Dino Saga 080525 _ Wheel is Back

Dino Saga 080525 _ Wheel is Back

Got the call Friday morning so drove down to Newberry Park Friday afternoon. Alan was not there but the wheel was and it looked pretty good. Front had been polished to a mirror finish which was a little much but I can get an idea of what polish looks like. Everyone who works on the car wants to polish the wheels. This time they did. But outer rim was not the problem. I wanted to see what they did to the inner rim. Turned out to be a lot.

When I brought the wheel down to Wheel Concepts there were dents all over the inside of the rim and it was out of round and off center. I had welded up a big crack. Four 6 mm bolts had broken centered on my weld. Inner clamping flange was warped. Pitiful looking but I couldn’t see any more cracks. After working out the dents and pushing things toward round they found cracks running circumferentially out near the bead seating area. That could explain the stress concentrations. Got the TIG welder involved and he pulled things together in addition to filling various divots. Once the welder was done, back to getting round and concentric. Just a little pushing here and there. The 3 parts went back together with an aluminum compatible silicone rubber and 16 high strength bolts. They went up one size to 7 mm and used 12 point flanged head bolts. Nuts are also flanged head. Bolts are chromed so will be no rust. All three aluminum parts are dead soft, probably Al 6000.

My rear tires were close to being done before the blowout. About 25,000 miles out of a predicted 30,000. Decided that things looked good enough to invest in a new set of rear tires so wandered over to Dal Pozo Tire in Goleta. These are the guys that have been only charging me every other time when I have them pull the tire again. Had Kumhos on for the past 4-5 years but didn’t like them as well as the Falkens or Yokohamas. Decided on Falken 452 this time, 225/50 R 16 asymmetric. Should be in town by Tuesday so maybe I will have a whole car again by Wednesday. Quote was $250 for the pair, mounted, balanced and out the door. Sounded good compared the Coker prices that folks bandy about.

Sure will be nice to get rid of that little twitchyness caused by the high profile spare. Front and rear of the car have to have balanced stiffness in side sway. Doesn’t matter which one is off. Car doesn’t like any significant difference at all. One of the neatest things about driving the Dino is setting up for a freeway turnoff a half mile out and watching the car curve right down the middle of the exit lane without moving the wheel at all. Almost magic. Miss it.

Only a few pictures. Slowly getting there.

John
.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login