wheels - spacesavers? Taylor Wheels - Gone?

[Carl Johansson]

So following up the advise in this thread I tried to call them at the number provided by that Seldom Slim yahoo.
213-567-3998

operator says "unable to complete as dialed"

anyone know whats going on?

Carl Johansson

[Rick Byrnes]

Carl
I ran Ford aluminum 15" spacesaver wheels on the Merkur for over 10 years and never had a problem.
When deciding what to use, the word I got is that these wheels must pass every test that normal roadgoing wheels do.  With that in mind I was at ease at  200+ speeds in a relatively heavy car..
4200# wet with me and all safety gear.  I used the spacesaver only on the front as the backspacing was way off for the rear.
I would suggest though using the common 15 inch size and real LSR tires.  The cost is certainly offset with peace of mind relative to safety.

Rick

[Carl Johansson]

Thanks Rick -
I should be able to get em on all 4 wheels as the spares are standard for the car -  I am waiting for Nate Jones to get back into town so I can figure out what are my choices for tires.  I certainly will be running land speed tires -  just a little concerned with the available options right now -  so choosing the correct rim sizes may help aleviate the problem!

Carl Johansson

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Carl, I think you'll have to weld up those spacesaver wheels -- all the way around.  I know that's what others have done, and then they pas tech.  Ask a car guy for confirmation -- those of us on two wheels are often accused of not knowing everything (by folks who for sure don't, but that's another story).

[PorkPie]

Carefully, spacesaver wheels are not always the same.

We got this discussion before.

A standard spacesaver wheel/tire is limited to 50 mph + a safety 20-25 mph - standard road and vehicle.

The most spacesaver wheels are produced to this limit - if you weld them, like Jon wrote, take care that they start not to be a "egg" shape at last.

The producer add normally a paper which shows the speed range...and you better trust this information.

[doug odom]

Carl, The Taylor wheels are the spacesaver with their centers welded inside. The spacesaver wheels have the beadlocks very close together so the tire will not come off the rim in a flat or very low air pressure event. FWIW Last year I tryed to find someone else to get my 15" wheels for the streamliner with the off set I needed. No one could make them for me and I got all kinds of BS stories about why it could not be done. Called Taylor Wheels and Chuck said " sure, no problem". Got them and they are great. Yes they are slow, and you have to keep on them to get them done in the time frame you need, but they are right when you get them. I won't even go into the ones I had made by another company and are junk.   Just what I found out last year.  Doug Odom in big ditch

[PorkPie]

Called Taylor Wheels and Chuck said " sure, no problem". Got them and they are great.  Doug Odom in big ditch

But this sound not to standard spacesaver wheels you find in everybody's Ford and GM or Chrysler.....

[Carl Johansson]

Thanks Doug,
How do I contact them?

Carl Johansson

Carl, The Taylor wheels are the spacesaver with their centers welded inside. The spacesaver wheels have the beadlocks very close together so the tire will not come off the rim in a flat or very low air pressure event. FWIW Last year I tryed to find someone else to get my 15" wheels for the streamliner with the off set I needed. No one could make them for me and I got all kinds of BS stories about why it could not be done. Called Taylor Wheels and Chuck said " sure, no problem". Got them and they are great. Yes they are slow, and you have to keep on them to get them done in the time frame you need, but they are right when you get them. I won't even go into the ones I had made by another company and are junk.   Just what I found out last year.  Doug Odom in big ditch

[Seldom Seen Slim]

I googled and came up with this:

Taylor Made Wheels ? Land Speed Record racing wheels
9220 South Atlantic Blvd., Building #29
South Gate, CA 90280
(213) 567-3998

Don't know if that's what Doug had in mind, but maybe. . .

[doug odom]

Yes Jon, That was who I was talking about. They are in the rule book also.
Taylor made Wheels.       Doug Odom in big ditch

[Rick Byrnes]

"Space saver wheels are tested to the same standards as normal road going wheels."
This statement came from the design and release engineer at Ford Motor Co in Dearborn in 1989. 

The tires are speed and miles limited not the wheels.

I have no problem running fast on these wheels especially that rim runnout and concetricity tolerances are considerably better than many aftermarket parts.  Except for spun rims of course.

Rick Byrnes


 

[PorkPie]

"Space saver wheels are tested to the same standards as normal road going wheels."
This statement came from the design and release engineer at Ford Motor Co in Dearborn in 1989. 

The tires are speed and miles limited not the wheels.

Rick Byrnes

Who ever this by Ford said, he don't know what he is talking about.
In Germany, the Ford produced cars got the information in the manual, that spacesaver wheels and tires are not allowed to be used with a faster speed than it shows in the manual - and also, that with other tire (with a higher speed range) on this wheels no faster speed is allowed than the shown speed limit in the manual, with other words, also the wheels are limit with this comment in the manual.

The USA got a speed limit which is in the range of the safety use of this wheels - in Germany half of the Autobahn is without speed limit, except the insurance speed limit which count for every Autobahn.

[doug odom]

Porkpie, Its a wheel, its round, very strong, made of steel with heavy duty centers welded in. I don't know if they use some light weight wheel in europe or not but these are stonger than my NASCAR wheels.The list of very fast cars that use this type of wheel is very long. I have not seen streamliners going over 300mph having any wheel issues, have you?
Doug Odom in big ditch

[PorkPie]

Porkpie, Its a wheel, its round, very strong, made of steel with heavy duty centers welded in. I don't know if they use some light weight wheel in europe or not but these are stonger than my NASCAR wheels.The list of very fast cars that use this type of wheel is very long. I have not seen streamliners going over 300mph having any wheel issues, have you?
Doug Odom in big ditch

Doug,
not a problem with that. If this wheel is done the right way, okay.
But as I wrote before, standard (cheap) produced wheels may be got not the necessary standard - and than this discussion moved over to special produced wheels, which has nothing to do anymore with this spacesaver wheels we are talking in the beginning - in other words the discussion starts in two different directions - K-Mart wheels and high special produced wheels from a wheels specialist - thats very different.

So if someone spent the money on specialist produced one, alright - if he goes to K-Martor he like to use some old he got left over from his 10 years old Chevy......he better take care.

[JackD]

Testing and publishing a limit for road use has more to do with manufactures liability than the real capabilities of the wheel beyond that and outside it's intended use.
If it works for us, we make it work.
 You can't blame them if it doesn't.

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