44 replies to this topic

[Rob]

At the end of the day you are trying to prove a point that you dont really know the answer to.You cant garantee they are alloy and I cant garantee they are steel but they certainly look very different from the usual alloy type wheel. I have no problem being proved wrong.

You still havent come up with a good example of a bolted steel wheel and rivets are not close enough.

[Dan]

That's because no-one makes a modular steel wheel. That's because steel wheels are welded. And that's because they are made of flat pressings. And that's because you would have to be insane to cast a three dimensional wheel out of steel. It would weigh loads, take ages to cast and to cool, have a horrible surface texture, and be very expensive to machine.

What Siggy is trying to say is that he knows it is a one piece wheel because it has no bolts on it. If you can't see anything holding it together then it is one piece. Simple. He is not saying that there are steel wheels held together with bolts. He is saying that modular wheels are held together with bolts, and that means that this wheel isn't modular.

I guarantee you that these wheels are chromed alloys.

Please prove me wrong. I would love to be proved wrong.

**EDIT**

Haha, LOL. Guess what. I think I've proved myself wrong.

I stand by everything I said above, only a mentalist would want to cast a wheel in steel. And I still agree with Siggy about modular split rims and stuff.

BUT. I have now seen the magazine and the better quality photos. Seeing these wheels in bigger better pictures they don't appear to be as chunky or three dimensional as I first thought. They are actually quite flat, most of the apparant curvature in the surface seems to be a trick of the light due to the chrome, or chrome pooling around the spoke ends. And looking at the rim bead, especially around the wheel weight you can clearly see some nasty-looking-sheet-metalyness going on. So they could well be two piece pressed & welded steel rims.
But they definitely aren't Minilifes. Sorry, I apologise for that.
If they are steel though I don't think I'd like to use them in anger. I can't imagine they are very strong around the centre where the spokes join the flange. And they would probably bend quite easily in the rim between the spokes.

[siggy]

I saw a couple of cars at the IMM with same or similar wheels and they were alloys

Siggy

[Rob]

Cheers Dan im not the only one then!! Im not sure about them being weak though as they recieve the thick end of 157 bhp all the time!

[bluebottle]

not really that relevant to the wheels in question, but i've seen wheels with a steel centre, and a rivetted alloy rim, black centres, with a nice polished rim.

[Bluemini]

They are either Minilites or Superlites. I have seen them in the mag the last couple of editions, they are just chromed. Bout £900 a set with tyres too!!

[bluebottle]

also if you want to be really picky, a lot commercial vehicles have modular steel wheels, also a lot of trailer type wheels are bolted together steel wheels.

[redmini]

:wales: I spoke to Andy Bamford (the owner of the blue clubby) st Stanford Hall and commented on how nice his wheels were, he said he'd had them for years and got them re-drilled and cromed up. He wasn't sure what they were off originally but it wasn't a mini.

[redmini]

:wales: Just remembered too, he said he'd spent over £30.000 building it and he was thinking of selling it for about £18.000.

[Rob]

:wales: I spoke to Andy Bamford (the owner of the blue clubby) st Stanford Hall and commented on how nice his wheels were, he said he'd had them for years and got them re-drilled and cromed up. He wasn't sure what they were off originally but it wasn't a mini.

Did he mention if they were steel or alloy?

[Sam]

They could well be steel y'know!

Attached is a Capri from another forum I am on. They are minilite style, chrome and STEEL!

Unsure of the make, I will ask the chap soon.

But, they are steel!

Attached Files

•  capri1.jpe   0bytes   14 downloads

[redmini]

:wales: yes I did ask, all you who were positive they're alloy are ...........................................................................WRONG!!!
They are definately STEEL, I seem to recall Andy saying they used to be used on ford pops and cars from around that era so they are old rims.

[Rob]

Thanks for that everyone whos helped. I now know where to look.

Never mind siggy.

[Alburglar]

ooh dear glad I missed this one because I would've been just as adament that they must be alloy. The spokes look rounded.

[siggy]

I was sround in the early days and all the steel spoked wheels had flat spokes NOT curved.

When you buy a set then, and only them am I wrong

Siggy