Banding Service Recomemdations

[r13kla]

Hi all,

I know this has probably been done to death and I did try searching but there is alot of none specific information relating to this topic.

Looking for peoples recomendations on someone that can band a set of 16” steel wheels for me?

Ideally as close to Milton Keynes as possible please.

TIA, Rick.

[jonsey]

I used Banded Steel Wheels in the South West. I wasn't to impressed with the service and had to fit tubes as everyone leaked,

[georgeb]

Try MrSpeedy. He's midlands way.

[lee337]

Try banded steels in Stockport, he's nowhere near you but he's done a great job on all the wheels he's done for me

[fad]

Banded steels Essex did mine. Was happy with them.

[ajc91]

Search for Zewspeed, formerly cotton reel steels.
I know people who've used him and would recommend.

A.J

[ChasR]

For the people who have banded there wheels who can band them so that they run true?

I'm sure I've seen some banded wheels that wobble visibly. Someone who can do them true however I'd be more than interested to know about.

[fad]

Banded wheels Essex. Mine run true. Had banded rears and narrowed fronts.

[gumpy]

Zak's business zewspeed always puts out outstanding work.

[Deleted]

Another shout for Banded Wheels Essex. They did some 16" Merc wheels for me and they were 100% perfect.

[Dez]

Dec 16, 2017 23:21:25 GMT jonsey said:

I used Banded Steel Wheels in the South West. I wasn't to impressed with the service and had to fit tubes as everyone leaked,

Mig welds are pourous and pretty much all banded steels need sealing afterwards unless you're incredibly lucky. You should have been told that by whoever was doing them beforehand.

[Dez]

Dec 17, 2017 12:51:33 GMT ChasR said:

For the people who have banded there wheels who can band them so that they run true?

I'm sure I've seen some banded wheels that wobble visibly. Someone who can do them true however I'd be more than interested to know about.

This isn't the fault of the person Banding them, it's the fault of the person getting them banded for not checking the wheels they want done are in good straight condition. If a wheel is wobbly before, it'll be wobbly afterwards, only exacerbated by the extra width. I'm pretty sure everyone I've seen banding them uses the back lip as reference not the hub face, understandably as otherwise they'd have to be making up bands that aren't an even width to take out any wobble. Not a realistic preposition, even before you take cost into account. The outer lip should be true to the inner lip, so that's how most people work it.

If the barrel is wobbly to the hub face, the wheel should be straightened before its banded if possible, or a better example found.

Try explaining that to a customer though, who typically has unrealistic expectations of what is possible and what their budget will allow.
It's why I don't really do them anymore except for myself.

[ChasR]

Dec 18, 2017 10:49:34 GMT Dez said:

Dec 17, 2017 12:51:33 GMT ChasR said:

For the people who have banded there wheels who can band them so that they run true?

I'm sure I've seen some banded wheels that wobble visibly. Someone who can do them true however I'd be more than interested to know about.

This isn't the fault of the person Banding them, it's the fault of the person getting them banded for not checking the wheels they want done are in good straight condition. If a wheel is wobbly before, it'll be wobbly afterwards, only exacerbated by the extra width. I'm pretty sure everyone I've seen banding them uses the back lip as reference not the hub face, understandably as otherwise they'd have to it bands that aren't an even width to take out any wobble. The outer lip should be true to the inner lip, so that's how most people work it.

If the barrel is wobbly to the hub face, the wheel should be straightened before its banded if possible, or a better example found.

Try explaining that to a customer though, who typically has unrealistic expectations of what is possible and what their budget will allow.
It's why I don't really do them anymore except for myself.

I am well aware of that . But I am aware this works both ways.

I know of one bloke who bands wheels for a living where on his own car they are wobbly, hence my question.

Of course, a wobbly wheel will always be that without straightening as you say:).

[MrSpeedy]

I do wheel banding, as George said. But it's just a little side line to my normalday to day engineering business.

As far as I know I'm the only person who actually parts them off in a lathe, using a fixture that the wheel bolts onto. So if the wheels are straight to begin with, they'll be straight afterwards.
They can be tweaked a bit on the outer lips, but if they've had a good kerbing then it's best to find some others.

I'm also the only person to my knowledge who welds them with MMA rather than MIG. There's two reasons for this.
As Dez correctly says, a lot of MIG welds are porous, usually due to impurities. MMA has the ability to 'burn through' all the curse word and curse word that is invariably caked onto the wheels, not to mention the rust which is also not friendly with MIG.
The other benefit of MMA is the ability to lessen the effects of a 'cold start' with the weld pool.

One other thing to point out is that some older wheels have the centres rivited into the outer. These are almos impossible to make 100% airtight just by welding and you usually have to weld very close to the rivets, and the heat cycle of welding WILL cause them to move and often loosen slightly. It's for this reason that when I band rivited wheels I always run a bead of weld to properly secure the centre to the outer

[jonsey]

Dec 18, 2017 10:42:40 GMT Dez said:

Dec 16, 2017 23:21:25 GMT jonsey said:

I used Banded Steel Wheels in the South West. I wasn't to impressed with the service and had to fit tubes as everyone leaked,

Mig welds are pourous and pretty much all banded steels need sealing afterwards unless you're incredibly lucky. You should have been told that by whoever was doing them beforehand.

I knew MIG could be porous but they just leaked extensively. I've got a set of old banded steels probably from the '70's I used to race with and they've never leaked. I did half expect I'd have to run tubes, but the service was the poor bit. I had to fill in an enquiry form saying what size, vehicle etc and fit given a turnaround time of 1 week. After 2 weeks I phoned to see where they were and was told it was my fault as I didn't tell him there was no centre hole so they wouldn't fit his jig. They turned up another week later. And all my fault😊

[discostew38]

Another recommendation for "Essex banded steels"
I've used them and they are good

[slater]

To be fair when's the last time you saw a wheel with out a centre hole!? What do they look like?

I find it slightly amusing how many people will do them nowerdays.. Doesn't seem 5 mins ago I was doing them for my metro and people thought I was crazy! I still get pms on here asking if I will band wheels but screw that at the current rates people charge. Horrible boring job, don't even bother doing my own ones anymore!

[Deleted]

Quite a few Peugeot/Citroen wheels had no centre hole.

[welshpug]

Dec 21, 2017 8:43:16 GMT @imperial said:

Quite a few Peugeot/Citroen wheels had no centre hole.

only the alloys.

[Deleted]

Fair point... just Citroen then?