I’ve been listening to some old surf/hot rod music lately and I’ve heard them mention chrome reverse wheels. I googled it but there seems to be some confusion or disagreement on the online sources.
Anyone got the straight dope?
They are wheels that have the hub attachment surface recessed into the structure of the wheel. Chrome is just the plating to make a mirror finish on the surface.
Used to be a thing for hot rodders to do but has largely died out, you occasionally see some older summer driver vehicles with them on still. A lot of the time fitting them requires a drum brake setup rather than the rotor and caliper setup we are accustomed to these days.
So, the “reverse” means that where a normal wheel has a raised area in the middle, the reverse wheel has a depressed area in the middle? Like the outside of a bowl vs the inside of a bowl?
Essentially yes. There are people who claim handling benefits by using them, personally I believe them to be just a matter of preference and appeal
No. The way they are made is the rim is cut loose from the center section, flipped around and re-welded. Since the offset of the wheel is different on each side (the center part is not centered in the rim), this provided a cool wide wheel look without actually having a wider wheel.
This can actually be done on the car. Just leave the center bolted on, flip the rim, tap it around until it it true and re-weld. That’s the way the early hot rodders did it, because no one had a lathe big enough to hold a wheel.
However it shifts the center of the tire contact patch with the road outward and can load the wheel bearings unfavorably.
A true wide wheel would keep the contact point about the same.
Dennis
Door handles are off, but you know I’ll never miss 'em,
They open when I want with a “sellyanoid” system.