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Unless you have used both products it is difficult to make a comparison. I have wires from MWS. Service and product were great. I bought a full set of Stainless steel wires 2 years a go and not had any problems. I have not seen or used Dayton wheels.
If you are changing just two of your wires make sure that the two new ones look the same. There are two types of hub. Curley and easy clean or flat hubs. Not difficult to tell the difference and I am not teaching you to suck eggs on this one but the curly hubs profile might be different from the originals to the new.
The original curly hubs were quite a deep profile and as they were painted it did not matter in the production process. Later production saw the introduction of the chromed wire wheel and it was found to be difficult to chrome to a reasonable standard the deeper profile.
I believe and someone else might be able to verify this for me that the profile of the MWS curly hubs is not as deep as the originals which allows for better chroming and easier to make the stainless steel profile. You would possibly not notice the difference if seen on two different cars but if you are just changing two wheels it might be noticeable.
The Original Dunlop hub was stamped out & had a slightly deeper curl. From late '66 early '67 the centre hub was turned from solid billet making the curl slightly shallower. No one would notice unless you are specifically looking for it up close. There are so many reflections & the difference is small.
If you intend only replacing 2 wheels and your wheels are chromed you must stay with chrome wheels. MWS now even chrome stainless spokes.
Dayton polished stainless wheels look positively yellow next to MWS typical British chrome wheels.
British chrome has a slightly bluish tinge to it. It was explained to me once but I have forgotten the chemistry.
Chrome wheel
Stainless wheel
As a result I would go MWS chrome wires.
I have new MWS chrome wires. Very happy with them. They have been in the business forever.
Original Dunlop wheels re chromed.
New wheel on my car with Billet centre.
Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; Nov 27, 2021 at 07:38 AM.
Just as a data point, I have now worked on two cars that had new Dayton wheels and new hubs; in both cases the wheels were too small to fit on the splined hub on the car, the car's hubs required machining to knock about 0.010" of metal off the tips of the splines. I don't know if that is the wheels were out of spec or the hubs were out of spec. One was on an S Type, the other was on an E Type. I didn't have an original wire wheel to try and see if the fault was with the hubs, not the wheel, so I can;t say definitively it was the wheels that were out of spec.
However, it seemed odd to me that both sets of wheels were Daytons, and it was nearly 15 years apart, so shouldn't have been a bad batch of wheels that were out of spec.
i bought a new set of 15x6 Daytons (chrome) about a year ago. I couldn't beat the sale price. The car is far from done so they have no road time but I did check to see if they would fit on the hubs that I have. A previous post/comment from Jagboi prompted this. The rear hubs are lightly used originals and the fronts are new. I had no issues with the Daytons fitting on either set of hubs.
I would guess that your location would somewhat dictate the price. Daytons are manufactured not far from me here in the States and I believe that MWS manufactures in the UK. They both seem like quality wheels.
I should have mentioned that the Daytons mentioned above are curly hub. I don't know who made the new front hubs but they were made in the UK based on the "Made in the UK" sticker on the packaging.
Lyonsfin, here are pics of my Dayton spare - my wheels are center laced (due to width), which lacks a lot of the character of the original bead laced wheel. The only thing that's stainless is the wire spokes themselves - the wheel/rim, hub and nipples are all chromed steel. I tried to get a closeup to show the difference in color/brilliance between the wires and the rest of the wheel. There is indeed a difference, but I was not even aware of it until it was mentioned above (thanks a lot, Glyn). I didn't want you to base your decision on the stainless wheel pictured above in which everything (including the chrome knockoff) appears yellow. I've used Daytons on all 3 of my Jag projects with good results. I see CT in your location - if you're anywhere near Avon you're welcome to bring one of your original Dunlops over for comparison with the Dayton. I'm guessing anything new is going to look a lot brighter than your 50 year old wheels.
Doug, Yes! I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong with Dayton wheels. It is purely a colour thing. Typical US chrome is less bluish than typical UK chrome as well. We are being really picky now.
Parked side by side I'm very aware of the colour difference between a Dayton SS shod car & a MWS chrome shod car.
Just keep 'em all the same.
Those MWS pics above do exaggerate the difference but both are in the same lighting & on a neutral density grey background. Point at the end of the day is you can't make SS look like chrome & no doubt vice versa. Why MWS now chrome their SS spokes fitted to chrome wheels.
Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; Nov 28, 2021 at 09:55 AM.
Thanks all. I have 2 old Dunlops a single Dayton, and a single MWS (due to an accident). I am going to replace the Dunlops. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to add 2 MWS or 2 Dayton. I am going to go with MWS and may get 3, but the it is very hard for me to tell the difference between them looking at them after a few miles.
Thanks all. I have 2 old Dunlops a single Dayton, and a single MWS (due to an accident). I am going to replace the Dunlops. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to add 2 MWS or 2 Dayton. I am going to go with MWS and may get 3, but the it is very hard for me to tell the difference between them looking at them after a few miles.
Buy three MWS wires and use the Dayton as the spare. Sorted.
MWS really took over Dunlop wire wheels. A complex story.
1927 : Motor Wheel Service and Repair Company founded on Becklow Road, Shepherds Bush, London 1947 : George Smith took ownership of the company 1969 : MWS move to Jeddo Road, Shepherds Bush, London 1974 : MWS commissioned as an official UK distributor for wire, light commercial, car, caravan steel and alloy wheels by Dunlop Ltd 1978 : MWS appointed as exclusive UK distributor for wire wheels by Dunlop Ltd 1979 : MWS bring in specialist machinery to supply Morgan Motor Company 1980 : MWS appointed worldwide distribution rights for all Dunlop wire wheels 1984 : Colin Smith takes ownership of MWS 1988 : MWS move distribution operation to new Headquarters in Langley, Slough, Berkshire 1988 : Introduction of chrome-plated stainless steel spokes and nipples 1998 : The service and repair department moves to Langley 2002 : Highly polished full stainless steel wire wheels introduced 2003 : MWS supplies the first set of wire wheels for the SS100 Replica 2012 : MWS celebrates its 85th Anniversary 2021 : Company now 94 years old.
Today it is really a licensing deal for the name & Dunlop wheels has ceased to exist.
To my knowledge all the original & worn Dunlop presses etc. ended up in India.
Today ~ Operating from headquarters in Langley near Slough, and their branch in Manchester, MWS manufactures wheels to the highest standards, up to and including the German government`s tough TüV approval. MWS is also original equipment supplier of wire wheels to the Morgan Motor Car Company & a few others like Eagle.
All aspects of wheel manufacture and restoration are carried out in-house by MWS.
A German operation has been recently established.
Dunlop Tyres is jointly owned by Goodyear, Sumitomo Corp, Japan & Continental AG.
Restoration:
Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; Nov 30, 2021 at 11:01 AM.
1927 : Motor Wheel Service and Repair Company founded on Becklow Road, Shepherds Bush, London
1988 : MWS move distribution operation to new Headquarters in Langley, Slough, Berkshire
