Why is it that what seemed like a simple idea has become horrendously expensive and laborious? Is it not always thus?
The 1949 Light 15 Citroen needed new tyres. Simple. Go to the tyre shop, decide whether to go the cheap Chinese ones or the fancy French ones from the Bibendum people, swipe the credit card and drive away. How hard can it be?
Really hard, it turns out. First of all, Bernie Haddaway, the wonderful man who owned this car from 1951 until his death in 2015 had many years ago re-rimmed the wheels to make it easier and cheaper to replace tyres when they needed to.
The original tyres that Michelin supplied to Citroen back when these cars were new are horrifically expensive now – if you can get them at all. There was a time when they were unobtainable altogether, hence the re-rimming exercise.
So my options for tyres were:
1. Replace the ageing cracked 16″ taxi tyres on the wrong size rims with more of the same
2. Find a replacement set of original steel disc wheels, paint them and get the proper 165 x 400 Michelins for them
3. Use the exotic and rare ‘Pilote’ wheels that I have hoarded in my garage roof for decades and finally put them on a car with new Michelins.
After much deliberation, several failed attempts to win Tattslotto and a close look at my bank balance, I decided that as we are a long time dead it was stupid to put off using the Pilote wheels. After all – they are much better on a car than gathering dust sitting on a rack high in the garage roof.
Pilote wheels were made by Michelin for this specific model of Citroen. Period photos often show them, especially on roadsters. They were never offered as an option in Australia, but they were used frequently in Europe and oddly in NZ, from where these wheels probably originated.
They are gloriously embellished by body-coloured hubcaps with chrome domed centres that bolt to a tripod ‘spider’ that clips into the wheel rim. The entire performance is finished off by a specially turned chrome tapered bolt that holds them all together.
The first task was to address the condition of the wheels. The rims, inner and outer, are hollow and had many imperfections and even a few rust holes. I had eight Pilote wheels altogether and carefully studied them all to choose the five best and most round. They are now seventy or maybe even eighty years old and a few of them have clearly had a rough life.
I showed them to a specialist panel beater who works on cars much more valuable and fancier than my Citroen, and he slowly shook his head and declined to work on them. So I took on the task myself, accepting that it was not an economic proposition to ask a professional to fiddle endlessly with wheels that will never be perfect anyway. Now if they were for a Bugatti…
After the sandblaster removed all the crud and left them with a primer coat, I got to work with a fine file, sandpaper and several packets of the epoxy metal filler “JB Weld” to fill any holes, then drilled out the rivets that were holding old balance weights on, filled those holes and smoothed everything as best as I could. A few weekends with files, sandpaper and the Dremel rotary tool ended up with my own efforts making them as respectable as I could.
I chose to paint them cream in contrast to the sickly green of the body. The steel hubcaps ought to match the body colour, and Bill the panel beater and spray painter re-worked my wheel repairs, re-skimmed the surfaces and made the wheels and hubcaps look even better.
Tyre choice is simple-there is no choice! Michelin X tyres, 165 x 400 is all that will fit. Nothing else. A set of four was found at Stuckey Tyres in Brunswick, but they were whitewalls which I did not want to use. Too much bling! No other supplies could be found.
The solution was absurdly simple – the tread pattern is symmetrical and the tyres are fitted with the whitewall on the inside. With tubes and balancing, I said goodbye to $1700. Add on the bill from Bill, the cost of getting the hubcaps and domes and spiders from Depanoto the vintage car supplier in France and whatever else I needed and the entire exercise shows you how much I love this car.
I got quite a surprise when I went to put the finished wheels with tyres onto the drums and wheel studs. The old wheels were held on with special bolts with scalloped retainers sculpted to sit snugly into the dished rim of the old wheels. The Pilote has no such cupped rim and I had to make an emergency visit to Repco for twenty M12 wheels nuts with 1.25 pitch threads.
Getting the spiders to sit proud turns out to be less than simple, and on the back wheels the centre nut does not easily reach deep enough to connect. The front wheels have the opposite problem – the spider sits flush against the stub axle and there is no room for the nut to engage in order to hold the domed centre and the hubcap in place. More fiddling needed.
I consider myself fortunate to have secured the last four correct size Michelin tyres around. Stuckey’s tell me that the Russian invasion of Ukraine will impact tyre supplies globally and they do not know when they will get more of this unusual and little called-for tyre size.
As they only had four, I do not have a spare tyre that matches. By necessity, the spare wheel is still one of the old wheels! I am looking for a good second hand 165 x 400 Michelin tyre if anyone has one lying around!
From Unique Cars #467, Jun/Jul 2022