willj

hi, does anyone know of any tricks to putting the spokes and all back together ,took apart to clean , having a problem putting it back together, any help would be appreciated ,thanks ,will.

66ninetyeightls

What exactly is the prblem you are having? Did you take all of them apart or did you at least keep one together for referance?

rocketraider

Uh, you didn't take all four apart at one time, didja?

What year? They assemble differently between years.

willj

i thank all for the reply, i guess i just was not putting enough pressure on the spokes where the center piece hooks to the spokes,i got it to work.thanks will.

Jaybird

Don't get met started on wire spoke wheel covers. You just had to bring it up!!! Didn't you???

I thought I'd take my Classic 67 Custom Holiday Coupe into the local Canadian Tire Store Saturday, May, 22, 2010 for a simple front end alignment.

I didn't need any parts, I just needed the wheels lined up straight.

Well... Sometimes, nothing is simple.

The guy had a hard time taking off the hub caps. He asked me if there was a lock or something. I sad no, they just pop off, and I had just installed them last week.

Well, he tried to take them off for a couple of minutes and finally got them off.

He lined the car up on the hoist and checked the computer and reported to me that he couldn't do the alignment because his computer only went back to 1978.

He asked me if I wanted to have the car aligned according to the information for a 1978 Oldsmobile. I declined his offer and suggested that we were finished doing business.

He reluctantly complied and reinstalled the two hub cabs on the driver's side. I reinstalled the two hub caps on the passenger's side.

After putting on the hub caps on my side, I went around to the driver's side to make sure that they were secured all the way.

Well... when I took a look at the back one, I almost friggin' died!!!

My Canadian Tire mechanic was a freakin' rammer. He freakin' dented my hubcap, taking it off my car.

You could say that I was quite pissed.

I let him know in plan language, what I thought of him and his abilities as a mechanic!!!

After I gave him my 2 cents worth (with quite colourful language), I went to speak with the manager.

She promised me satisfaction and gave me a letter to the fact.

Needless to say, I will not be back there soon!!!

Grrrrrrr!!!

willj

not a good experience from the sound of it,well when i first got my car ,i went to take the wire spokes off ,and i would have bet that they were bolted to the rim, i mean i tried and tried ,till i was ready to use a air hammer, so i gave up ,next day i used some wd 40,sprayed it all around each wheel , and in 5 minutes i could almost get them off with my fingers, worked nice , hope i can get my 65 starfire allighned, what really makes me nervois ,is one spins of when driving ,and i don,t notice it ,that would be depressing,oh well thanks to all, will.

Yellowstatue

Lesson # 413: Do not go to Trashy Tire for ANY mechanical work ...buying oil and wax and other stuff on sale is OK...

rocketraider

Somehow I missed the rest of this with Jaybird's experience. Invite them to find a comparable replacement wheelcover at their expense.

Knock on wood, I've never had much trouble getting my wire caps off anything. The ones that give me fits are the big diecast 3-bar spinners on the green 64 Starfire. They look nice and have to be used if if I'm running the stainless fenderskirts, but the car really looks its best with the wires.

Lesson learned- most alignment shops are not going to have the original specs for your old car, so it pays to find them yourself and have them handy to give the alignment mechanic before the job starts. That's another reason I beat the drum so loud about having a factory shop manual- it has all that stuff in it.

Jaybird

Candian Tire made good. The service manager said they would cover a replacement wheel cover or pay to have mine restored. I chose to purchase a replacement wheel cover that I found on eBay. It cost them $67.50 plus shipping. I'm pleased. The best part was the guy ruined my worst wheel cover.

Jaybird.

I'll be at the Canadian Oldsmobile Nationals in Barrie, Ontario, this August, 20th & 21st.

Be There or Be Square!