[DeTomaso] Hall Ultra Wheels

[jderyke at aol.com]

Peter, your photos did not come thru but Hall Ultra wheels are 5-spoke ( maybe 10-spoke too) three- piece spun-aluminum rims, held together with a circle of twenty (or less) 1/4-20 SAE stripper bolts. Many have decorative 3-ear spinners simulating knock-off wheels. They are bolt-shank-centered, not hub-centered which makes changing them difficult and less precise. 
Problems: the stripper-bolts are very small and hardened to gr-8 all the way through, making them brittle in an area needing a little flex. The bolts are never checked for torque. The inner and outer spun rim-halves are made of a non-weldable aluminum alloy and most will leak unless siliconed inside. In use, any rim flexes in turns; the thin alloy work-hardens under load and usually cracks horizontally behind the tire bead, resulting in an instant flat. I've now seen three different Ultra rims broken- always a rear, usually an inner. On a Pantera, the rears are the most heavily loaded.

The man who made them for Gary decades ago has passed and there are no spares. They are true racing wheels really designed for 2000-lb lighter formula cars and have long ago passed their use-by date. Racers throw such rims away after one season but may re-use the centers. A friend has a set of similar (much newer) wheels on his 1600 lb Sports-racer and all it took to crack one was running off the road onto the dirt at Thunderhill 2 months ago. EVOD Industries (pg 11 in your POCA Newsletter) has spun up some replacements for owners that insist on continuing to use them. The replacement rim-halves are not cheap and are marked 'FOR RACING ONLY'.  

IMHO all 3-piece wheels used on a heavy street car are a bomb waiting to go off- and I'm a guy who loves lightness. I'd love to use such on our Pantera but there are limits... I suggest making a coffee table out of them. Good luck- J Deryke

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Cajthaml <pcajthaml at gmail.com>
To: detomaso <detomaso at poca.com>
Sent: Fri, Feb 7, 2014 11:47 am
Subject: [DeTomaso] Hall Ultra Wheels


[resending w/o attached picture]



All:


I am in the process of replacing my tires, and thus started to research 2761's wheels - all I know is that they are an early version of the Hall Ultra wheel - probably put on when the car underwent the "Group 5 Conversion" in the late 90's.  They are 17", probably 13" wide in the rear, perhaps 9" or 10" wide in the front.  I really don't know as I had never unmounted a tire. The tires are Bridgestone Potenza 335/35-17, 255/40-17 (13", 10" wide).  


I read some horror stories online about the 3-piece Ultra wheels (which is what I think I have).  Apparently the wheel (or the small bolts holding it together) sometimes crack, resulting in an instant tire deflation. Another post suggested that these wheels should be x-rayed every year to look for cracks.


I'll attach a picture of the car to see if anyone can recognize the wheels.  I'd like to hear others' experience with the Hall Ultra wheel - should I be looking to replace them? (If I keep them, I may have them powder-coated black - do they have to be disassembled for that, and what kind of can of worms does that open?)


thanks for the advice,


Peter
#2761


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