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There are those who know what they are doing and those who learn by their mistakes. I clearly fall into the latter category. The purpose of this page is to help those contemplating the mounting of new or used wire wheels avoid disaster.
Fresh from a humbling, disheartening and potentially lethal experience while driving, I'm compelled to share my mini-disaster in the hopes of helping others avoid the same problem that could have cost me a hell of a lot more than four lug bolts, 16 lug nuts and a bit of bondo on my fender.
Recently, I did a wire wheel conversion. I ordered the special hub adapter nuts from Victoria British and a set of used, but very clean wire wheels and matching hubs -- all with good splines -- from eBay.
After fitting my road wheels and taking my car for a spin for the first time, after about 17 miles, the left front wheel disengaged from the car in a parking lot at just a few miles per hour (thank goodness) that left a six foot skid from my rotor on the asphalt and left me feeling tremendously humiliated, puzzled and depressed.
Here's what happened. As I was driving my son to get a haircut, I noticed some strange, intermittent clunking sounds from the front of the car.
Mistake Number One. I should have pulled over IMMEDIATELY and started poking around. I might have been able to ascertain that the front wheel adapter nuts were loosening -- or more accurately -- stripping off the studs.
I continued on and pulled into the parking lot. The noise seemed to worsen and I was aware now that there was a problem with the left front wheel. Especially when turning -- even slowly. I pulled into a parking spot while my son went to get his haircut. We share the same barber -- a young guy who likes cars as much as we do, and I told Alex to let Klaus know that I brought the car for him to see and that I'd bring it around back for him to take a look.
I took out my 4lb lead hammer from the trunk and tightened the knock-off even further, fearing that perhaps those splines weren't as good as I'd thought after all. It seemed to have helped -- but in retrospect I know that it couldn't have.The problem had nothing to do with the splines...
Mistake number Two. Believing that tightening the knockoff even harder helped, I decided to drive across the parking lot to the bank to get some cash for my sons' haircut. That's when the wheel fell off -- as I was rounding a corner.
The wheel caught part of the fender lip on the bonnet, cracking the paint and slightly bending the bonnet by the latch. I was able to bend the bonnet flat again for the most part except for a slight crease -- and the cracked paint near the latch and also the cracked paint on the fender lip.
I was astonished to see that the hub adapter had pulled completely off the wheel hub. The knockoff was still locked tight to the hub adapter, with the wheel trapping the four lug nuts inside, rattling around. I used my cell phone to call a local garage who immediately dispatched a tow truck. Fortunately, there wasn't much traffic and there was enough room for what traffic there was to get around my disabled car. The tow guys were able to get the hub adapter back on just tightly enough for me to get the wheel back on, but it was very wobbly. I could see that the lug bolts were stripped and I instructed the tow driver NOT to tighten those bolts any more than he had to.
They winched the car on to their tilting flatbed truck and brought "Mrs. Jones" back home. I called British Masters (a local LBC junkyard/repair facility to see if Erick had any more wheel studs for me and he did. Once I got the car in front of my garage on a flat spot, I jacked up the front end with my floor jack, removed the wire wheel and hub adapter and knocked the wheel studs back out of the hub. I drove over to British Masters (in my New Beetle) just before they closed and bought my new lug bolts.
Mistake Number Three: Getting the wheel studs to seat in the hub was a difficult ordeal. I used pressure from vice grips to get them started, then the plan was to take a lug nut and drive it all the way hard against the hub to drive the splined end in the rest of the way. Good plan, but I made the mistake of using one of the nuts that had pulled away from the old studs and knew that I was ruining the new wheel studs when I saw little flecks of metal falling to the ground.
I went in the garage and grabbed one of the old lugnuts that came with the steel wheels for the car -- and that's when I first noticed something odd.
The old wheel nut looked exactly the same as the new hub adapter nut.
Same size. Same diameter, same depth. I thought that perhaps the PO had converted from wire wheels to steel for whatever reason and just reused the hub adapter nuts. I didn't even consider that Victoria British might have sent me the wrong nuts. I know that I ordered the "correct" adapter nuts. My receipt bears that out. Because of my lack of experience, I didn't realize that the hub adapter nuts must be subtely different than standard steel wheel nuts.
So here's my theory as to why my wheel fell off: I wasn't able to torque the standard bolts (which I thought were the adapter bolts because that's what I ordered) down far enough for them to hold and they worked themselves loose enough to allow enough lateral movement from the wheel to tear them the rest of the way off. So besides being upset with myself for not realizing the problem before it became one, I remain upset with Victoria British for sending me either the wrong or perhaps substandard parts that contributed to this horrible experience.
UPDATE: I called to complain that they had sent me the wrong parts identified as the correct ones and a week or so later, a gentleman from Victoria British called to express his concern and promised that he'd check into the problem. He also agreed to reimburse me for my resulting tow. I didn't ask to be compensated for the fender damage, but I did expect them to replace the stripped out wheel studs and incorrect adapter nuts. The young man said that he's send me a gift certificate for additional parts, but I never received it, or the reimbursement for the tow.
Too embarrassed to go back to British Masters for another set of wheel studs, I took up a lister for his offer to send me a set.
I was able to get two bolts on securely enough to remount the wheel and roll the car to its garage bay for repairs. I'm obviously going to remove all wheels and inspect the remaining wheel studs carefully.
This could have resulted in a serious tragedy for either myself, by son or both of us. I had reached speeds of 45 MPH on our way to the town center. Not only have I been delt another repair to undertake, as a result of this incident, my wife will no longer allow our children to ride in the Spitfire. And I really had no grounds to argue with her. I'm heartbroken over this decision, but fully understand and will respect her wishes. It's one thing to risk my own life chasing after my youth. It's quite another to risk the future of my children.
2/3/00 -- After spending some time on the phone with a young lady in customer service at Victoria British, it's become clear to me at least, that I was sent the wrong nuts that were labeled as adapter nuts, which in fact, they are not. The photo below shows my steel wheel lugnut on the left and the Victoria British adapter nut on the right. They are exactly the same dimensions all the way around, with the same thread depth. The only subtle difference that I can ascertain is that the bevel is more pronounced on the standard nut (left) than it is on the VB adapter nut (right)
My confidence shattered in VB, I ordered a new set of adapter nuts from Spitbits, which I used on the front wheels when I replaced the front wheel studs. I left the rear adapter nuts from VB in place, because they seemed secure.
UPDATE 8/14/00:Not only were the Spitbits wheel nuts constructed of superior materials -- I just discovered that the Victoria British wheel nuts that I left on the rear wheels began developing surface rust! The important discovery though is that the Spitbits adapter nuts are about 1/16" shorter than the VB nuts, if that. I know -- not much difference, right? Well, enough to solve a different problem that's been dogging me for several months.
Whenever I'd let up suddenly on the accelerator while driving or first press the brake pedal, I'd hear single, loud clicks coming from the rear wheels. Others thought that this might be the u-joints or rear trunions. Nope. Apparently, this 1/16" difference on the VB adapter nuts was just enough to not allow the wire wheels to seat fully, allowing about a 1/2" of lateral "slop", even when the knock-offs were driven fully home! Don't ask me how the wheel can appear tight and the splines not slip altogether, but this is what was happening.
I discovered the source of the clicks while the rear-end was jacked up and both tires off the ground. Putting the car in gear and letting the wheels spin, I could tell that the clicking noise was coming from the wheel itself. Later, with the engine off the gearbox in neutral and the handbrake firmly engaged, I was astounded to discover that I could grasp the tire with both hands and rock it laterally about half an inch, independent of the brake drum cover, which held fast. This is when I decided to finish the job I'd started and I replaced the rusting(!) rear wheel adapter nuts from VB with the ones I bought from Spitbits.
Carefully comparing the two, the Spibits nuts also feature a slightly different bezel cut, in addition to being slightly shorter. I'm not saying that Victoria British adapter nuts aren't a perfect match with the hub adapters they sell, but they clearly were not correct for MY car. I will never purchase parts from VB again where safety or fine machine tolerances are concerned.
Swapping out the wheel nuts in the rear made a tremendous difference. My splines were still fine, so I reattached the wheels after torquing down the wheel adapter nuts and tightened the knock-offs with my 4lb lead hammer. Then I lowered the car, drove it around for a block and tightened the knock-offs again even further. The clicking noises were completely eliminated. What a relief. Everything for the first time, feels tight and right.
By the way, I HIGHLY recommend the 4lb lead hammers, which I bought from Moss. It does not ding or mar the finish of the chrome knockoffs in any way. Considering the force with which I wield that hammer, I think that's pretty impressive!
When the nuts wrenched themselves off the wheel studs (see above), both the nuts and studs were stripped and unusable. I found it necessary to replace all four wheel studs on my left front wheel. The lug nuts on my right front wheel were beginning to work themselves loose (I could turn them by hand), but I don't believe there has been any thread damage to the right wheel studs or nuts yet. I had to replace the damaged ones on the left front wheel though. Here's how I did it. I also had to replace a bad one with worn splines that was spinning on my rear hub recently. The extraction and installation method for all Spitfire Mk3's (and probably earlier and later Spitfires is the same. Here's a look at some thrashed studs and nuts. Of the three studs pictured on the bottom, the center stud is from my rear wheel hub. The splines on it were worn to the point that the stud was freely spinning, even though it was seated fully.
To remove bad studs, spray some WD-40 onto the back of the stud where it seats against the hub. Take care not to get any on the brake components, like the rotor if you're working the front wheels or the shoes if you're working the rear wheels. This area is usually pretty dirty, covered in brake dust, rust, etc. The nice thing about WD-40 is that it will evaporate after a time, leaving no residue that could interfere with braking later on. Just the same, when you're all finished, be sure to spray brake cleaner over the rotors and/or brake shoes just to be certain.
Taking a standard 2lb hammer, tap the bad wheel stud square on the end face from the outside, back out through the pressure fitting in the back. It might take a few whacks, but generally, the removal is fairly easy.
Fitting the replacement studs takes a bit more patience, but my close friend and neighbor Gary "Bear" Williams gave me a great tip in this area. Getting the replacement studs seated properly without stripping the threads can be a bit of a challenge. I learned the hard way by thrashing two before I finally got it right. What did the trick was a combination of two things.
Spray the splined end of the wheel stud with WD-40 again, along with the opening in the hub where it's going to go. This makes a huge difference in working the wheel stud in and getting it seated properly. I tried doing it "dry" and unless you have special equipment and want to remove the hub (I don't and didn't), a quick shot of spray lubricant does wonders.
You won't have to worry about that wheel stud going anywhere once the pressure fit begins to grab the splines on the stud, so don't worry about using the WD-40.
Insert the new wheel stud from behind the hub and pull the threads through with your fingers as far as you can get it to go. I'll probably have a good 3/8" or more of travel to go before the wheel stud is fully seated. Place two or three 3/8ths washers over the stud so that only 1/4" or so of threads are remaining (or, just enough to get the lug nut on fully), then thread a lug nut on the new stud with the flat side facing in and the beveled side of the wheel nut facing out. Using the washers with the flat side of the wheel nut against them ensures that the stud will be pulled through the opening straight. This is extremely important.
Now, tighten the nut with your 11/16" socket onto the stud while using your index finger of your free hand to place some pressure against the back of the wheel stud on the splined end behind the hub face. If the stud begins to turn with the nut, stop immediately and figure out a way to apply a bit more pressure from the rear so that the splines on the stud can begin to seat themselves in the opening. Usually, just applying the pressure with your finger should be enough to get you started. Make sure that you've given the splined end of that stud and opening a good shot of WD-40. Now, slowly tighten the wheel nut against the washers until you see the stud shaft starting to pull through the opening. Back off, remove the nut and insert another washer, then repeat until you've got the stud seated fully in the hub.
Using the washers not only keeps the bolt straight, but shortens the number of turns necessary to work the stud through, this method also protects the inner threads -- the ones closest to the hub (the most important since they bear the brunt of the most stress when your wheels are fitted) against accidental damage.
2/10/00 -- After about a week, I heard today from another higher level customer service rep from Victoria British who expressed concern over my wheel falling off and is investigating the parts issue. But according to him, the only difference (as far as he knows at this juncture) between hub adapter nuts and standard lug nuts is that the adapter nuts are supposed to be of a higher spec material. This seems inconsistent with what I've learned in my research on the topic and considering VB's adapter nuts pulled clean off the studs, I would have to wonder about the spec of their materials. I have since removed all VB adapter nuts from my car and replaced them with adapter nuts from another supplier. The new adapter nuts appear to be contructed from a different alloy than those sold by VB, but it's difficult for me to know if the material is any better. I guess I'll know when I drive the car again... Meanwhile, I'm hopeful that VB will help me straighten out this issue, if not my fender.
Please. Always wear your seatbelt while driving -- and that goes double for your children if you have any.
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