Maych Progress - Wheels (Part 2)

October 2001
I was working in the basement when my wife came home from the grocery store and said, "How come the ass of your old pickup is stuck up in the air"? I didn't have a clue what she was talking about, so I thought I better go investigate. I also thought it was prudent to go outside before I made some remark I would regret concerning the rude language she used to address Maych. When I walked into the garage, sure enough, the right side of the pickup bed was 6 inches higher than the left. The reason the right rear was stuck up in the air was because the left front tire was flat.

I thought about having the flat fixed but I knew the tires were about at the end of their useful life. So, I figured I now had a good excuse to buy new tires. Besides, I was anxious to see how my my newly restored wheel covers would look with a set of new tires and refinished rims.

Ordinarily, getting a new set of tires would be a simple matter of putting on the spare, driving the pickup down to the tire dealer, and having them slap on new tires. But, as with most things during a restoration, it wasn't that simple. First, the spare was the original bias-ply tire that was mounted under the bed in 1972. From all appear- ances, the tire had never been on the ground. The spare did not have air in it and I was rather afraid to trust it to get me to the tire dealer.

The second problem was that if I had new tires mounted before I restored the rims, then I would have to try to restore them with the tires on. That didn't seem to be the way to go and it wouldn't allow me to take a look at the inside of the rims to see what shape they were in.

I decided the best approach would be to remove the wheels, take them down to the tire dealer, and have them remove the tires. Then, I could bring the rims back home, restore them, and return to the tire dealer to have new tires mounted.

There was only one problem with this plan. I didn't own any jack stands to put the pickup on while the wheels were off. I thought about using 2x4's to set it on, but I also didn't own a decent jack. The only jack in the pickup was a bumper jack and I wasn't about to use it for fear of bending my chrome bumper. I probably could have used the jack from one of the daily drivers, but they are both wimpy little things designed to be used ONLY in case of emergency, and I didn't think this qualified. So, what do you do when you don't have the right tools? Correct. Borrow them from the neighbor.

Fortunately my neighbor is a DYI kind of guy and has tons of tools. I borrowed his hydraulic floor jack and his two jack stands. I wanted to remove all four wheels at the same time, but I thought it might be rather tacky of me to ask him to go buy another set of jack stands I could borrow. So, I decided to do the wheels two at a time. I also decided I needed to buy my own floor jack and jack stands. I eventually did just that, at my very first swap meet. But, I'll save that story for another time.

I took the two front wheels off and took them down to the tire dealer. I told the manager what my plans were and he was more than willing to work with me. I told him I wanted new tires that were close to the originals in appearance and size. P225/75R15 Uniroyal Tiger Paws AWP were the closest match, so I purchased a set of four. I probably should have replaced the spare tire at the same time, but I wasn't going to be driving that much until next summer, so the spare could wait.

When the manager removed the old tires from the rims he commented that I had gotten my money's worth out of them. I told him I had only recently bought the pickup and he informed me that the tires had been manufactured in 1983. Man! I've never even keep a vehicle for eighteen years, much less a set of tires! It's a wonder that all of them weren't flat.

I took the rims home to restore. Although the rims were dirty, scratched and rusty, I didn't see anything that couldn't be fixed with soap, wire brush, sand paper, and paint. I used a spiral-wired cone wire brush that attaches to an electric drill to remove the heavy rust. I had previously purchased the wire brush for work on my Magic Chef stove restoration and it worked great for the rims.

With the heavy rust eliminated, I wet sanded the rims with 200 grit sandpaper. Lots of nooks and crannies in rims, so you have to sand a lot with the tips of your fingers. Combine this with the fact that your fingernails and flesh are super soft from all the water and what you end up with are fingernails sanded down to the quick. The ends of my fingers became so tender, I had to finish the second rim wearing a pair of gloves. It took a month for my fingernails to grow out enough to need cutting.

After sanding I washed the rims with Dawn detergent and wiped them down with PRE Painting Prep. After the rims had thoroughly dried, I applied two coats of rust-preventative primer and three coats of rust-preventative white enamel. Even if it was rattle can paint, the rims looked brand new.

I wanted the paint to cure well before mounting the new tires, so I waited a week before taking the rims to the tire dealer to get the new tires mounted. When the manager saw the rims he said he would mount them himself, because he didn't trust his help to mount them without scratching them up. I really appreciated that. That's the kind of service that gets me to come back. Too bad it is so rare to find now days.

I took the newly mounted tires back home and mounted them on the front of the pickup. I then swapped the jack stands from the front to the rear, took the rear wheels off, went back to the tire dealer to have him remove the tires, and then brought the rims back home to restore them. I went through the same process with the rear rims has I had done to the front (but I was more careful to not sand away my fingers).

A week later I took the rear rims back to the tire dealer and had the new tires mounted. Finally, I brought the rear wheels home and put them on the rear of the pickup. It had taken over 2 weeks to get new tires put on my pickup. Good thing it's not a daily driver or I'd be riding the bus a lot.

I wanted to put my newly restored wheel covers on right away, but I decided to wait and let the paint cure another week. I hated to scratch up the rims any more than necessary. A week later I put the wheel covers on. I think they look pretty sharp. Maybe not as sharp as rally wheels, but they are original and a lot cheaper.