Straightening wire wheels?

[jrbartlett]

Is it possible to straighten a mildly wobbly wire wheel that has riveted spokes -- not the screw-on nipples? Car is a 35 Auburn with 16-inch wheels. Anyone done this successfully?

[edinmass]

I bought 5 very nice wire wheels last year for very reasonable money. Call Curt, he will have something for you that will be very nice and less than the cost of trying to fix a bent wheel. Ed

[John_Mereness]

General speaking, most 1930' cars I have ever bought have two wobbly wheels in the sidemounts or as rear spare - seems to be a theme/thing.  We just figure out which 2 on the car are the best and they go up front.  And, if any one is particularly bad start searching.  But, to more exactly answer the question - you can fix some damage to rims (minor curb damage and ...), but you really cannot fix anything wobbly in a welded spoke wire wheel (and the Dayton Wire Wheel folks are friends and this is a question they are asked nearly every once a week and have tried unsuccessfully to design equipment and ... - it is that common of a problem).   Curt has helped me repeatedly with the issue regarding the Auburn 851/852's.

 

As a sidenote, I have seen some pretty wobbly tires - right out of the wrapper.   I am now running DiamondBacks on the 851  (a Toyo tire w/whitewall applied - and by the way the car gets compliment after compliment on its looks and the 800 miles this summer have been "dreamy") and the car being done for show has Goodyears  - the one with all the concentric rings on the whitewalls (a nice tire and have put them on several cars now). 

[edinmass]

We are also running the Goodyear’s.......they look great and have been fine after one was defect before we even went down the road. Photo of the car at Amelia in the featured Auburn class this year. We managed a first in class.?

Edited October 7, 2018 by edinmass (see edit history)