Hello all. A few weeks ago I went to and auto shop and had my wheels rotated and balanced for free (when you buy tires from them and only lasts the life of the tires). I looked at my center cap yesterday and saw that it was loose. Thought that it was just the retaining ring, but found that the tire shop cracked my rim. The structural integrity of the rim is not compromised, but I am not happy that I could have lost an expensive center cap and the fact that I have a damaged rim.
Long story short, does anyone have a source where I can buy a rim of the same style as this one?

 

Junkyards are a good start, if nothing in that style you could get some temporary full size steelies.

If I were you I'd demand a refund from the tire shop.

 

The only local junk yards have Volvos from the late 90's at the earliest. I normally go to a salvage yard in Atlanta (1.5-2 hour drive depending on traffic) that has near everything from the 80's on up.
The manager there told me that he could not find any place locally with the same style rim. He then said that if I find one and buy it, he'll reimburse me the money as long as I have a bill of sale.
He also at least got a specialist to tig weld the rim to keep the center cap in place while I drive.

 

I have a set of four of these for sale, called Dracos, came on 1986-1989 740 Turbos, and 1991 740 Turbos, 1990 had Hydras...

 

I'm curious how a wheel could be cracked /without/ causing structural integrity issues.

note btw, there's a similar looking wheel called 'Virgo' that was used on sportier 240 models, the 5 spokes are a bit thinner, and have a 'channel' machined in them...

draco:


virgo:


these are both 15" wheels.


These are the 16" Hydra's that Lev mentions...

on my 1992 740T (which came with Aries 15")

 

Sorry if the image is a little big. This is the crack from two angles before the weld. It extends to about halfway around the center piece.

 

wow. I hate to think what ape move could do that in a tire shop. the bolt hole beveled shoulder inserts look pretty munged too.

I believe these wheels are centered on the hub by that center hole fitting onto a taper, the bolts just secure it and take the torque, they don't center it.


btw, weld? I am pretty sure these wheels are cast/forged from a single piece of alloy.

 

a few resources: car-part.com will let you search yards by wheel style. Ebay is always good for wheels and finally wheelcollision.com for replacements/repairs. You can even trade in your bad wheel as a core.

 

If you're looking for just 1, the ebay/junkyard route is pretty decent. I've done well over the last few years on ebay looking for parts for my volvo. The ebay route just requires patience. If you are willing to wait a few months, you're sure to find one. Knowing their name--dracos--helps a lot when seaching. The only problem is sometimes the people listing them don't know their names, but SFAIK, they were only on 700s. Maybe 900s, but not 200s, so searching for dracos or 700 volvo 15 inch rims will probably bring you some results. I just ran a search and found a few.

 

here's a page I found online from a factory options catalog for 740/940/960, probably from the early 90s.



the line under the wheel name is the hub cap and its part number. many of those hub caps are still available as NOS from Volvo, I bought a new set of hub caps for my Hydras (which uses the same one as Draco, but a different one from Aries and Nova). Nova is a real nice 15" wheel, thats what came on early 960s, its very strong and true, gives a good ride.

buying used wheels, make sure they are straight. if I can't bring them to a tire shop to test, I'll hand spin them on a car, and use a pencil or something as a rim marker to see if there's any radial or lateral wobble. my 740T came with its original Aries, and 2 were bent, resulting in an awful vibration at speed and generally crappy ride. I got the 4 hydras with bald tires that held air from a volvo hobbyist in the bay area for $200 and my two bent aries with bald tires as rollers for his project car (hah hah). After I had 4 new tires on the hydras, I flipped the two good aries with mostly worn but drivable tires via craigslist for $50 each to a young guy who'd bent 2 wheels of HIS families loaner car he had two borrowed steelies on the car, so we mounted them up right there in the parking lot when we did the sale, he was a happy camper.

 

Sorry if the image is a little big. This is the crack from two angles before the weld. It extends to about halfway around the center piece.[/QUOTE]

It doesn't look structural so I would just get it fixed. That can be repaired . I have a summer set I use that is the same wheel. they seem to bend easily but balanced out ok. Try Ebay and if none are there I have seen a few wheel sellers on the net. Just look up Volvo wheels.

 

The damage is cosmetic. You can just hammer/bend the damaged part into place so the cap will fit and you'll be alright...

 

Just FYI, the Pullapart yards in ATL don't have any of those wheels. I was there looking for one a while back.

 

alloy wheels often get collected from the junkyards by wheel resellers...

1989 Volvo 760 15x6-aluminum-alloy-5x108mm-bolt-pattern-wheel-rim-70161

 

OK, I managed to find a wheel for my car at a yard in Atlanta. They said that they have one at their warehouse for $95. Going to pick it up in about two weeks (spring break). If they don't check if the rim is bent, I can do it at the college I'm at.