Classic Alfa Forums

Hi all

just thought these were worth sharing with you, as they were at one time for sale but the owner, Colin, changed his mind, clearly once he'd seen a photo of what i'd done with them!


To begin with, they are a pretty rare size of 13" by 7j wide, not the usual 6j's, and are a lovely design, adorning a number of Suds and Sprints over the years. They are as many of you will recognise, Ronal A1's.

They had been previously powder coated, and looked ok, so we agreed that a good polish to the dish and rim would provide a nice contrast, so that was the plan.

So they went from this



To this



Not bad, but if i'm honest, i wasn't impressed, and the contrast just didn't look right to me, so i convinced Colin to let me have some artistic license and change the centre colour to a nice silver rather than what now reminded me far too much of primer!

Matching it up on the centre caps aswell, i think they are a whole lot nicer now, looking like this




Now i think they look the mutts nutts, but unless you promise to cross Colins palm with many bits of silver, he';s keeping them i think!






Secondly, another set of wheels i'm doing for Colin, is a set of original Sud steelies, that have had 2" added to them by banding them with an extra steel strip. These are going to be finished now in a good solid silver powder coat, and will look fantastic with some nice dish to them and the better/bigger tyre option is a big bonus too.




I can't take the credit for the banding on these, and John at Justsuds has already done a few himself too, but its oddly well timed as i'm right in the middle of doing some banding myself on my old van steelies that have been sat around teasing me into trying it now for ages.


Ive done the easy bit, cutting them into sections, and have since shotblasted them to give me the perfect virgin surface to weld back up, so i'm just waiting for my steel to arrive and time to get the mig sizzling!



watch here for updates in the near future

nice work again mate, loving the polished rims on cols' wheels, smashing result

banded movano rims eh, no end to your talents

I've always wondered with banded rims, are they usually pretty decent for an airtight weld or sometimes need a little help?

Beautiful job on the Ronals Shrew. They look so much better with a bit of colour and that lovely polished rim. I can't see Colin parting with them now.

Also like the look of the banded steelies. Will that give all the extra width, off set with no inner clearance difference ? Can't wait to see them on a car.

Kev, the air tight weld thing will be my own concern too if i'm honest, but i'm going to be using my tyre machine and/or balancer as a welding positioner and try to get as consistent as i possibly can after plenty of practice and machine set up time on the 3mm steel i'm going to use. I'll fit tyres to them and pressure test them as high as i dare, and thankfully someone kindly got me a fresh bottle of leak finder recently too, so that will hopefully come in handy but prove my welding set up is good fingers crossed.

If it leaks, i'd rather do another weld pass if needs be, but with split rims i do, particularly the Compomotives and Revolutions where you can't buy the sealing rings anymore, i find Sikaflex is perfect for the job.



Keith, yes they look smashing don't they, and i suspect you're right, Colin will struggle to part with them now i reckon.

As for the banded sud steelies, yes they should great , and without the usual fitment issues of larger alloys etc as you point out. A good compromise of improvement without losing too much originality,


for those of you who still suffer with that affliction!



You know me by now, i'd do them 10j wide with oil drum arches, and need a certain cigar by the first farmers gate!

I believe Carlos Fandango was the driver in question?

rsfruitbat

Thats me!

My Ronals are looking superb shrew I think theyll look fantastic on my s2

and am looking forward to seeing the banded steels done and on my blue sud, theyv only been banded up to 6.5" as i think 7" is too wide for a s1. They still look to have a good dish to them tho dont they!

top work that man

col

And here they are, finished in the usual silver powder coat and laquer.

look rather tasty i think

OH YES !!
They look good as well mate.
Should look great on the car.

Superb! Always liked this design of wheel - it shows how good you can make pressed steel look.

Looking good shrew

A quick heads up for folk, I'll be posting some ad's up of some of Colins wheels for sale shortly, following some changes of plans and to his current car stockand choices, there should be some lovelies up for grabs, so watch the classifieds for new wheel adverts




and more for an exercise than any real practical use, i'm done building the Carlos Vandangos!

No, not a typo, which you'll understand once you see what i've done with my original steel Vivaro wheels!




So thats a full 10j up front and 11j rears after adding 4 and 5 inch bands

They won't fit anything without extreeeeeeeme arch modification, so i think i'll just powder coat them in something really showy, and use them as exhibits and adverts.


But, i bet some daft VeeDubber would like the idea of them on their 3mm high Polo!

bugger me, that's some wide rims now mate.

how long before the veedub boys want some?

Bit to wide but I want some
I'am after some jap fitment 114.3x5 17 steels

Van wheels look great, as do the Sud wheels.

The ronals look much better in the second pics, and the Sud ti steels have always looked nice, but that extra width makes them even better.

I prefer smaller wheels with fat tyres.

Top work all round.

KevJTD wrote:bugger me, that's some wide rims now mate.

how long before the veedub boys want some?

it took all of about 2 hours between me finishing them to the point you see them, and a mate of mine, who dips Hydro Graphics by the way, ordered some for his T5 Transporter!




Here is a fresh thread on Banded Steels so's not to overly confuse this thread.

Please direct any enquiries there


viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1375&p=17641#p17641

So here are the banded wheels fitted on the sud, they look spot on! Going 6.5" width is just right and suits the car perfect in my opinion

Looks Perfect!
Are you using justsuds lowering Springs?
Best regards
Jan

They look great Col.
So 6.5 inch rim, what size were your tyres?
Cheers.

look like they were always meant to be, nice effort all round

Yes jan theyr justsuds springs but i had to put 20mm spacers up front as the drop from them wasnt equal.

hi keith hows things? After much deliberation of what tyres to use i ended up using the 185/60 yokohama A539 i had spare. Ideally i think 185/65 might have been a better choice for a bit more rolling circumference as it revs pretty high on motorways and am lucky to get 25mpg out of it. I even thought about 175/70 but i dont think theyd look sporty enough!

Cheers mate, they do look good.

Nice wheels!

Superb sir!

I can't see that there can be many cars prettier than that. Lovely.
Cheers, Ted

Thanks guys all it needs now is a performance exhaust, id be interested if anyone has a middle box and a straight exit pipe rear box going spare!!

col

Can't believe you haven't already spoken to the Man who does?

This has to be one of the nifftiest S1 Ti's I have ever laid eyes on.

Lovin the colour and the effect of the new wide rims.

Classic 70's auto porn or what?