It has been a while sense my last post, but I am back now! I have been driving my 26 Speedsteer for a while now and it is time to give it a facelift. The wire wheels on it a different color on front and back and they have some bent spokes. It there an easy way to get the spokes stright? Does anyone know a vender that can strighten the spokes and "true" the wheels? I plan on getting the wheels blasted and repainted. Any experence with powder coating on wire wheels?

Buy these tools from Bill Stipe and its so easy to straighten wire wheel welded spokes on the T wheels.





Simply apply at the bent spoke and use the two offsetting bolts to wrench the spoke by pushing, or pulling with the other tool to get the spoke straight.

www.stipemachine.com

Powder coating is the only way to go on Ford wire wheels!

I recently had my wheels powdercoated and found out there is a HUGE price range. Shop around and ask any street rodders you know. I got quotes from $31 to $140 per wheel and went with the $31 guy and love the result. Check also with any tire stores in your area. Good luck, Don.

Larry,
Vendors sell a tool for straightening spokes but they are very easy to straighten with out special tools. Just find what ever shape of heavy straight edge or drift needed and tap till straight.


For truing, this thread should be of interest:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50893/74752.html

Jim

Found the powder coating will tend to crack under/around the lug nuts.

Even more than a paint job, 90% of the work - and the value - is in the preparation, which you don't see unless you're there watching.

Make sure that they do not powder coat the inside of the wheels where they meet the hubs and if they do, grind it off in that area. If you don't it will be hard to install the wheels and even harder to remove them.

Larry, I have a Simplex wire wheel at Dayton Wire Wheel right now, and I'm waiting for the finished result. They measure everything, disassemble the wheel, true-up the rim (both ways; roundness, and flatness) make and install new spokes and nipples, re-assemble, and check everything again for trueness and make any adjustments needed. If you want paint or plating, they'll do that also for extra $. They do not powder-coat. There are several levels of service they offer, and you can get contact info for them on their website.

But model T factory type wire wheels are the proverbial "piece of cake" compared to Dayton or other adjustable spoke wire wheels. That is unless they are badly tweaked or bent. If that is the case, both types are equally miserable.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2

David, my friend has a set of simplex wires on his speedster. Great wheel but the engineer that designed them must have had a sense of humor to call them simplex as they are anything but.

Larry, most spokes can be bent back into place with a hammer and a drift, simply by applying some blows at the bend to push it back out. Occasionally there will be a sharp bend and maybee some stretching of the spoke, and tapping it out will not work. Then you need red heat at the bend as you tap on the drift, so that the spoke is able to be shrunk in its length. This takes a little practice.

Hope this helps.

Allan from down under.

I'm happy I sold my Simplex wheeels before I restored them

Mike - Yep, know what you mean. Dayton Wire Wheel had to fabricate a special wrench to get the lock ring off before they could get to the inside of the wheel hub where the spokes terminate. But I love the way they look on the car...