more sabre questions

[Sean Mooney]

 First of all thanks for all the replys, youve all been great. I was thinking that in 1956 sabres being a two piece wheel probably had tubes correct? Recently I had a rim leak repaired on my 03 DeVille and inquired about them being able to put in a tube if they were unable to fix the leak. This is what we did at the service station I worked at in the late 70s when radials were becoming popular. Anyway the place repairing my rim leak said its dangerous running tubes in a modern tire. Does this mean Id have to run some sort of a reproduction bias ply with tubes on a sabre wheel? Or would a modern tubeless radial work?
                Thanks again,Sean M

[Geoff Newcombe #4719]

I had modern radial tires on my 1960 coupes Sabres with no problems.

[Sean Mooney]

 Geoff,tubeless radials?

[Mike Josephic #3877]

The Sabre wheels were made for tubeless tires.  The wire wheels
prior to that in 53-54 needed tubes.  So, as far as I know you could use any tubeless tire, radial or bias ply.  Mike

[Geoff Newcombe #4719]

Yes, absolutely, tubeless radials, no leakage problems. As Mike Josephic points out, the Sabres were meant to use tubeless tires.  I dont think I would want tubes in radial tires, unless it was on a slow moving piece of farm equipment using a radial tire cast off.  Although they DO make such an animal according to my GOOGLE of "radial tire tubes", and there may well be folks here using tubes with radials in the older rims with good results.

[delay275@cox.net]

Ive used "tubeless" radials on my 57 Eldo Seville since I purchased the car in 1985.  Never, not once, have the tires ever been flat.

dd

[r parkinson clc 12511]

I bought a set of 5 NOS sabre wheels from an estate and put them on my 55. I was worried that they wouldnt hold air in my Coker Classics so I had tubes put in.  Over time the tubes self-destructed and I discovered that there were tubes specifically designed to be used with radial tires. I replaced them with radial tubes and they worked ok, but eventually took them out and put a strip of duct tape around the inside of the wheel, covering the rivets and never had a leak since.

[Geoff Newcombe #4719]

"I bought a set of 5 NOS sabre wheels from an estate ........"

Hmmmm, youre one lucky feller to have come across THOSE!

[r parkinson clc 12511]

The NOS wheels werent as good as they sound.  The chroming techniques werent as good then as they are now.  The valleys between the spokes werent as perfect as one would think they should be.  The chrome was not as shiny as new stuff is now.  I think time was not kind to the chrome on the wheels.  Still, I paid approx $1800 for all five and it was a good deal.  If I had it all to do over again I would buy old wheels and send them to the guys at Finishing Touch (in Chicago I think).  They remove the chrome, leaving the aluminum exposed, and then polish that to one heck of a finish.  I think they charge about $250 per wheel (probably more now) but they do beautiful work.  Probably wouldnt pass restoration judging though.

[Geoff Newcombe #4719]

Too bad ---- always a fly in the ointment it seems.  The Sabres on my 60 cleaned up quite nicely (for a driver).  From several feet away they looked down right gorgeous but I got a mighty sore index finger (s) getting those valleys between the "spokes" cleaned up with chrome polish.  :-)

[Mike Josephic #3877]

Sabre wheels cannot be properly restored in the manner you describe.  The aluminum rim has to be detached from the steel backing (drilling out the rivets).  This is because aluminum and steel cannot survive together in the same plating bath.  Once the aluminum is cleaned and polished, its replated.  Then, it must be re-riveted onto the steel rim, keeping it trued and in round.   This re-riveting process requires a special press to accomplish.

Its true that the old NOS wheels (Ive has a couple) are not
as good as the restorations today.  The plating techniques for
aluminum have improved greatly.  Look at the wheels on some of the top restorations at the Grand Nationals for some examples.

Only guy in the country that does it corectly (that I know of)
is Valley Wire Wheel in California - 818-785-7237.  Figure on
about $500 per wheel, depending how bad your cores are.

Mike

[James Mundstock]

There has been a lot of good info on this string. I have a question. Most sets of sabers I have seen have been the standard two piece where the rim is steel from bead to bead and the aluminum insert rivits with the flange of the insert against the steel rim. The set I just bought at Hershey are different. They are two piece but the steel part is from the inside bead to the rivit area. The aluminum is the outer half of the rim with the outer bead and the aluminum overlaps the steel where the rivits are. In other words, the tire mounts on the aluminum on the outer and on the steel on the inner. Most other sets the tire never touches the aluminum. I was told this was construction for 1955 only and the fellow was a retired Cadillac dealer owner. Can anyone shed light on this. Thanks.