What parts, if any, do I need to acquire to have local tire shops mount new tires and balance new wires?

I have seen various cones listed on Moss, etc. But not certain what they are for. Spin balancing only or needed to mount tires also?

Speaking of balancing: I owned a brand new 1970 XKE back in the day. Took it to a Jag dealer to have the balancing done. They jacked up the front end and spun the wheels while on the car. Big problem was there were two dents in the bonnet when I went to pick it up. Apparently they jacked the radiator or something like that up into the bonnet. Hold on, it gets worse!

So they had to fix those two dents and repaint the bonnet. They used the pint of factory paint that came with my car for a perfect color match. (Did you know paint came in the boot with the XKEs when new?) Problem was they repainted the bonnet when it was tilted forward and when they closed it those two dents reappeared! They neglected to fix whatever it was they jacked up that made those dents. So then they had to fix that, the two dents again and paint again. This time no factory paint to use. Back in those days color matching was by eyeball, not computer, so the paint match wasn't perfect.

 

The cone adapters allow the wire wheels to fit to the modern spinning balancing machines. AFAIK its for balancing only, not mounting tires. Are yours tubeless or with tubes? When I asked the local tire shops, they didn't want anything to do with tubes, and specialists are ~100 miles away. Shipping is expensive - travel at the time was inconvenient so I used tire irons and fitted the tires at home - its not too difficult, and easier with practice, especially if you have an extra pair of hands available. I used a bubble balance for leveling - but had to make an adapter for the hub to fit properly. I thought that would be a temporary balance until I got them done properly with the cone set and a spin balance. But it worked really well with no vibrations! Tubeless wheels might be easier for modern shops, somebody with experience might comment about that.

Do your wheels have a nice "ping" on the spokes? If there's a dull "thud" its a loose spoke and some wheel renovation might be required. I had to replace a few spokes and ended up truing the wheels also. Truing means all the spokes and nuts have to be adjustable - and in my case I ended up completely disassembling the wheels to clean up the threads of the spokes and nuts. They are original Dunlop wheels and came up great, but it's a lot of work, and more of a triumph of OCD over common sense. A specialist (or new wheels) might be most effective solution if your wheels have issues.

HTH, Dave

BTW - bad luck with the dealer - some things never change!

 

New wheels and tires. Not sure what to do with the original wheels.

 

Craigslist for $100 for the set? Somebody might want them - even if only for "respray wheels".

New wheels are most likely tubeless. Somebody may have knowledge if modern machines work.

HTH! Cheers, Dave

 

Discount Tire and most of the other usual suspects refuse to touch wire wheels. Luckily, my local British car mechanic has a balancing machine.

 

In my day back then (early 70's), new Aquajets on my E-Type wouldn't balance on the front.
So I went to a specialist who put the wheels on a jig that Cut Rubber Off The Tread, to make it round. And ran it up to "over 150mph" as I recall.
I remember all these rubber chips flying and asking when he would stop. "Oh, whilst the tread is still legal".
I've no idea if such a service is available nowadays, or even if modern tyres need it. But they sure fixed the shimmy.

"And the young of today, they just won't believe us!" Chris (age 70)