Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Adjusting spokes!

Whilst cleaning a rear wheel the other day I noticed a spoke a little loose on the 7 inch stainless rims of the Roadster. Very aware that adjusting same will alter the true of the wheel but figured just tightening one to same tension as others would be better than nothing. Didn't have a spoke key but a tiny adjustable I have fitted fine and a fraction of a turn had it sorted. Then checked the other wheels and found a single loose one on the other rear. Fast forward a couple of days and lowering car off ramp to find a rear flat - then the other as well! Quickly realised I have disturbed the spoke seals for the factory fit tubeless tyres

Lesson learnt so will approach our local tyre shop to see if they can help with the re-sealing process as don't want to have inner tubes fitted if avoidable. I guess it might be worth having them fully checked for true first though. Would be interested to hear of others who have had similar issues.

Plenty of history on here if you do a “spoke” search, of people making the same expensive mistake. A couple of years back, someone was quoted around £70 a wheel to strip and replace sealant whereas Dave W found a local garage to do minor repairs much cheaper, though that was minor damage after tyre change rather than spoke penetration. Others should be along soon to give first hand experience.

I watched my local garage change the tyres on my Roadster, about three years ago. The tyre bead nipped the sealant on four out of five wheels, despite the fitter being really careful. He had some dark grey silicon sealer, which he applied after removing the flaps of disturbed sealant, and we left it overnight to cure. It was such a good match that it was hard to tell where the repairs had been made. Since then there have been no leaks.

If you turn the spoke nut it will twist the sealer and crack it just enough to allow a slow leak.

The recommended way is to send the wheels back to MWS for a full reseal, but I decided to use the method above.

I’ll consider myself extremely lucky then, my 2nd hand fancy dress wheels still have the air they came with, I didn’t even bother to check the pressures, they look fine so they must be fine. No loose spokes even after a long journey bouncing about in the back of a fedex van either.

Thanks Dave. I will see what our local tyre shop, who seem well versed in wire wheel work, say.

Watched video's on the subject and only difficult DIY part is painstakingly removing old sealant with wire brush before cleaning with solvent then evenly applying 100% silicone and leaving to cure.

I recently referenced spokes in a different context (post 719611) but as I didn't get any follow-up comments I thought I would repeat it here:
…. does anyone actually lubricate their spoked wheels ? Mine are stainless, but I recall seeing specialists apparently offering stove-enamelling and painting services, surely that locks the spokes solid ? Everything you ever wanted to know about wire wheels is here: https://www.truespoke.com/frequent-wire-wheel-questions

Been there, done that after a similar tyre monkey issue that DW suffered, It's a horrible job and a complete PITA

Richard
You can also try gloop but I would recommend using the tyre on the car to ensure good wheel balancing

Thoughts are that would be thrown out by centrifugal force onto inside of tyre rather than inside of rim where it's needed John.

I know but it does work. I would only trust it on the spare though