WHEEL RIGHT
Got a problem?
SEND YOUR EMAILS TO: uniquecars@bauertrader.com.au or via snail mail at Unique Cars, Locked Bag 12, Oakleigh, 3166. Yep, he’s gonna fix you up in no time…
Righto, ladies, gentlemen, bald-headed babies, and tax-dodgers, let’s talk wheels.
I’ve been sent a very tidy old Valiant to work on and, while it’s beautiful, once I took a close look I would not ride in it. Not if I planned to stay healthy, which I do.
The reason was it had a beautiful set of replica Minilite wheels which were ready to come off the first time someone threw it into a corner with any enthusiasm. They simply didn’t have enough thread on the studs for a proper tapered set of nuts, and the conventional nuts that had been used were chewing into the alloy surrounding the stud holes. While they might have felt tight when fitted, they weren’t staying that way. Literally a recipe for disaster.
That conical shape on the end of a wheel nut is known as a Morse taper, and that’s what locks in the wheel, not the thread. You need correct engagement of that taper
It wasn’t the owner’s fault. He wasn’t to know. Whoever sold and fitted the wheels should have known better. The wheels might have had the correct stud pattern, but the offsets were
