OK, photoshopping skills are poor and wheel image angles are wrong, BUT how do they look?

A lot of people opine that wires are only for old classic Brit cars and have no place on modern cars, and there is the stigma of the whole 'lowrider' thing.

Plus - practical issues with cleaning, air leaking (Daytons are sealed for tubeless tires, but people have problems sometimes) and adjustment (Daytons are *supposed* to require no adjustment - ie 'truing'). Also, they are heavy. They can handle the power tho, so apparently that's not an issue.

but apart from all that? Thoughts?

 

I must admit that I believe wire wheels should be left for the classics, however, they do look good in your mock up.

It would be interesting to see in the flesh for a true opinion.

Jim

 

I like the way they look as long as they are real spokes with clear view of the calipers (not spokes added to the front of an allow wheel). Don't even think of putting them on an R and also they would be ill advised if you plan on tracking a base or S. They just can't handle the power and lateral g forces of the modern performance cars. They've been banned from racing (except maybe vintage racing) for half a century.

 

I wonder how difficult it will be to find a set that clears the brakes...

 

Without seeing the mock up I would have said definitely no. But I have to admit I like what I see. Makes it look much more of the E Type successor.

 

Very much like the E-Type...

 

The way the overhead lights are reflecting off the headlights makes that white F-Type look like it's checking out the E-Type. Kinda adorable.

Yeah, I wish I could get spoked wheels for my XK...

 

Link below...which is also where I got the 'mock-up' images from. They made wire wheels for the Wright brothers, and a few others since.

They will apparently do custom sizes, so matching one of the F-Type stock sizes is probably do-able.




Dayton Wire Wheels

 

My partner just had some Daytons (I believe) custom made for his S Type Jaguar, so I know they will custom make them.

 

Had Dayton wheels years ago on SL. No leaking but very hard to keep in balance. There is also a "spoke" service every so often.

 

Just curious . . . are those knock-offs like original wire wheels were, or bolted on with lug bolts/nuts? Had knock-offs on a Shelby Cobra replica, and they always made me nervous.

 

I never had them, but just the idea of knock offs makes me nervous too.

They make several kinds, including bolt ons in pretty much any bolt pattern and knock offs (you get a LEAD hammer with a set). They also make 'spline drive' wheels for old Brit cars that use such.

The XK ones were bolt ons.

Their website seems to assume the 'Wire Wheel' checkbox on your Man Card has already been checked, as they really don't explain the options at all well or even explain what is possible. The bolt-ons do seem the safest bet, however the spokes seem to be arranged in a less 'dense' pattern so that the lug nuts can be removed, so while they look good, I think the knock off patterns look better, at least the pics I've seen.

 

Oh no no no....

 

Ummmm. No

 

Sure?

 

No question that the bolt-ons would be the safest, and also no question that the knock-offs would look better. There's something about bolt-on, wire wheels that is just a non-sequitur.

I just don't think they belong on an F-Type. Even though it pays some homage to the E-Type, which looked fabulous with knock-off wire wheels, it is thoroughly modern design.

It's kinda like putting 20" low-profile tire/wheels on an AC/Shelby Cobra or E-Type, etc. Wire wheels only work aesthetically on tall tires (60/70 profile) with a lot of sidewall, which provides that vintage, very old-school look.

 

Not necessarily...

 

I certainly agree that putting large low profiles on a vintage car looks mostly to very wrong because they were never made that way, and the technology didn't exist at the time, however, I'm not so sure that the concept of wire wheels itself should be totally written off. I'm also not sure that they can't work with lower profile tires than those fitted to the classics.

These all look pretty good to me, (they're horrendously expensive Italian Borrani wheels) and they seem to have gone exclusively with a bolt on fitting, (which must be for engineering reasons) and the central bolt on hub isn't totally to my taste, BUT... I think they work, at least with some modern cars with a more 'classic' design - and I think the F-Type is a 'classic' design.

 

They look ok on the Jag and the Maser, not so much on the rest.

 

Actually, that is the only choice you have. Retrofitting to the splined and threaded "axles" would require a massively and expensive customizing of the axles and rotors. Back in the sixties, the british SCCA cars were were required to convert to bolted (steel or alloy) wheels for safety reasons. That was not a serious issue since bolted systems were typically offered as one of the options and the parts were readily available.