New Zealand rims

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TWrenn
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New Zealand rims

Post by TWrenn » Wed May 22, 2019 10:07 am

A friend of mine is considering buying a new nondemountable rim, 30x3, from Universal Tire, who for now only
have 3 of these rims that are made in New Zealand. He learned of this through Steve at Langs. Long story short is the configuration of the rolled edge that holds the tire in place is a bit different than what we're accustomed to. So my question for him (he's not on the forum atm) is has anyone out there had any experience with these rims? Obviously in any problematic way? I know there's been some issues with older New Zealand tires and also a "Scat Crank wannabe" from New Zealand, but never heard about rims. Thanks for any input.

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A Whiteman
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Re: New Zealand rims

Post by A Whiteman » Wed May 22, 2019 4:32 pm

I have a set of 6 (never know, you may need an extra spare ;-) )

Very good high quality, rolled not spun. What that means is the thickness of the metal does not vary, so there are no 'thin spots' on the edge curves (when you look at the cross section). The profile is run through several passes of dollies that shrink the metal back after bending.

They are very closely matching a 'standard' Ford of Canada rim pattern and so they can look a little different to US rims. Even with Canadian rims there are variations of cross section depending on the original supplier, and I understand the same goes for US rims too? Why Canadian? because in New Zealand that is where our 'T's were supplied from and the business started out to supply rims to the local restoration market. (They make dozens of rim profiles for all sorts of cars and trucks to the old car hobby all over the world).

I was interested to learn they use beef fat in the rolling process to ensure the metal does not 'gall' and stick to the roller dollies as there is (apparently) no known man-made lubricant that works in the rolling process.

I had my rims hot galvanised dipped, much like the original process Henry used I believe.

My conclusion: very well made, very good 'dimensions' and 'solid' (and cost a lot less than having 'original' rims rebuilt).

Hope that helps,
Cheers Adrian


(ps - I would be reluctant to use any 'older' tyre. Given the length of time since Firestone shut down production in New Zealand I would be reluctant to use NZ tyres if I came across them, unless they had been well stored, as with time the rubber hardens and becomes difficult to fit. The cranks turned out good, and are fitted in the Dearborn museum cars. True, there were issues with castings to start with which I believe were resolved, but like any small company with limited resources, I am not sure they 'made it' through the tough patch (please correct me if anyone knows). By the way, there are a significant number of Model A parts made in New Zealand and sold through the vendors as well, many more than T parts).

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Topic author
TWrenn
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Re: New Zealand rims

Post by TWrenn » Wed May 22, 2019 5:00 pm

Thanks Adrian...I will pass this along.


Rollinford
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Re: New Zealand rims

Post by Rollinford » Thu May 23, 2019 5:33 pm

May I suggest the following supplier

https://www.vintagerimsaus.com

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TWrenn
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Re: New Zealand rims

Post by TWrenn » Fri May 24, 2019 5:41 pm

Dick..from what I was told they have something like a 6 month wait. Ouch!


tman12
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Re: New Zealand rims

Post by tman12 » Fri May 24, 2019 6:34 pm

I had a set of 25' rims made for my '19 Hudson - best supplier I could find- had to wait a few months for run - were great to work with - the rims are awesome & worth the wait!! Vintage Rims is the way to go! My Opinion John

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A Whiteman
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Re: New Zealand rims

Post by A Whiteman » Fri May 24, 2019 7:30 pm

To confuse things, the 'Vintage Rims' in Australia (are not the last rim maker like they claim) are not the same as 'Vintage Rims' in New Zealand, which in turn is not the same as the Vintage Rims company that makes the actual rims in New Zealand....

The actual rim maker in New Zealand does not have a web site and I don't believe they sell direct either, but you can try to get in touch with the New Zealand outfit by contacting the Vintage RIms company: https://www.vintagerims.co/#! as they share a building (but are not connected).

Cheers

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John E. Guitar
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Re: New Zealand rims

Post by John E. Guitar » Thu May 30, 2019 5:09 am

I bought a set of 25" lock ring rims for my Regal from Vintage Rims in New Zealand. They showed up today and are look very well made.

I was fortunate that Gary had a set in stock and I didn't have to wait for him to have a manufacturing run of these.

I think the 30x3 rims would be fine.

The web address on the invoice is: WWW.VINTAGERIMS.CO.NZ

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