Panther Kalista with wire wheels in RH20

A customer called Hometyre out to work on his Panther Kalista with wire wheels. He had a puncture in one tyre, and took it to a tyre depot to be repaired, they informed him that the inner tube was beyond repair. The garage also told him that there should have been a rubber protective band around the wheel covering the spoke fixing points, as these rub against the inner tube causing a puncture. It would take a week before they could get the required parts and be able to help him.

He bought new inner tubes and rubber protective bands himself, then called hometyre out to fit them for him. I arrived at his house in Pulborough, and he explained the problem to me, he wanted me to fix the flat tyre, then check all of the other tyres to see if they had rubber protective bands, if not then I was to strip down each wheel and fit them correctly.

The damaged wheel was already off the car, so I took it into my van and stripped it of its tyre, I checked around the rim for any signs of rust and cleaned up the wheel. The new protective bands were fitted, the tyre was replaced, then the tyre was pushed down and the inner tube inserted. It was then inflated to the correct pressure for this car. Once inflated the wheel was mounted on the balancing machine using two cones, as this is the only was to ensure that wire wheels rotate accurately. It was then spun and sticky weights were added to the inside of the rim to remove any in-balance. By putting the weights on the inside it keeps the outside of the wheel looking good. I also covered the weights with a strip of aluminium tape as this keeps the whole appearance shiny and clean, matching the chromed wheels. I then fitted the wheel onto the car and torqued the nuts to the correct setting.

Once complete I then jacked up the car and took off another wheel and took it into the van to check it out. It turned out to be the same, so in the end I had to fit protective bands to all five wheels.

Should you have a classic car, that needs tyres, then call us at Hometyre click here for contact details