Fix wheels or replace them (with what)?

[schuetz1619]

My model 1971 euro tii has its original steel wheels with the original hubcaps (very good condition). This is how I've driven the car since I bought it 32 years and 102,000 miles ago. I just got new tires and learned at that time that two of the rims are sightly bent—enough so that there is light vibration from 55 to 65 mph, even after road-force balancing. 

 

I'd appreciate counsel on how to deal with this. I don't want to live with the vibration and I don't want to pass it on to a subsequent owner when I sell it in a few years. I have no experience with wheels for the 2002.

 

Is there value in having the original tii steel wheels? Should I try to get the original rims straightened and refinished? (Nowhere to get this done within 100 miles, as far as I've been able to determine.)

 

If I were to replace the wheels with aftermarket 13" units, might would be appropriate replacements that wouldn't break the bank?

 

Thanks for any ideas you might have.

Edited June 14, 2023 by schuetz1619

[Conserv]

So… in 32 years and 102,000 miles, you’ve never experienced this problem before the new tires? Was the problem diagnosed solely with the new tires mounted on the rims? Could the problem lay not with the rims but with the tires? What brand, model, and size are your new tires? Is the vibration in the front tires — you feel it through the steering wheel rather than through your seat? These “early” McPherson strut front suspensions are particularly susceptible to imbalances. I’ve said many times that, for 50 years, I have routinely needed to balance my ‘02s’ tires multiple times to eliminate all shimmies. With tires dismounted from rims, any wheel shop should be able to determine whether your vibration lies with the rim, or somewhere else!

 

But assuming the problem can be traced solely to the rims, I distinguish rims that (a.) do not run true, from those that (b.) have dents but run true. It sounds like you have two steel rims that do not run true — but you don’t use that term, and I may be reading my experience into your description.

 

Assuming one or both do not run true, my experience has been the following: First, relatively few wheel repair shops will deal with steel rims. I’ve had some success with truck wheel shops. But some local-ish (to me) wheel repair shops, e.g., the Wheel Collision Center in Bath, PA, will work on steel rims. And not everyone who works on steel rims advertises it, as it’s a small market.

 

Second, my experience with out-of-true steel rims is that few can be successfully made true. They’re much harder to re-shape than alloy rims. You can straighten rim dents, but that doesn’t generally true an un-true rim. Nonetheless, some can be made true! I would find a shop or two — it may require phone calls — that work with steel rims and get their opinions.

 

I’d simultaneously place a Want to Buy ad in this forum’s classifieds section, for one or two original 5” rims. Add a photo of your rims, or a link to the appropriate entry in the forum’s Wheels Database, to ensure readers know what you’re looking for.

 

If the imbalance is really annoying, the relatively easy-to-find 4 1/2” steel rims, from the non-tii sub-models, will work fine on the rear of a tii (but not over front calipers) — as a temporary solution! 
 

By the way, what rim do you have as a spare? Is that not a 5” steel rim?
 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Son of Marty]

IMO, it comes down to weather the rim is bent, or is the center welded in off plane, a bent rim can be fixed but if the wheel is welded off plane you'll never get that fixed. My bet is if the wheels we're good for the first 50 years the rim is bent.

[Mike Self]

Be aware that the "plain" (i.e. using the full roundie wheel covers, not the slotted wheels used on squarelights)  5 x 13 rims are kinda rare and bring good money (ask Rob Siegel!) so if they were mine, I'd first satisfy myself it isn't an unbalanced tire, and if not, have the wheel straightened.  This presuming, of course that you want to keep the car original looking and not go with aftermarket wheels, increase rim diameter to 14 or 15 inches etc.  

 

Steel wheels can be straightened; if you want to stay stock looking, you could also look for a set of the early style ATS factory alloy wheels.  At one time BMW reproduced them and thus they were available through BMW dealers.  Don't know if that's still the case.  

 

mike

 

PS  there are Opel station wagon wheels from the early 70s that are 5 x13 and accept a BMW wheel cover, but these days they're probably harder to find than the tii wheels.  Used to be common in junkyards.

[TobyB]

Straightening a bent steel rim isn't hard, and isn't dangerous.

 

I just smack mine with a dead- blow hammer until they're round.

 

The hardest part is making something to spin them on that can also withstand the whacking.

 

If you like the steel wheels, they're well worth fixing.

 

t

 

[Mikesmalaga72]

You may also want to inspect tires for type/brand, age over 5 years etc, flat spotting, and ply separation/s. Dial indicator on wheels, Wheel nut torqus apx 65 ft/lb also check for sticking caliper pistons, rotor runout and rear drum runout. Internal brake hoses swelling. 

Edited June 14, 2023 by Mikesmalaga72

['76mintgrün'02]

I set this up to see how bent-up some old 4-1/2" wheels were.  It'd be fun to put my current wheels on it and beat them into shape.   I'm overdue for nue tires and my wheels need blasting and painting.  Dead blow hammers are fun.  

[schuetz1619]

Answers to questions:

 

The four mounted wheels are 5" originals, all powder coated thirty years ago. The edges are pretty ratty from three decades of exposure and countless weight attachments and removals. The spare is identical but not powder coated. The tires are new 175 / 70 13R Hankook Lauffens. The shimmy is through the wheel and the wheels diagnosed as not true are right rear and left front. I noticed the shimmy on my first freeway drive after mounting and returned to the store, where they did a road-force balance and examined the rims, thereafter giving me the "bent" diagnosis. The front spindles have good bearings, properly adjusted, with in-spec. run-out on the discs. Torque on all corners is 65 lb-ft. The shimmy is apparent when the car is coasting at speed and does not increase or decrease with brake application.

 

Yes, Steve, I have had problems with shimmy before, but this was ultimately solved to my satisfaction in each case by road-force balancing. It is possible that I'm being now more critical than previously, but I doubt it. I know of nothing in my driving over the years that might have damaged the rims--no banging into curbs—for example—and the rims don't exhibit obvious contact damage.

________

 

I'll try mounting all four on the front spindles and and spin them to look for obvious defects and go from there.

 

If any are indeed "bent" I'd love to have them straightened, but dozens of phone call have yielded no one who does this within 100 miles. I'll try some truck shops as suggested.

 

I'll write again with the results. Thanks to all.

 

 

 

 

[Conserv]

At minimum, that spare rim is an obvious replacement for your largest “problem wheel”. I just think that a party selling you and/or installing new tires on your old rims is more likely to point to your old rims, rather than the tires they just sold / mounted for you, as a culprit….

 

I’d dismount the tires from the two “problem wheels” and your spare, and have a wheel shop — any good wheel shop, it doesn’t need to be steel rim specialists — examine the trueness of those three rims. Decide afterward whether you need one or two new rims. The chances of having three un-true rims is really remote.

 

This solution is probably less expensive than your “buy four new rims and move the four new tires to them” solution.

 

Just sayin’!

 

Regards,

 

Steve