[DeTomaso] Pantera wheel pattern

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/6/08 8:53:12 PM, shelbygt at cfu.net writes:

> You have to be careful with wheels.  They can make or break a car.
> 
Absolutely- and literally. One issue is with wheel- merchants that sell three 
piece wheels for street cars. A 17 x 12 rear Hall Ultra 2 recently split 
halfway around the periphery of the bead, while parked in a driveway 50 miles from 
home after a short run. Other issues over the years with bolt-togethers are 
loosening bolts, cracking centers and constant slow leaks from the center 
joint. And of course, the original manufacturers of these wheels are usually out of 
business in a short time, so extra inners and outers are unavailable. The 
replaceability of such parts used to be their main advantage.... Bottom line: 
three piece wheels are for lightweight racing cars; they just don't work- for 
long- on 3500 lb street cars, with zero maintenence. 
Second issue- running 30 and 35-profile tires on the street. Due to the 
extremely low sidewalls on these 'rubber bands', they are very stiff, which 
compromises ride quality for the sake of appearance. And due to the low profile, 
there is practically no bump-protection. Go onto a riceboy website sometime and 
check for the number of these guys running ultra-low profile tires and the 
number of wheels they've had to buy due to pothole damage. The average seems to be 
around 6 per car over a fairly short time. MY favorite was one guy that 
adapted 18" wheels and rubber-band tires to his Japanese car, then needed to push it 
into the car shows 'cause if anyone was seated inside the machine, the tires 
rubbed the struts so bad, smoke poured out of the wheelwells. 
I realize that it takes some effort to find suitably speed-rated 15" tires 
for a Pantera, but you'll pay about the same over time for 17,18 or ? sized 
'modern' tires and their matching wheels. And theres really no gurantee that the 
big tires will be produced very long, either. Now 16s are hard to find in some 
sizes and I've heard rumors about 17s being discontinued. Caveat Emptor- J 
DeRyke


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