Rebuilding Wheels with Coker Manufactured Lock Rings & Rims

Does anyone have any experience or know of anyone that has had Coker rebuild their prewar wire wheels?

The have new rims & lock rings and use your original hub to rebuild the wheel.

http://www.cokertire.com/lock-ring-style-rims.html

I would like to rebuild a set of 18 wires that fit on a Reo Royale.

Give a call to Fred Belanger at Wheel Repair Service in Auburn, Mass., 317 Southbridge St, Auburn, MA 01501, <nobr>(508) 832-3222</nobr>. He repairs and rebuilds old wire wheels of all types. He isn't cheap but he does very good work. He mounted and balanced new tires for me on 4 custom wire wheels. Here's Fred and my wheels:

Don Sommer / American Arrow also does this type of work.

http://www.americanarrowcorp.com/

Guys, thanks for the input. I have had Dayton rebuild wheels before and they have done a good job too. The critical issue I'm dealing with are the lock rings. These are unobtainable. I have scrounged a set together but I'm interested to see if Coker has come up with something better (although obviously more expensive).

I talked to Don at Hershey and he is no longer making the lock rings as they are huge pain for a number of reasons. I can give Fred a call too.

IHAD cOKER MAKE DEMOUNTABLE RIMS FOR MY 1930 OAKLAND . IT HAS WOOD WHEELS ,THEY MADE NEW RIMS . DID A GOOD JOB THE SECOND TIME AROUND . tHE FIRST SET THEY MADE TOO SMALL AND HAD TO DO THEM AGAIN. I SENT THE WHOLE WHEEL THE SECOND TIME . THEY FIT !

Thanks for the feedback. Did the wheels balance out ok? Do they feel good at speed?

With the wire wheels, you send them your hubs (or entire wheel) and the rebuild the wheel with new spokes and their rim & snap ring.

Having spent a lot of time recently researching vintage wire wheels, I found Vintage Rims in New Zealand. I suspect that he is the supplier to many wheel companies around the world. He does make new lock ring rims in various diameters and widths. Send him an email and see if he can help. I have actually chatted with him on the phone. I think he likes the business of supplying rims in bulk to other wheel builders as opposed to the task of rebuilding a few old wheels. Maybe he can suggest one of his retail suppliers in the U.S. or he can tell you how much it would cost to ship some new rims to you. I wound up using 1-piece drop center rims to get around the issues associated with lock ring designs, like getting a tire shop to mount and balance tires.

http://vintagerims.com/Lock_Ring_Vintage_Rims.html

Gary, thanks for the suggestion. I will contact him.