I'm not being funny, but "Banded wheels" are for mugs.. the only thing they've got going for them is the offset looks cool, and absolutely nothing else!
Your car will handle like a pig, your camber/castor geometry will be a joke.
Wheel bearings will only last months...
Just because there seems to be no literal evidence on there legality, doesnt make them legal!
They would be seen as by the police as a dangerous modification, and no longer hold "Type approval" and would definatly not pass an MOT, as it would be left to the MOT testers discretion, and would more than likely void your insurance!
The welding on those rims looks like it was done by Stevie Wonder! they have been welded in 3inch segments around the radius of the rim, with what looks like very dubious penetration of the weld, that will cause metal fatigue! If anything it should be one continueous line, done by 2 MIG welders opposed to each other at 180dg...
Bottom line is mate, if you are "Into" your car, why you fitting sh!t to it!
Tom
Tom,
the offset will not change as the band is welded to the outside of the wheel.
Yes the welds are not the best in the world in this pic but this is just a sample we have had from one of many engineers.
THIS IS NOT HOW THE WELDS LOOK ON OUR FINISHED WHEELS.
The welds are now continous welds and look very smooth. These are now machine welded and look superb. The wheels are pressure tested and you get a certificate for the welds.
The wheels handle just like any other wide 8" wheel.
The final wheels after much scrutinising and testing is being done by an official engineer that has a licence to make wheels and does so for a lot of heavy duty pruposes. (has been doing them for many years)
I will put some more pics up later this week on the welds as they stand now.
People may think they look crap but thats there own opinion. I do love my car and i assure you the wheels look far from crap on my mk1 cabrio. Everyone is entitiled to there own opinion and make there car look as they want, i dont like being a sheep and following the rest of the world with wide alloys so i had been looking at wide steels for an old vw caddy project i am doing.
Better and finalised pics will be posted later in the week.
kris
Kris, thanks for the decent reply, I was expecting a mouth full! after many years being involved in motorsport , and accompanying trends in car modification, I have to say that Ive seen everything, and then some!.. Banded wheels have a bad name, that, is going to be very diffficult to shake that reputation off, posting those pics did not do any favours for the cause.
I HAVE seen banded wheels come apart, thankfully only on a race track, and many years ago, the failiure point was clearly the lack of penetration of the weld (MIG) followed by the weld being overdressed on the exterior of the wheel, this lead to small cracks to form, which in turn went rusty, and over a period of time caused the wheel to fail.
There are without question, serious safety issues with banded wheels, If you say that youve found production methods that vastly improve the quality of fabrication, then that's a good starting point, of which we could talk about all day..
Can you clear up a couple of points that I have in mind, If a customer notifies there insurance about the fitting of modified wheels, what would happen if that insurance policy was terminated, is there any comeback? and secondly, If an accident were to happen, god forbid! do you have any liability insurance.
Kris, Im not trying to knock what your doing, or the faith that you have in your product, but there are people out there, that will buy these wheels and ask no questions, if they have a little knowledge, from what they've read on this forum, then they can only make a better educated decision, that has to be better for everyone...
Tom
