $110 *more* apiece for
> them. That price difference ought to provide the
> rebuilder some profit
> margin, even if they can't make money on painted
> wheels. Heck, they even
> save three steps -- stripping, undercoating, and
> painting -- they ought
> to charge *less* for rebuilding.
>
> Or to put it another way, let's admit you can't
> rebuild a painted wire
> wheel profitably for less (or significantly less,
> since a "new" wheel has
> a perceived additional value) than the $160 price
> of a new wheel (I'm
> using a standard B wheel for comparison). But
> with a chrome wheel, the
> rebuilder saves 3 steps and some materials
> (primer, paint), and the price
> they have to undercut is now up to $270. There's
> gotta be some profit
> margin at that price.
>
> As I said, I did just get 2 chrome wheels done,
> albeit by buying two
> tires at the same time. But there were no
> guarantees they'd do it again
> (and I have two broken spokes... sigh).
>
> I suspect it has just as much to do with
> vanishing craftsmanship and
> liability issues (IMHO). After all, motorcycle
> and bicycle wheels are
> still being trued, as far as I know.
>
>
> Dodd, Kelvin had this to say:
>
> >Hmmm..
> >
> > Sit at a bench and true rusty wheels for
> $3.00 per hour for penny
> >pinching, declining market sports car owners, or
> take early retirement and
> >see the grandkids.
> >
> > To true a wheel properly requires stripping
> the wheel of paint and
> >grease. Careful inspection of the splines.
> Cutting out any seized spokes.
> >Replacing all damaged spokes. Setting the wheel
> on a jig and artistically
> >adjusting the spokes till the tensions are
> correct and the wheel runs true.
> >Then the wheel is undercoated and painted with a
> highly durable paint.
> >
> > At this time there is no way that the job
> can be done correctly on
> >demand, and be competitive with the price of
> newly fabricated wheels. This
> >is an indication of how highly competitive the
> British Car Market in America
> >is.
> >
> > The Australian market still seems to have
> the available labor and
> >demand to make rebuilding feasible. I sent 50
> of my used wheels over there,
> >rather than having to junk them. I got $4.00
> apiece which was what I
> >figured the value of a used wheel discounted by
> how many times I had moved
> >them.
> >
> >Kelvin.
> >
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Max Heim [mailto:mvheim@studiolimage.com]
> >> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 10:41 AM
> >> To: MG List
> >> Subject: Re: sills and wheels
> >>
> >>
> >> Hmmm, Rick and Tim may be calling attention to
> a widespread problem...
> >>
> >> My former source, British Wire Wheel of Santa
> Cruz, CA, has
> >> apparently
> >> ceased servicing wire wheels, as its costs had
> increased to the point
> >> that they compared unfavorably with purchasing
> a new wheel. I
> >> found this
> >> out earlier this year when I attempted to have
> a pair of wheels trued
> >> through my local shop, O'Connor Classics. But
> seeing as I had chrome
> >> wires (which would have been more expensive to
> replace), Mike
> >> convinced
> >> them to replace the broken spokes and true
> them while mounting 2 new
> >> tires.
> >>
> >> I must say that the economics of this
> situation seem very wasteful. I
> >> mean, how many hubs and rims will pile up if
> no one will rebuild wire
> >> wheels, and everyone has to buy new every 5-10 years?
> >>
> >> I would think that the continued demand for
> servicing would create an
> >> opportunity for local specialists -- but
> where are they?....
> >>
> >> Tim Economu had this to say:
> >>
> >> >Speaking of truing wheels, is there a place
> around Seattle
> >> that can do this
> >> >for my chrome wires?
> >> >
> >> >Tim Economu
> >> >'69 BGT mona
> >> >
> >> >>>>
> >> >------------------------------
> >> >
> >> >Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 19:27:22 EDT
> >> >From: Rhbuxton@aol.com
> >> >Subject: sills and wheels
> >> >
> >> >Hi All
> >> >I live on the east coast of the US near
> Washington D.C.
> >> Does anyone know of
> >> >a good place to have wire wheels trued near
> me? Also,
> >> where is the best
> >> >place to buy sills and floor pans?
> >> >TIA
> >> >Rick
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >>
> >> ===============================
> >> Max Heim
> >> mvheim@studiolimage.com
> >> Studio L'Image/San Francisco
> >> 415 643 9309 : 415 643 9307 fax
> >> Studio L'Image/New York
> >> 212 242 3366 : 212 242 3399 fax
> >>
> >
>
>
> --
>
> Max Heim
> '66 MGB GHN3L76149
> If you're near Mountain View, CA,
> it's the red one with the silver bootlid.
>
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