Restoring Simmons Wheels

[shane wescott]

Hi Guys

Quick questions etc. I am planning to get the wheels on the GTV6 restored at some stage. I spoke to Retro Wheels in Sydney who are recommended by Simmons.

They sounded good,  i thought the price was reasonable (around $880 set of 4 for strip, repaint, polish, repair and new bolts) - has anyone used these guys before.

Catch ya

Shane

[scott.venables]

When I was strying to figure out the torque spec for the screws, Simmons recommended I let The Mag Wheel Centre in Richmond do it.   http://www.magwheelcentre.com.au/ (for liability issues I guess)

I got the torque spec from the Mag Wheel Centre and did it myself.  IMHO, $880 sounds like too much, considering what they're probably worth.  If you want you could save some money by pulling them apart, polishing the rims, and then take it all to a business to paint the centres and reassemble them.

It's probably the best thing I did in terms of my cars appearance.

Scott

[156oro]

Hi.

I used a company called New Wave Wheels in Heidleburg Victoria to straighten my 20 Spoke...

That are used by BMW & MERC etc for prestige cars.

I cant remember what they charged/quoted,  but it was under $200 a wheel to strighten & paint.
A cheaper option if you just need a repaint is get a panelbeater to spray and then bake.

I had a guy do it for $70 w wheel (just paint).

Cheers

[dehne]

just wondering what was the torque spec as i have a set i am going to do

[Repco Lad]

Shane,

Have a look at a Advanced Alloys in Moorabbin (www.advancedalloys.com.au). They specialise in wheel repairs inc Simmons, and have some spares available.

They can re-roll if necessary

Spoke to them recently about a set of V5's that were on ebay

(By the way, if you want to part with them, let me know!!)

Regards

RL

[karlo]

When I was strying to figure out the torque spec for the screws, Simmons recommended I let The Mag Wheel Centre in Richmond do it.   http://www.magwheelcentre.com.au/ (for liability issues I guess)

I got the torque spec from the Mag Wheel Centre and did it myself.  IMHO, $880 sounds like too much, considering what they're probably worth.  If you want you could save some money by pulling them apart, polishing the rims, and then take it all to a business to paint the centres and reassemble them.

It's probably the best thing I did in terms of my cars appearance.

Scott

Scott they look fantastic i got the same rims still cant belive how good yours come up....
Ive got this Rusty looking stuff on the sillver  lip of the alloy,do u know anything i can use to get that off?

[karlo]

hey Paul...

yeh The rims are really letting down the car...Ill give that ago this weekend...Thanks for the tips.

[karlo]

Hi Karlo
If your wheels are that bad, then you need to get stuck into them with a strong detergent and a
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Windows/Doors/Product-Information/Products/Abrasives/Hand-Pad/. l wouldn't spend money on mag wheel magic cleaning spray type bottles, they do work but when you have rusty stains on the allow, you need to really scrub that, and all the other crap off.
When scrubbed clean hit them with some Autoglem metal polish  (from AutoBarn) and they will look as good as new, and stay that way, It will take a bit, probably 30min per wheel, but well worth it.
http://www.autoglym.com/engb/product-proddetail.asp?v06VQ=GH&Range=1

Cheers Paul

Hi Paul....got the Autoglem from autobarn but havin trouble getting the 3m abravsive pads.. any idea were i can pick em up from or a substitute?

cheers karl

[karlo]

Hey Paul...

Yeh i bought the Autoglem wheel cleaner as well.....

thanks for ur help again.ill post some before and after picks if it goes well..

Cheers karlo

[BradGTV]

with my v4's and fr16 simmons wheels i simple took them apart. gave the rims a good polish using autosole and a buffing wheel. painted the centers on the v4's charcol grey and polished the centers on the fr16's. then got new bolts and lock tight nuts put em back together and good as new! and cost me nothing as i already had everything

[John A Pucak]

Yeh, I did the same to set of 2piece V4 Simmons about 10 years ago. At the time Simmons were reluctant to give out the torque settings, with great persistence I finally got the torque settings from the Simmons rep( I wish I wrote the settings down). I guess you need common sense when you are re-assembling and tightening up the allen bolts.
You need to tell the person painting the centre's , not to paint the back face of the centre, when you tighten up the wheel the paint could break off and loosen the allen bolt.

John

[dehne]

someone here has got to know the settings

[pep105]

Yeh, I did the same to set of 2piece V4 Simmons about 10 years ago. At the time Simmons were reluctant to give out the torque settings, with great persistence I finally got the torque settings from the Simmons rep( I wish I wrote the settings down). I guess you need common sense when you are re-assembling and tightening up the allen bolts.
You need to tell the person painting the centre's , not to paint the back face of the centre, when you tighten up the wheel the paint could break off and loosen the allen bolt.

John

Thats interesting, Ive heard that before about Simmons being reluctant to specify torques settings. You could work out a torque spec range based on the specifications of the allen key bolt, size, grade, pitch etc.

Common sense when tightening is a good thing i.e tighten bolts in a cross sequence and torque in stages
say 30% then 60% then 100%  to ensure the centre is uniformly tightened to the rim. Do Simmons have a tightening procedure ?

[Paul Gulliver]

Common sense when tightening is a good thing i.e tighten bolts in a cross sequence and torque in stages
say 30% then 60% then 100%  to ensure the centre is uniformly tightened to the rim. Do Simmons have a tightening procedure

You would assume it would be like tightening a head . ie a criss cross pattern

[scott.venables]

Yeah I have 24Nm written down, also from the mag wheel centre.  My wheels have 20 M8 (x1.25 I presume) socket head cap screws, the newer Simmons wheels use something else.  I don't know if this would make any difference.  I would also advise against using stainless screws.

I think I put a very light smear of grease on the threads, then assembled and torqued the screws and last put a thin smear of neutral cure (non acid) in the seam between the 2 rim halves. Tyre pressure forces the bead of silicone into the seam, so you really don't need much. 

Cheers

One other thing, take care when using scotchbrite pads on aluminium, make sure they're well used beforehand or you'll scratch the rims.