Landracing Forum
Bonneville Salt Flats Discussion => World of Speed-specific stuff => Topic started by: RayTheRat on January 20, 2010, 04:18:41 PM
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I'm planning to have a car to run in the 130 club in September. It's an 85 Monte Carlo SS with a 406 motor and some goodies on it.
I'm lookin into wheels (15 or 16". 5 x 4/34 pattern) that are 1) not too wide (I've got 10" wide wheels on it now) and have tabs for Dzus-fastened or screw on moon disks...I just checked Mooneyes.com (the us version...can't read Japanese.) and I haven't had much success in finding anything
The plan is to run in the 130 club so Texican and I can both get to that level, then move to the 150 club, same thing, then decide which way to proceed with the car...at least as far as class is concerned. So it would be nice to have wheels and covers that I only buy once.
I'd appreciate any thoughts or insight on this.
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Ray, when you buy your Moon discs (from Mooneyes) they'll include a fixture to help you attach the Dzus tabs to the wheels. Get steel wheels, okay? Then you place the fixture, with the tabs already affixed to it, on the wheel - andd weld the tabs in place. Remove the Dzus buttons and move to the next wheel. Moon will charge a $50 (or so) "rental" fee for the fixture and will credit you when you return it to them.
If you're looking for inexpensive wheels -- try www.tirerack.com. Decent pricing, good selection, quick shipping. I don't know if they can fill an order based on specifications instead of "I need wheels to fit an '85 Monte Carlo -- but give 'em a try if you don't find another source.
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I buy all my steel wheels from "The Wheel Smith" in Ca. He knows the rules for LSR... the wheels are fully 360 degree welded, he also has my 15" Mooneyes Jig and can weld the tabs on for you. He can do 5" to 10" Smoothies for you,,, I would have him do the full 360 weld and tabs,,
Order the Moon Discs and Dzus Tab Kit from Mooneyes,, Tell Chico to ship them to Bob at The Wheel Smith.
(Bob Sage is the Owner... )
FYI - When I order my Wheels from Bob, they also have them powder coated for me. If you prefer you can save $30 per wheel and paint or powder coat yourself.
Hope this helps
Charles
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I'm in the same boat as Ray - I need wheels and tires for my 130 class GMC Canyon pickup. H or better speed rated tires are impossible to find in the 15" size I want with the exception of the Goodyear Eagle land speed racing tires but I don't want to pay that much at this time. So I'm now looking at 16's where H and better tires are plentiful.
Since the truck is also my daily driver I'm considering purchasing a set of old school style Smoothies for a kind of old/new look. But if I do that I would not purchase Moon disks.
After all that, here is my question: aerodynamically, how much gain is there to be had by going with the Moon disks for a vehicle that may run 120 mph max?
For the money I'll need to spend on new 16" steel wheels (used are difficult to find), disks, Dzus tabs, etc, I can purchase a nice set of Smoothies. If the Moon disks will get me an extra 5 mph it may be worth it but if they would only get me 1 or 2 mph, probably not. I'm trying to balance the cost/looks/availability thing and it's getting complicated! Any advice from someone that has run both bare wheels followed by disks is much appreciated!
Bob
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I got my 16" wheels from eBay, and then a racer at El Mirage was willing to have the seller deliver them to him, and him to me at Bonneville. I paid about $100 for the four wheels. They're 8-bolt 3/4 ton pickup wheels. Shop around - you might find 'em for a good price - like from someone that upgraded to fancy wheels and now has some leftovers for you.
As for Moon discs -- I don't remember them costing more than about $250 for the four. You'll pay extra for the installation kit (that guides you as you weld on the tabs), but Moon refunds that money when you send the jig back to them.
Whatever -- no, I don't know if there's much aero advantage for Moon discs at highway speeds -- but they sure heave eye appeal, especially up here where nobody has ever seen them except maybe in the old movies. More so -- nobody has EVER seen them on a car like Nancy's Subaru Impreza.
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Speed advantage with moons at those speeds would probably be measured in the third decimal position. Get them if you want them for appearance, but don't expect any significant speed advantage.
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Thanks for the insight everyone. And Jon, I've been around cars and various forms of motorsports forever and I haven't seen Moon disks on a Subie before, either. Since there is snow in the background would those be your winter tires on those rims? If so, the disks certainly are a great way to keep snow out of the spokes or openings in any other wheel and throwing the balance off!
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No, those are the summer tires with the Moon discs. But then -- it's May 8th today and we've got winter storm warnings -- and a couple of inches of snow on the ground. The "Mother's Day Blizzard" is a well-established weather event up here, and sure enough -- here it is. The summer tires have been on the car for a few weeks -- knowing that this might happen. I don't like to run the discs during the winter because of the salt on the roads - which hurries the degradation of the appearance of the wheels.
As for snow and ice making for unbalance in the wheels -- this year I tried washing the wheels and then spraying them with teflon before I put 'em on the car. It seemed to help a bit -- we didn't get so much out-of-balance snow and ice as in past years. Some -- but not as much.
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ray chuck with the yellow pontiac i also live in taylorsville and have the jig for welding tabs will do it for you or lend to you
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Dickj... if that were true no one would run them and roadsters/lakesters would not have them on the inside of the front wheels.
Bob Sage will do 5" wide also...................Good Luck
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Whatever -- no, I don't know if there's much aero advantage for Moon discs at highway speeds -- but they sure heave eye appeal, especially up here where nobody has ever seen them except maybe in the old movies. More so -- nobody has EVER seen them on a car like Nancy's Subaru Impreza.
Actually, I've seen one other Subaru with Moon Discs, and I think it still holds the I/PRO record -
http://www.driveperformance.subaru.com/version4_1/atticpart2.asp
Kate's got an Impreza - her 2nd - and I've been pretty 'imprezed" with it.
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ray chuck with the yellow pontiac i also live in taylorsville and have the jig for welding tabs will do it for you or lend to you
[I think you ment to say the 4000 pound yellow Pontiac that is faster than a new viper or vette on the flats.
Steve/quote]
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I have found h&v rated15 in. tires at pep boys ,good year dealers .
terry