'66 reproduction knock off wheels

[Rob A.]

What company makes(or made) the most accurate reproduction of the '66 knock off wheels?

[Peter J.]

Re: '66 reproduction knock off wheels

Rob,
I thought Corvette America (Auto Accessories of America) were the only ones making them today ,and they recently went to China for manufactoring. I could be wrong but I thought I read a post by one of the more learned members of this board. Quality has been a problem with the imports. Virgina Vettes sells them on ebay at a pretty good price. So I emailed them a couple of times about the imported wheels quality but can't get an answer from them.
Pete #25176

[Rob A.]

Re: '66 reproduction knock off wheels

Pete,

I'm trying to educate myself on these wheels. I've seen some advertised as older sets made by Western. Perhaps the reference to older is referring to them being of better quality, made in the U.S.

[Don H.]

Re: '66 reproduction knock off wheels

I suggest you look into the direct bolt ons. I have a set on my 65 and love them. Any repro can easily be spoted (knock off or bolt on) so why not have the added feature, no worry of losing a wheel. Don H

[Page C.]

Re: '66 reproduction knock off wheels

Hi Rob.
It's my understanding that the wheels were made by Western Wheel in the USA and sold thru Corvette America. I bought a set at spring Carlisle in April 1979. The quality was good but you could still tell that they were repros. After making and selling them for about 25 years in the USA, I guess the greed factor was too great and they moved the operations to China last year. Before you could tell the repros from about 10 to 20 feet, now it's about 50 to 100 feet.
Just my opinion,
Page Campbell

[Dave K.]

Re: '66 reproduction knock off wheels

I believe that Western Wheel was owned by Rockwell International. Western/Rockwell exited the wheel market and sold the rights to manufacture years ago to Corvette America. Corvette America outsourced to China for mfg. I've also heard that the quality of the Chinese product is very poor but have not personally seen any of the Chinese mfg. ones.

Dave K.

[John H.]

Re: '66 reproduction knock off wheels

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the Chinese-made wheel on the right, and the previously U.S.-made repro wheel on the left; the machined surface on the fins on the Chinese-made wheel is MUCH wider. Corvette America claims there were NO tooling changes made when they shipped the job to China - shows how much they understand about manufacturing.

[Jay G.]

Re: '66 reproduction knock off wheels

The wheel on the right has a General Lee look about 'em from The "Dukes".

[Page C.]

Re: '66 reproduction knock off wheels

They might say there was no tooling change but the price of the wheels sure went up. I guess it the cost of shipping it to China.
Page Campbell

[Mark K.]

And here's what an original wheel looks like.

Boy, every time John shows that Chinese wheel, it's almost hard to believe they could mess up the fin size that much. Here's an original wheel for comparison. The Western wheel comes real close, but that Chinese wheel....

[Harry Sadlock]

Re: And here's what an original wheel looks like. *NM*

[Dave K.]

Re: '66 reproduction knock off wheels

John,

I suspect that the Chinese were having casting problems with the vanes cracking and decided to make them thicker. Results in a rather ugly looking wheel.

It was good seeing you at the National Convention

Regards,
Dave K.

[William C.]

Re: '66 reproduction knock off wheels

Actually, it looks like they have reverted back to the practice of using only one mold for both K/O and Bolt-on wheels. The original K/O wheels use a much thicker fin than the bolt-ons, amd when reproduction bolt-ons first came out they all carried the wide fin. I haven't kept up with more recent repro bolt-ons, but the picture of the current wheels sure looks likt a throwback to about a 20 year old reproduction..

[Patrick H.]

Re: '66 reproduction knock off wheels

I'd suspect that John is correct. The people at Corvette America have no idea how to spec out this job and how to set the standards of what they would like made. As my Dad's job is all about helping people do exactly this type of thing, I can tell you that Corvette America got exactly what they asked for. They just weren't smart enough to ask for the right thing.

Patrick

[William B.]

Are the new repos stamped Western Wheel?

Are the new bolt on repos still stamped western wheel or do they say CHINA?