Knock off wheels "safety"

[Craig -1965]

I have a 65 conv with aftermarket knock offs, They came with the car and one of the wheels came off while driving a couple of years ago. Hence I became a firm believer in checking the wheels and PINS during the weekly car wash. This solved my problems. There has been many post regarding knock off wheels on the site. Well I am a member of a Corvette group in California "AMYS" American Mid Year Society and came across the following post on their web site. I think this is a must read for anyone who has had their wheels come lose.

"Some questions have come up regarding the knock off wheels and their saftety. I have driven on knock off wheels for many years including some British cars so equipped. If they are correctly installed they will pose no more of a problem than any other wheel. When I purchased my own car I traced the owners back and spoke to one on the phone because he had only driven the 263 miles in two years. I asked why and he said he had the car twenty minutes and the right rear wheel came off. It did some damage, he didn't trust them, but the truth came out. The wheels were on the wrong side, hubs and all. These same wheels I have driven over 65 thousand miles. The wheels are designed to tighten as they rotate. The driver's side wheel rotates counter clockwise and the nut or knock off is of right hand thread so it tightens as it rolls. It tightens against rotation. The same is for the right side for it also turns clockwise, but because it is on the opposite side it must have left hand thread so it tightens against rotation. To loosen it must be turned clockwise. The most important thing to remember is just because it says LEFT on the knock off it doesn't mean left side. It means left hand thread. It may sound like it's all backwards but it's not. Right hand threads go on the left side and left hand threads go on the right side. This will always tighten the wheel as you drive. When understanding which side of the car is left or right, just remember it's left and right as if you are sitting in the driver's seat, this is an industry standard.
Hope this helps, didn't mean to bore you.
Roll on...."

Note: after going out to the garage and looking at my wheels..... the left and rights are on incorrectly and have been this way since purchase, and will be changed this weekend.

 

[67HEAVEN]

A good reminder.

 

[bossvette]

My foggy old brain tells me that old Mopars were like that; RH threads on one side of the car and left hand on the other. :W

 

[IH2LOSE]

just remember it's left and right as if you are sitting in the driver's seat, this is an industry standard.


Thanks for sharing

This is probably one of the biggest mistakes,not knowing right from left.Me peronally have shown plenty of folks how to install knock offs.Most folks are afraid to WHACK the spinners they just sort of love tap them on.

In a couple of weeks on the north east there will be a ton of collectable back on the road from a long winter hibernation,I highley recomend every one to take the time to do a saftey check on there cars to make sure there are no new suprizes undernieth.

 

[Kid_Again]

It's worth getting back on my soapbox about KO's.

You should sell them.

If that's not possible, then sure as heck make sure they are safe AND you can remove them when needed. You must install the pins. Forget the aluminum or ss pins and go with roll pins (tension pins) which are easy to remove. Coat each nut thread and post thread with antisieze grease so that you can get the damn things off in the evening on the way home from the show. FORGET the lead hammer. Whack them on with a short handled mallet beating on an old piece of tire. Get them off the same way. For you numbers matching guys, buy a numbers-matching piece of old tire:eyerole

 

[Craig -1965]

Knock offs

Hi Kid_Again,
Obviously you do not have knock offs on your car, the point I was making is there are left and right wheel adapters and if they are not on the correct sides the knock offs will unscrew (ie left and right threads). Regarding the pins you are correct the aluminum and stainless suck, but what's worse is the "tapered pin" they can unscrew with the pin in place. Roll pins are the best but you better have vise grips on hand to remove the pins when you have a flat.

If the knock offs are installed correctly and maintained they work fine and also look great, unless you have a set of american torque thrusters.............

 

[Kid_Again]

Hi Kid_Again,
Obviously you do not have knock offs on your car, the point I was making is there are left and right wheel adapters and if they are not on the correct sides the knock offs will unscrew (ie left and right threads). Regarding the pins you are correct the aluminum and stainless suck, but what's worse is the "tapered pin" they can unscrew with the pin in place. Roll pins are the best but you better have vise grips on hand to remove the pins when you have a flat.

If the knock offs are installed correctly and maintained they work fine and also look great, unless you have a set of american torque thrusters.............

Say what???

OK, let's review. My '66 HAD KO's. My '65 HAD KO's. I sold my '66 KO's and have the '65 KO's on a shelf in my garage. Yes, I can read and understand the posts here. I also understand the difference between right and left. "Right tighty, lefty loosey" if that helps you.

I was making a point that ORIGINATED with the first post. That's why they call this a discussion thread.

You MUST be a lawyer.


Gee, feels just like old times.

 

[Craig -1965]

Hello Kid_again,
What's with the hostility? No I am not a lawyer, an engineer yes. Since you are responding to the first thread, which is mine by the way, it's just an excellent comment regarding knockoffs and potential problems. Selling the knockoffs or storing on a shelf in the garage is not the answer for most of us. I think you first responce indicates the correct name... "Kid_again"............ it obvious.

 

[67HEAVEN]

Hi Kid_Again. Long time no see.

If arguments are what people are after, there are other forums that provide all the arguments you can handle.

If it's information and "friendly discussion" people want, this is the place.

Let's just call this a hint.

 

[ctjackster]

Say what???

OK, let's review. My '66 HAD KO's. My '65 HAD KO's. I sold my '66 KO's and have the '65 KO's on a shelf in my garage. Yes, I can read and understand the posts here. I also understand the difference between right and left. "Right tighty, lefty loosey" if that helps you.

I was making a point that ORIGINATED with the first post. That's why they call this a discussion thread.

You MUST be a lawyer.


Gee, feels just like old times.

I guess you must have been missing me Kid -

To all those guys who had KOs, had an issue, and now have fake KOs on their cars (you know what I am referring to - look just like KOs, but they are bolt ons)

That is just fine for you, and I have no quarrel with you or your reasons for doing so. I also think you are entitled to warn newbies of your experience (if you had an actual experience with a KO coming off that was properly installed) - I would never suggest you be muzzled from sharing your experience. If you didn't have an experience, or if you did but you cannot rule out the possibility that they were installed wrong, or the lug pins or receiving holes were not damaged already giving rise to the incident, then it would sound to me like you are not unlike my neighbor who tries to convince me to sell my sportbike because he "knows" how dangerous motorcycles are - thanks for the advice, now go back to driving your Volvo and let me live my life as I choose buddy.

But please stop trying to convince me or and everyone else that you encounter with KOs to sell my real KOs (this is not just you Kid, it is a familiar refrain) - I have my own comfort zone, and I also have a STRONG dislike for fake sh#t on my cars, on my house (no vinyl siding - not for me anyway), my motorcycles (no fake carbon fiber stuff on my sportbikes, actually adds weight and defeats the whole purpose of CF), no fake Christmas trees for me. As for my KOs, I follow the instructions (good advice on proper side of car orientation) and my spinners have been drilled for pins. My center caps are on snuggly, and these, along with the spinners themselves, are a part of my routine "preflight" walk around, just as looking at the tires to see if one is going flat is. If you are uneasy, an intermediate step before selling them might be to safety wire the spinner ear to a nearby fin, a la John Hinckley's work on the Halibrands on his 63 creation. Looks quite the business to me.

oh I and I most definitely disagree (respectfully) with the suggestion that you lose the lead hammer and use some other combination of things - a nice big ol lead hammer is the very best way to smack the bejesus out of the spinners (8 times, per GM) without a care in the world of marring the chrome - any owner of same who actually followed the GM proceedure would know this to be true, no need to mess around with blocks or wood or bits of tire - the lead hammer, being a softer metal than chrome, won't even leave so much as a fingerprint on the spinners. And the retaining pins - those don't need to be of any sort of titanium or kryptonite, as there is no shear force from the wheel itself working on them (unless your locating pins in the hub are damaged or the receiving holes in the wheels are elongated) - they are just keeping the spinner from rotating loose - what IS important is that the center cap be firmly and properly installed, as that is often the last thing that is keeping the pin from wiggling out.

Ok Kid, you are certainly entitled to a counterpoint, I hear it coming . . . .


oh and I am a lawyer, as Kid knows . . . . I am not too proud to think that his lawyer comment was directed in part towards me

 

[Ol Blue]

I can't speak for repro KO wheels but These GM issue KO's have been on for over 40 years. I follow the Corvette Shop Manual instructions for installation. They are called "quick take off" wheels.

CAUTION: Tighten wheel locking nuts every 100 miles for the first 500 miles by striking the wings eight hard blows with hammer provided.

I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere, but the GM issue lug nuts that hold the adaptor on are at least twice as deep as stock wheel lug nuts.
Ol Blue
http://www.knology.net/~corvettes/63vett.jpg