wheel banding

Does anyone know where to get wheels banded and roughly wht the cost is?

Also is it possible to band alloys? im guessing not as they are cast but maybe someone knows summit i dont

cheers

dave

Try http://www.wide-wheels.co.uk/

http://www.wide-wheels.co.uk/Prices.html

cant band alloys. not becasue they are cast but because they are alloy. normally magnesium along with zinc and aluminium. not the easiest stuff to weld.

Anyone know of anywhere else? I was going to have some steels banded but Wide-wheels' pricing seems a bit over the top.

Their website ain't the most professional either which doesn't exactly have me brimming with confidence.

best in the country mate. and also one of a very small number of places that do it. which is why they can charge what they charge.

Yeah, that's what I thought. It seems they also act as a middleman between the customer and the engineering company that actually makes the wheels which probably plays a part in their pricing too.

Would be good if they provided details of this company so that their accreditation or whatever could be checked out (as I thought you have to be properly accredited to build wheels?) but obviously if they did that, people would just go straight to their engineers, so I understand why they dont.

I suppose the price at least guarantees that it's been done to a high standard as they do seem to be tooled up properly.

Maybe they'd exchange a few sets of steels for a new website  

There is a guy on the Retro-Rides forum who does banded steels, he seems to do a good job and is cheaper then wide-wheels. His username is jamesp.

http://retrorides.proboards86.com/

I had my standard steels banded by widewheels a few months back, the tyres were fitted and wheels balanced really well, its not been used in anger yet but the tyres havent deflated any and the welding looked second to none.  8)

Cool cheers for the tips, best get saving those pennies then, eh?

didn't someone on here send his of to holland to be done as it worked out cheaper?? i remember the thread was a yellow 5 door series1 on those hottuning coilies…… could be worth hunting that thread out and seeing if you can find out where he got it done?

It was robmk1's car - the thread is here

I was thinking about banding some steelies but the welder I talked to, who is one of the best in the Oxfordshire area, said he wasn't prepared to do them as it'd be his responsibility if anything went wrong.

That pretty much put me off doing them altogether…

HTH

Rich

mcscrew said

It was robmk1's car - the thread is here

I was thinking about banding some steelies but the welder I talked to, who is one of the best in the Oxfordshire area, said he wasn't prepared to do them as it'd be his responsibility if anything went wrong.

That pretty much put me off doing them altogether…

HTH

Rich

Thanks for the tips guys! That's pretty rubbish though, if he wasn't even confident that they weren't going to stay in one piece…

Mat

its not unusual for banded wheels to split.
i've seen a few that have had the centres removed and fitted into a wider rim. but i still dont like that idea.

I bought a set of banded steels from a friend in Holland, for 2 reasons:

1. They were a bloody good price!
2. The ones done over there are done to TuV standard, so you KNOW they are going to be good.

Cool! Do you have any links for any companies in Holland that do banding?

Cheers
Mat

tyeness said

Cool! Do you have any links for any companies in Holland that do banding?

Cheers
Mat

Sorry mate, not off the top of my head, I'll ask my mate if he can give me any details

Mate that would be brilliant!

Cheers
Mat

I'm begining to think this aint such a great idea after all!!

Seems to be quite alot of negatives and i dont want the wheels turning into un-bolted split rims half way home from work doing 80 on the motorway!!

Maybe i'll stick with 7j 15 alloys ive got sure in the knowledge they will stay round, inflated and on the car lol

Cheers though seems like a hottly discussed topic.

I wouldn't worry about it.
If it doesn't leak air, then it ain't going to fall apart. Steel wheels get buckled when they get smacked, but you are more likely to hear about a 'banded' wheel when it does go as it has been modified. If a standard steel goes, then people think 'i hit that hard'. If a banded goes, they think 'that's dangerous'.

Just a different perspective based on the history of the wheel and peoples limited knowledge of welding.
Chances are Wide Wheels will spin weld the wheels, or at least have them very well jigged - this is what you are paying for.

Go for it - I'd do it with no concerns.