Rostyle wheel size issues

M

mikecoombs

Active Member
I've sent my newly acquired Rostyle wheels off to have them split, rechromed and rewelded but have run into a snag. One of the four was welded together rather than riveted in a manner that means I can't re use the old rim .Which I thought was ok as I wanted to fit new 6" rims to the newly chromed centres anyway. we discovered today however that the Rostyle Well diameter is 310mm (the distance across the inside of the rim). Problem is the standard rim diameter is 312mm. The only welding allowed on a steel rim is to fix rim to spider (centre) so we can't just add a 1mm sheet around the centre and weld it on then attach the centre to it. I can use the old rims for three wheels but that leaves me one wheel short. Does anyone have any idea what other 14" rims Rubery Owen made with 310mm well diameters? That might be available in Australia? Or does someone have one with a stuffed centre and decent riveted rim?
Mike
 
In general a Rostyle that has the rim welded and not riveted to the centre is actually an American-made Magnum 500 wheel with a 5 x 4.5" bolt circle, not the standard 5 x 5" circle.

I have never seen a welded Rostyle but that doesn't necessarily mean they don't exist, but I'd be checking that.

Yours
Vern
 
You are probably right Vern, I received three riveted wheels and one welded, the welded one had clearly been refurbished at some point, the welds were not all that good presentation wise. My plan was to have the whole lot refurbished with 6" rims rather than the standard 5.5. Problem came when we went to join Part A back to Part B. Clearly somebody has gone Metric!
 
Problem solved i think, we have found a wheelwright in Queensland who can role the standard well deeper. fingers crossed
 
Oddly enough it isn't. Worst case will be $290 AUS (about 140GBP)per wheel ,each with full triple plate (copper, nickel, chrome) rechrome and new 6" chrome rims + shipping. which is much less than the English shops advertise. Originally they were Chrome on steel. The first sentence of everyone that saw them when they arrived was 'mmmmph no copper'...

How did you go with your Sundym glass Peter?
 
Blimey, that's good considering what the only place in the UK I know of charges just for the chrome.

The Sundym has moved down the priority list lately. Can't do it all. The PAS project is next. Also putting cash aside for when I can convince someone to install a ZF for me in the UK.

I do wonder what the economics of getting sets of replica alloys made are but the practical minimum is 25 sets (x4) from what my research shows. Apart from looking great, rostyles have almost nothing to recommend them. They feel so damn heavy. I'd guess 15" and 0.5" wider would give both P5 and P6 owners the best options for modern tyres.
 
The 14" rostyle is quite different to the 15" , it is much taller in the centre. they weigh about 19KG each as compared to about 5KG for alloy. Coker in the US can make a special order 14" alloy magnum 500 which is identical to look at, most companies are only selling 15" at the moment though and I'm uncertain about the backspace. Coker referred me to their local agent who wrote back saying it was possible but a lot of work ie. they didn't want to go there...I'll check on my wheels progress next week (I bought them this time last year), I'm making up the last piece for the factory air con this weekend then its on to making up a circuit breaker block to replace the fusebox which is on its last legs. I've found a place that sells them for about $8.00 each so I've sent for samples.
 
they weigh about 19KG each as compared to about 5KG for alloy.
Click to expand...

Now that'll give one hell of an improvement on ride and handling and will save a lot of wear on the steering and suspension. I really hate the way the wheel bumps through potholes even with tall profile tyres. I have this love/hate relationship with my rostyles. If I had a series 2 and not a series 1, I'd swap them out for the early 14" SD1 alloy without question as it looks to me as if it were made for the car.

Engineers would sell their souls to save 60kg anywhere on a car these days, let alone for something that is a huge technical improvement rather than the usual compromise.

Yes the 14 and 15" look surprising different considering. The dish on the 14" is far more pronounced and P6s never look quite right on a P5 wheel to me. I was thinking more from a practical view to remanufacture today; the P5 boys have much deeper pockets even before the better tyre options are considered.
 
The P6s have an enormous amount of unsprung weight, even without the diff. I put a standard wheel onto a complete upright so I could check the clearences and I could barely lift it! I used to live on top of a mountain with what was the steepest road in australia (and gravel), I'd notice the difference when the shocks had gone off after a long drive, the car was much harder to drive and that's with Koni hydraulic shocks. I'm trying to get a set in gas as I think that will help a lot but they are a very small shock considering the suspension travel. I wonder what it would cost to have Rostyles made in Carbon Fibre?
 
Finally got my Rostyles back from the Wheel shop. They have been from Sydeny to Melbourne (600 Miles), then up to Kingaroy to have the new rim wheel well rolled 2 mm smaller (1200 miles). back to Melbourne to weld the rechromed centres back in (1200 Miles) then back to Sydney (600 Miles) Totally 2,400 Miles. All for the princely sum of $320 AUS per wheel (Mates Rates). Just need to get the black parts painted and a clear coat and I'll have Ultra Rare 6" P6B Rostyles.
 
Not too bad a price c/f buying a new factory mag for a modern if you happen to smack the curb and require a replacement .
Got any pics in the pipeline for us Mike?
 
Are the 14" Rostyles really 19kgs? That seems huge! I'm trying to arrange to courier a set of 4 from Belgium to UK so need to know the weight.

What do the standard rims weigh?

I have a set of 14" Wolfrace slot mags, maybe I should use those.
 
I just weighed a bare std 14" steel rim - 8.3kg. Not sure if a Rostyle would be much heavier - certainly not more than double. When I went from steels to SD1 S2 alloys I weighed both steels and alloys with tyres fitted - the SD1 was a fraction HEAVIER.
 
Hi, I've just been out to the workshop and weighed a bare 15" P5b RoStyle, it weighs 20lbs or 9kgs. I do remember from back in the day that RoStyles were heavier than conventional steels wheels on things like Cortina 1600Es.

Colin
 
There can be a big difference between Welded and Riveted wheels/ When they weld them they need to remove a lot of metal around the rivets and the more modern rims are thinner so the result is a very light wheel.
 
Thanks chaps.

The seller of the 14" Rostyles has weighed one, he says 8kgs too.

Seems the 18kg mentioned above is an error.
 
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