I’ve decided to build a jig to hold a wheel while I’m installing rivets. The basic plan is this:

• Use a piece of steel plate as the base. Mine was about 1/16″ (1.5 mm) thick.
• Weld the rivet install tool, and two wheel support pipes to the steel plate
• Create two wheel hold-downs out of pipe with nuts and washers.

For more information, see Wheel Repair, pt. 3

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On the wheel hold-downs, I was going to put a bolt through the top to act as a handle, but they seem to work well enough without it. I can always add them later. I did need to weld a washer under the nut, on the bottom side of the hold-down; just a pipe with a nut would not tighten-up enough against the wheel.

For the wheel supports with the VW lug bolts, they too seem to hold up when tightened, and don’t turn. I could weld them to the pipe, or hammer the pipe flat against the bolt to keep it from turning, but as of now I think it will work without that. Plus, I won’t be damaging the lug bolt and will be able to return it to use in the future.

I’m removing the old hubcap retaining clips from the four main wheels. Most people probably just grind-off the top of the rivet head, and use a punch to remove what’s left of the rivet. I put some grinder marks on the wheel when taking out the rivets from the spare, so decided on this method for the remaining wheels:

• Remove the old tire valve
• Strike a mark with a center punch on the underside/bottom of each rivet
• Drill a hole from the bottom of the rivet through the top (I first used a 5/32″ or 4 mm, then came back with a 3/16″ or about 5 mm)
• Use a pin punch, just punch out what’s left from the bottom.

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Today I started cleaning the wheels. The extra wheel that I have will be my spare. It has some dents around the rim, and I’m not sure how serious it is.

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First off, I ripped out the old valve stem. Then, with an angle grinder, shaved-off as much as I could of the underside of the rivets. Then I drilled holes in the rivets. This may have been unnecessary. I used the grinder on the front of the wheel, and ground off the rivet heads, then punched them out.

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Finally, I used the wire brush attachment on the angle grinder to clean off the rust and grime.

The spare wheel that I have will not let go of its tire. It looks like the rubber has actually rusted to the metal wheel. Perhaps the steel bands inside? I don’t know, but I’ve tried regular methods of tire removal, and when that didn’t work I started cutting the tire. First, with a hacksaw, then a box cutter/utility knife. Hard work, but I got most of the tire cut away. A ‘ring’ of the tire is still affixed to each rim of the wheel.

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While searching the internet for someone with a similar problem, I found a suggestion that the tire may be loosened by saturating the rim area with brake fluid. I tried that over several days. While it removed the paint from the wheel, it didn’t do a lot to free the tire.

Next step — to clean up the area where the tire and wheel meet. Maybe I can see better what is going on. I picked up a wire wheel attachment for my angle grinder.

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The wire wheel removed some tire material, until I could see the metal bands/wires inside the rubber of the tire. Eroding the tire rubber smells bad.

Once I got to the metal strands, I used a pair of lineman’s pliers, and then a cut-off wheel to cut through some of the bands. Once I cut enough of them, the tire ‘ring’ came loose of the tire. I didn’t need to cut completely through the tire. It seems that the circumference of the tire had tightened-up over the years. Getting it loose enough allowed the tire to then be pried off the wheel.

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