My 1991 Eunos came to me with a set of wire wheels, so far I’ve read that these were an option only available in Japan, and so far I’ve still never seen another wearing these wheels!
As much as I love them, they’re far from perfect and are showing a few battle scars, dents and surface rust, and just recently I noticed one spoke is loose. It moves in and outwards, from the rim so I believe it’s sheared or rusted through at the threaded section.
my questions are:
-Is this an immediate safety issue, and will it affect the neighboring spokes ?
-Does anyone know if I can get a single spoke repaired, or where I can get individual pre-bent spokes to fit myself?
The local wheel refurbishment specialist reckoned he couldnt fix it himself, but that it would be circa £100 to fix, and suggested it a better idea to jsut buy a used set of alloys.
These MX5 wire wheels do look good but they are not very practical. Being heavy weight and quite fragile really means they are only of use for show.
One spoke out should not be an immediate worry but if as you say they are all on the point of snapping, the overall wheel situation may be unsafe. I Would speak to a specialist wire wheel refurb company rather than an alloy wheel refurbishers - take a look at this…
Given your situation I would probably get an appropriate set of MX5 alloys and sell the wire wheels. A good set would be worth £3 - 400, so a rough set maybe £150 - 200.
I think the same wheels could be had from Moss US, and were available through Moss UK for a while.
These had a reputation for being heavy; ther are a few of these about. I would think right now the wheel is in a dangerous state. I’m sure a specialist could be found to effect the repairs, but these wheels are probably 25 years old, and they might say the entire set needs rebuilding, including stripping and rechroming. new wheels sounds like a better bet.
I’m a lover of wire wheels, but they are part of history now. Nostalgia has it’s place- in the mind, but not on a modern car, despite age of some, an MX5 was still designed and built in a modern age.
While I agree with what others have said, but best course of action is to remove the wheels - and adaptors, and buy a good set of alloy ones instead - you have quite a choice, and some wheels still retain that wire wheel look, though I can’t suggest one type at this point.
An alloy wheel gives you a lighter solution of unsprung weight (essential for better handling) more strength and stability and overall - a much better handling and drive-able car.
Never had wheel ‘shimmy’ on the MGB, even at 70+ mph, but they weren’t made for tubeless tyres, another consideration.
Serious question: how long does it take to clean wire wheels?
I tend to shy away even from multi-spoke and otherwise complicated alloys simply because I find cleaning them so onerous. Genuine wire spoked wheels must take forever - and presumably need chrome polish and whatever to get really sparkling.
We used to have a wheel builder in Yeovil he was an old hand and people used to travel miles to have him work on or build spoked wheels I once had him put some chrome rims on a Yamaha XS650 they suited the bike much more than the alloy rims.
I have been looking for wire wheels for my mk2 for a while just too expensive. But I think they Look great. Yes a lot of cleaning and a bit of maintenance sometimes.
If your thinking of selling them I might be interested.
You could be right. My “fear” of complicated wheels is probably a result of having a car with these on it:
Great looking wheels for the time but lots of little nooks and crannies to trap brake dust, black paint edges up against diamond-cut spokes to peel off and polished and lacquered rims to get blistered and pitted. Cleaning took ages and once they started deteriorating, they went downhill pretty quickly.
A thin slip or wedge of metal, wood, etc., for driving into crevices, as between machine parts to compensate for wear, or beneath bedplates …
Bonnie Scoatlund?
Shakin’ aboot a bit pal awrite?
As explained in Wiki:
A shimmy is a dance move in which the body is held still, except for the shoulders, which are quickly alternated back and forth. When the right shoulder goes back …
I knew what you were meant:-) - they basically upset the fine balance of low bhp, performance and handling that is the MX5 - look good on a stand or in a picture though.
The spokes work in pairs to suspend the hub and carry the weight. So if one has gone its parallel mate will be taking twice as much load and will follow soon after.
As a biker in the 1960s I was all too aware of the spokes continually breaking on the rear (drive) wheel. It usually happened when hitting a bump at full power, and the bike always felt a bit unsafe almost immediately. Just replacing the broken spoke was a stop gap to pass the MOT. Depending on design there could be eight or sixteen different head angles and lengths of spoke on a given wheel. Nightmare. Only a complete rebuild (by an expert) lasted any time. If I had been offered alloys I’d have grabbed them with both hands.
The spokes on a car wheel are much, much thicker, and in theory should last a lot longer, so if one is loose then it is probably an age thing and the rest will soon be working loose as well. Most likely they ALL need to be either rebuilt or replaced, definitely don’t expect to push the car to its limits with them as they are now.
Hi Everyone, I’ve just got round to replying, so sorry for the delay-
Thanks for everyones answers!
I’ve decided to play it safe (partly due to my girlfriends, and my fathers insistence) and I’ve bought a set of minilites that I’ll put on for now.
A number of people (on here and in person) have actually told me about the flex and shimmying effect of wire wheels, and I must admit, given it’s my first mx5, and first car with wire wheels, that I hadn’t noticed until I was told about it… now I can’t un-notice!
I’ll keep the minilites on it for now, because summer’s too short to put your mx5 on bricks while the wheels get rebuilt! and I’ll have the wires looked at over the winter.
General consensus is that I’ll find the handling improves and might not want to return to the wires, so if I decide to sell, I’ll post them on here!
