Thinking of converting your Bugeye to wire wheels? Please don’t buy a bolt-on conversion kit. Please! These things are still for sale by some vendors (not us!), and they are very dangerous.
Witness the rear axle shown here from Ed’s car from Michigan. The idea is that the splined adaptor bolts onto your lug nuts over the drum. However, every one that has come to us has had loose bolts, and when they come off, the wheel comes off along with it!
This one has the added challenge of the extra lug nut. The installer must have lost one of the nylon locking nuts that came with the kit and improvised with a lug nut, which was pushing the wheel away from the tapered hub, and making the entire assembly that much more wonky. Note that even the nylocs have been loose on these; this is an unsafe way to attach your wheels to your car under any circumstance, no matter which fastening system you use.
We did a proper conversion with the original wire wheel splined hubs, as you can see in the above photo. In this version, the hubs are captured by the drums, and the hubs are not likely to ever come off. Lock tabs certainly help, too, as an extra layer of protection. Of course, you can still leave the knock off spinners too loose, and that can and that can cause the wheel to pass you as you both roll down the road… they need to be tight. (We have heard all the stories.)
We like these plastic knock off sticks to help get your spinners good and tight. They allow you to beat on your chrome spinners with reckless abandon without damaging the chrome. We use these in the shop and we suggest you grab one if you have a wire wheel car!
And if you want to convert to wire wheels, give us a call, we can help you get it right the first time!
