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I'm not a great fan of wires and my car's a long way from any need to make a decision on their fitting. However, I do like the idea of centre lock. I believe that what would make them come undone (but actually tightens them if the hubs are on the correct side of the car) are the inertia loads when the brakes are slammed on. The wheel stops turning, but the wheel nut wants to continue at the same rate of rotation.
As Glyn wrote, the attraction of centre lock nuts really grew in racing. You can imagine a sports car team changing wheels at Le Mans! There's a story (and I think it's a true one - for once) that back in the 1950 in its sports review of the year the BBC organised a competition in the studio between Jaguar and Aston Martin works mechanics. Each team had to change the wheels and spark plugs of one of their racing cars; the prize going to the fastest team. Of course Jaguar won by a wide margin. As someone explained later, for a quick change, you can save a lot of time by grinding away the first three quarters of the female threads in the cylinder heads and the wheel nuts.
I am a fan of Wire wheels. Yes they are harder to clean but that is why power washers were invented. A lot of detergent, a small brush to get between the spokes and then power wash then clean. Rather than the dog eared spinners I have fitted the continental spinners which I think look neater and are a deterrent to someone steeling your wires because without the correct tool you will not get them off.
Lastly I just think wires turn the car from a dowdy old mans car into a sporty looking up market car but it is all personal opinion. Below are two photos of my car. The first from 8 years ago at the end of its restoration (Interior still being finished) with the original steel wheels painted Old English white with hub caps and embellishers. Then a photo taken last year of the same car taken on stainless steel wire wheels. As I said personal opinion but the wire wheels just finish the car off.
Yes ~ I was quick to convert my S to wires. I love them. As a compromise I would tolerate centre lock Dunlop or Rudge wheels. The old saucepan lid hubcaps were awful. The rimbellishers improved matters. (Cleaning out the garage I've just sold my steel wheels, rimbellishers & hubcaps as a package deal to get rid of them & installed shelving everywhere I could with a nice configurable system)
Dunlop (preferred to Rudge)
Rudge wheels
Arty pic of my wheels
Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; Sep 11, 2021 at 10:29 AM.
