My buddy (thanks Bradscat - who now has THREE non-running XJSs, compared to my only ONE!!) offered me a deal I could not refuse - a beautiful set of wire wheels (bolt on, not knock-offs) in exchange for rebuilding three sets of injectors.

Okay, silly me. I thought that I was going to swap the tires from the lattice-wheels of my '91 XJS onto the Daytons, (we think) and slap those puppies onto my Classic Edition for that "really classic look". Also, I didn't even know until looking at the forum tonight that there are various numbers of spokes even within Dayton products, and honestly I don't know what I have (and I'm on vacation 4,700 miles away in the central Pacific, so I can't go look!!) (I lied - I found a picture on my phone, and it *looks* like there are 70 spokes, but it's hard to count all of that spaghetti in a picture on your phone....)


[NOTE: Yes, I've read all of the back-and-forth 'stuff' regarding the sprung weight, how my once-svelte superracecar Jaguar XJS will now handle like absolute trash once I put the monumentally heavy wire wheels on it - so, yes, I want to try them out and see if any of that is really true/noticeable. So don't drag all of that up again. My question here is different, so please read on, and if at all possible restrict the responses just to this issue, not other distractions]


When my buddy and I attempted to put the wheels on, it seems like they don't fit. They don't 'snug on' to the centering ring, the wheel mounting studs don't even show through the mount holes. Then Brad discovered the inserts held inside the wheels with two relatively small screws. AHA! we said. Taking these out will allow them to fit. No problem!!

But there's a problem. They still don't fit like I think they should. It looks to me like there's interference between the wheel and the disc brake caliper. I saw some pics in the forum threads of different wheel stud nuts. Then again, I saw references to stud nuts that were decidedly longer than what I have.

Can someone please help us? Where do I look to identify the wheel mfr/model so I can look up combatibility? What am I missing about mounting these things? Are they simply incompatible, or is there a 'trick' or a kit or some other thing I have to find somewhere in order to install these on my car and give it the performance of an Edsel (apparently)??

Any help, directly related to the topic of getting these wheels on this car and ignoring *entirely* the aesthetics and/or impact on handling would be much appreciated....

Thanks!!

 

Brad,

My car had wire wheels installed at the dealer when the original owner purchased it. When I bought it I was going to switch it back to lattice wheels, but the wires grew on me, plus my wife and kids would now kill me if I ever removed them. So they lasted 33 years so far without any problems.

As far as I know the Dayton 70 spoke wheels are direct bolt-on that shouldn't require anything special to mount (assuming they are the correct wheels). I have my rear wheels currently off because I'm re-doing the IRS, when I get home I can take some photos of the interior wheel hub etc. and post them here so you can compare it to yours. Hopefully that will help you.

 

Here are the photos I promised. You can see the Dayton model number as 2185A-L.

 

do you know off hand what year model the rims were suited for? anything up to 1986 most likely won't fit on anything 97 on wards

 

Bolt on wire wheels may be what you have and need to deal with. But the real wire wheels have spline drive knock offs. Anything else is just Imitation, poseurs. But no longer do you need to change wheels in a few seconds while the race is on. A quick blow from a lead mallet spins the knock off and a tap or two removes it the rest of the way. The wheel is then slid off and it’s replacement is slid back on. Another bash or two with the lead mallet tightens everything up and off you go back into the race.
Ok, well polished bolt on chrome wire wheels sparkle and shine in the sunlite as they flash by. Most are easily impressed by them. Which is why you find them on cars the owners aren’t slaves to originality.
It’s still possible to still find the required parts to use knock off Chrome wire wheels. You need either Moss motors or Dayton though to do it.

 

Mguar, I am solidly in the "poseur" category. No way I'm going to convert to knock-off wire wheels. If I can get these to work, great. If not, I like the lattice wheels fine.

Brad

 

Okay, now I've uploaded pics (see below). I can find no manufacturer's mark at all....maybe it's inside the mount area.

So I'll go out on a limb here and state several conclusions. I'd be very happy to find out I'm wrong, but:

1) I do not think these are authentic Dayton wheels. They came off of a Hess & Eisenhart '88 XJS, but we've no idea whether H&E installed them or someone else later.

2) I would need to alter two things to get these installed on my car: First, I would have to use longer wheel mount studs With the spacers installed (and I think that the spacers MUST be installed for this to be safe) the lugs do not extend beyond the seating surface of the lug nuts, and I seriously doubt that there's enough thread engagement under that situation to consider the tires safely attached. Second, I would have to drill/enlarge the wheel stud holes (compromising the chrome layer and probably initiating rust/delayering of the chrome) or reduce the diameter of the lugnut thread wall (NOT SAFE). My lugnuts do not fit inside the existing holes.

3) The only thing I DID get right is that there are 70 spokes....and they look *just* like the ones that were posted by an earlier respionder. No mastic around the spokes, but there are bulbous seats that the spokes extend from, and presumably those have some sort of very good seal - these tires have held air for more than a year.

4) I don't think there is any safe way to mount these on my 1991 XJS.

Thoughts?


Outside view....hexagonal center cover removed.

Inside view....hexagonal center cover removed.

Spacer installed - not quite flush with spoke hub.

Lug nuts do not fit in the lugnut holes....

Wheel studs do not extend beyond the seating surface of the lug nuts.

 

I said:

"maybe it's inside the mount area."

By that I mean inside the area that the tire is mounted to (i.e. interior of the wheel). There are no marks on the exterior, the caliper side, or on the interior of the wheel that accomodates the dust cap (and the spoke ends). The only marking I found at all was on the spacers, which all have "905" handwritten on the side edge (see below)

 

In all reality bolt on wire wheels are perfectly acceptable on sedans such as yours. The flash and sparkle of well polished wire wheels simply adds to the elegance of burl wood, leather interior , class and elegance of owning a Jaguar.

Yes that makes me a poseur of sorts as well. While I did use knock off, wire wheels Vintage racing my Black Jack special. Racing Stirling Moss driving the factory Aston Martin DBR2, Peter love in the Ferrari Testa Rossa, Etc. That car is now safely tucked away in a museum.
My remaining set of spline drive knock offs will be used building a Bitsa Vintage race car.

 

I suspect you need to contact Dayton Wire Wheels. ( Yes they still are in business). In all likelihood you’ll need “Mag Wheel” nuts to secure them properly.
While there is another Wire Wheel manufacturer in Southern California. Those wheels do not appear anything like that MFG.

 

These are the inside of my tubeless Daytons. I have 3 of these and 1 that requires a tube. The studs are about the same length as yours and have long lug nuts, each with a washer/spacer.

 

You'll need lug nuts like these but without the centering washers:

They're available in different lengths, be sure you get the right ones.
(';')

 

 

Most Jaguar dealers that have been around for more than 25 years will have a lug nut or two in stock somewhere in the parts dept. We still do.