the type of tire machine you are looking for is referred to as a rim clamp
machine. the machine has 2 types of pads for gripping the back side of the
rim . bevery carefull thatthey have the "SOFT" type of pads! the other
type of pads have a raised set of teeth that do a wonderfull job of gripping
steel rims but chew the living daylights out of chrome and alloy rims. now!
most customers could care less what the rear side of their rims look like.
but with the price of alloy wheels and high visibility through wire wheels
you had better inspect the tire machine and ask to see the surface of the
pads that grip the rear side of the rim! the machine we use for the
morgan'schrome wire wheels has the soft pads on it. no marks at all!
another thing to consider! some wire wheels have a larger than needed hole
for the valve stem to protrude through. this requires a small plastic
bushing to take upthe space and protect the valve stem from shearing where
it passes through the hole in the rim. and do not forget to check the
condition of the rim strip! the rubber band that covers the spoke end
nipples to protect the inner tube from chaffing! also 1 last wire wheel
item! make shure there are no stickers on the inner tubes or inside the new
tires! we have had a few flat tires on the race car last year and after it
was all said and done we found tiny stickers under 1/2" square that must be
date code stickers or something similar adhered to the inside of the tires.
the stickers must be buffed out to be removed.(they will not peel out due to
the nature of their adhesive they need to be "buffed" with an angle die
grinder with a scotch brite disc attached.) we found that the stickers
while staying mostly adhered to the inside of the tire still had a few edges
that through flexing started to lift and chaffed the tubes to the point of
failure. upon breaking down the tires a perfect negative imprint of the
sticker was found where the hole was made inthe tube.
just some wire wheel ramblings that may save others some problems or damage
down the road.....
chuck.
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