steel wheels of the period when used in competition with high side loads in
cornering tended to flex around the bolt circle or just outside it resulting
in catastrophic failure. (my father has an 8mm movie from his dash mounted
camera of him loosing a wheel at reading pa's duryea hillclimb in a saab
sedan , due to a failure of a steel wheel on the front /with front wheel
drive, that was the early 60's) the wire wheels while giving better brake
cooling did not have the rigid mount as in the steel wheels bolt circle
area. this allowed flexing and the flexing was controlled by the wire spoke
diameter and number of spokes making up a wheel. competition wire wheels
usually have more spokes that street wheels do, and are constructed with
heavier spokes. a fine line exists between gauge of wheel center and rim
steel and how many spokes it can handle before you run out of suficient
material between holes for spokes for suport of each spoke. that is up to
the design guys! we just take advantage of their research and development.
chuck.
btw, there were also knock off steel and alloy wheels. knock off type
wheels were not "just" wire type wheels. and as in many cases yes proper
maintance will give superior service, and even extended service. this does
not just apply to wire wheels..............c. :)
----- Original Message -----
From Steven Fooshee <sfooshee at home.com>
To: spridgets team <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2000 2:46 PM
Subject: Re: wire wheels
> "Jeffrey H. Boatright" wrote:
> >
> > Chuck,
> >
> > As I wrote, YMMV. I assume you started with new wire wheels and then
> > properly maintained them, checking for equal spoke tension, etc. From
> > what I've read, if wire wheels are always kept up, they can last for
> > decades of even daily use. I also assume that you hit few potholes on
> > the track. However, I think that for someone who has acquired a used
> > set for free, and may plans to use them on less-than-track-condition
> > streets, the experience may be different.
> >
> > As for why they were used so long, I think that there are many
> > reasons. From what I've read, wire wheels for a long time were much
> > lighter than steel wheels. They also had a reputation for allowing
> > better brake cooling. I think it was Phil Hill (could be wrong here)
> > who chastised Enzo Ferrari for staying with wire wheels much longer
> > than others had. His chief complaint was that they flexed more than
> > steel or alloy wheels. Of course, Enzo's response was basically "What
> > are you complaining about? You won a lot of races with them, didn't
> > you?
> >
>
> My understanding is that wire wheels were stronger than that period steel
> wheels until Chapman decided to put contour to the wheels to give them
some
> definition. Circa Lotus 23, I think, and it took time for others to adopt
it.
> > --
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
> > Assistant Professor, Emory Eye Center, Atlanta, GA
> > Senior Editor, Molecular Vision
> > <http://www.molvis.org/molvis>
> > <mailto: jboatri@emory.edu>
>
>
> --
> ~
> '87 RX-7 TII: 1308 cc, ~230 bhp, 176 bhp/l.
> '90 GS-500E: 487 cc, ~40 bhp, 82 bhp/l.
> MCMLXIX Sprite: 1275 cc, ~54 bhp, 42 bhp/l.
> 3070 cc, 324 bhp, still over 100 bhp/l average.
> ~
|