Factory wheels not round

[pdp8]

In refurbishing some 12" factory wheels, I was pretty impressed at how not-round they were.  Out of four thus far a fairly typical example has 1/8" of wobble, .050" of runout, and needed .5oz on the bare wheel to balance.  The steel on these is pretty thin and the older tire machines weren't very kind to these little wheels, just something to check when you mount new tires.  I've personally bent a couple 13" wheels with a manual setup before I got an over-arm machine and the 13" wheels are *much* heavier than the 12" so I can only imagine those must be easy to bend.

Some of the fancy shops will look at the wheel or at least the completed assembly and let you know if it's not round but for most shops, if they can get it to balance they just call it good.

I've had good luck with a hydraulic press and some blocks to straighten wheels in the past so I think I'll give one a shot and see how close I come.

 

Oh, FWIW: Factoy 12" wheel 10.4Lbs, 13" 15.2Lbs, and the lightest 12" tires I've found so far are some Douglas Xtra-trac at just 8.3Lbs each!

It's impressive how easy it is to add a lot of unsprung weight to these little cars in search of a better look.

Edited November 29, 2019 by pdp8