Hi All,
I was doing some research and wondering if anyone knew of any Aussie wheel manufacturers. Here is what I had come up with so far:
ROH
CSA (Mullins)
Speedy Wheels
Performance Wheels
Simmons Wheels
Neal Wheels
Can anyone think of anymore?
Globe
Peko ("Star" = white steel, made around Dandenong?)
Cheviot
R.O.K.
Aunger
ACE 30 & ACE 40 oil: specially formulated for your Air Cooled Engine...
Delivery free Outer Eastern Melb. & Dandenong Ranges.
from$19 for 2.5L (spot-on for 1 fill, re-use bottle to measure), or $29 for 5L (2 fills)
In the past;
Tasman
Magnum
"The best trophies are stone chips"
1969 1500 Beetle "Otis"
2008 Golf GTI
Dragway
Keel
I'd rather wear a Beetle out by racing it than by polishing it!
ROH were made in aus. Tried to get center cap decals the other year. They couldn't help as the manufacturing was majority in china now.
ROH were the OEM manufacture for most of the domestic car makers here. They made some nice wheels back in the day.
71 notchback,
Past owner of, 70 NB, 73 SB and 72 FB TLE
vlad01 wrote:ROH were made in aus. Tried to get center cap decals the other year. They couldn't help as the manufacturing was majority in china now.
ROH were the OEM manufacture for most of the domestic car makers here. They made some nice wheels back in the day.
Hey Vlad, ROH still claim to manufacture in Aust.
http://www.roh.com.au/roh-wheels-australia.phpIm guessing not all of it is. when I asked for spare parts they informed me the manufacturing wasn't here and couldn't help me. That was about 3 years ago. I asked for spares. they said no, I asked why and that was the reason. I asked why they couldn't just grab some from the assembly line, reason it wasn't here lol.
I am sure the OEM wheels are still made here, aftermarket mags, parts and such, probably overseas.
PITA, still havn't found any badges or suitable caps. I gave up ages ago. still have the wheels though.
71 notchback,
Past owner of, 70 NB, 73 SB and 72 FB TLE
Forgot about AJAX. they modify wheels too.
HappyDaze wrote:Keel
You're the only other person that I know that has heard of these. There is an original '63 Beetles in the Panania area with these.
I read it on samba, so it must be correct.
Sometimes Volkswagen dealers sell spare parts. Amazing isn't it!😂
Keel Wheels were made by a small family company in Kinsgrove. Keel was their name [Leek] spellt backwards.
The centres were cast aluminium, with chrome steel rims....they were heavy.
A few 'racing' wheels were made by Ozwheels, Mawer, Circle-Track, Hopwood, etc.
I'd rather wear a Beetle out by racing it than by polishing it!
Does anyone have any ideas on the symbols/markings used as a makers mark on rims? My wheels that I'm in the process of restoring for my bus have a letter "A" in a circle but with an extra line coming down through the centre. At first glance looked like a VW symbol but they aren't VW rims.
I believe they are 70's and made here. Any ideas?
ROH used that symbol, in 60's and 70's, the letter A in a circle with an extra line -- to make it look like an arrow in a circle. Don't know what it meant... Australian made?
ACE 30 & ACE 40 oil: specially formulated for your Air Cooled Engine...
Delivery free Outer Eastern Melb. & Dandenong Ranges.
from$19 for 2.5L (spot-on for 1 fill, re-use bottle to measure), or $29 for 5L (2 fills)
vlad01 wrote:I am sure the OEM wheels are still made here, aftermarket mags, parts and such, probably overseas.
OEM wheels for which manufacturer? Holden dropped ROH and resourced to Chinese and Korean suppliers years ago. Not sure what Ford and Toyota are doing though.
OEM wheel manufacturing is so price-competitive that the raw material price of aluminium makes the vast majority of the price, they are essentially bought by the tonne. Actual casting/machining/painting is done very cheaply.
the steel pressed wheels on falcons are still roh as far as I know, they were well into the 2000s, not 100% sure about now.
Every ford wheel thats factory I have looked at has ROH stamped.
I dont think Holden ever used ROH? never seen a stock holden wheel with ROH, all I have seen have GM cast or stamped sometimes HSV and GM part number 920 xxx xxx stamped.
I have personally always looked for ROH on them as I have one set that were but they were aftermarket ROH.
71 notchback,
Past owner of, 70 NB, 73 SB and 72 FB TLE
vlad01 wrote:the steel pressed wheels on falcons are still roh as far as I know, they were well into the 2000s, not 100% sure about now.
Every ford wheel thats factory I have looked at has ROH stamped.
I dont think Holden ever used ROH? never seen a stock holden wheel with ROH, all I have seen have GM cast or stamped sometimes HSV and GM part number 920 xxx xxx stamped.
I have personally always looked for ROH on them as I have one set that were but they were aftermarket ROH.
They were ROH, I found a source here:
' "We would be delighted to talk to Holden," said ROH general manager Bill Davidson.
"A lot has changed since we last supplied Holden with wheels in 2005."
Holden now sources most of its wheels from China, even though ROH is just 25km away from Holden's factory gate. '
http://www.news.com.au/national/adelaide-wheel-manufacturer-roh-calls-on-holden-to-use-more-local-parts/story-fncynjr2-1226732550517
ROH used to be optional or dealer-fitted on all sorts of things. I have a set of ROH alloys off an early 1990s Subaru Liberty, and they were fully imported from Japan! Presumably dealer fitted.
More interesting information:
"AUSTRALIA'S oldest wheel manufacturer will invest $5.5 million over the next nine months to secure a contract to supply car giant Toyota for another 10 years.
The new wheels will be fitted to all local and export versions of the Toyota Camry and Aurion sedans from 2015 to 2022, although some models will have them from as early as next August.
Adelaide-based ROH wheels, which once supplied all four local car makers - Toyota, Holden, Ford and Mitsubishi, but of those now only supplies Toyota's car assembly line in Melbourne - has already begun the ground works at its Woodville North plant to make way for new hi-tech machinery."
"At its peak 10 years ago ROH employed more than 450 workers and had three press lines running 20 days a month. It now has one press line running nine days a month."
http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/local-wheels-from-roh-in-adelaide-to-keep-toyota-rolling/story-fnda1bsz-1226732635534I have an Aurion for the family car. Local content had a BIG influence on why I bought it, it's a personal thing for me.
Hey, there's a big pile of my wheels in that pic. 😁
Oh yeah, I have a set of "kidney bean" mags in 4 x 130, made in Adelaide (?) by WESTERN WHEEL, so there's another manufacturer.
maybe they dont mark holden wheels? I thought they did in the past but havn't seen anything holden use marked roh. only GM markings. I got wheels from 80s to early 00s and I checked today, nothing on them to even give a clue of roh origin.
hmmmm? why was that girl at roh telling my they dont make them here? that looks like a manufacturing plant to me. maybe my problem was speaking to a girl that had no idea of anything beyond the front desk lol.
But do they make aftermarket wheels here? that was my understanding of the conversation that they didn't. And the only OEM is toyota now?
71 notchback,
Past owner of, 70 NB, 73 SB and 72 FB TLE
Probably the most common wheel on the planet I reckon was and probably still is, the bathurst globe 🙅😂
Still find paddock bombs and various cars wearing them today.
Had these convos before about people on the samba bagging out fuchs and how over rated they were, too common etc...
My response was, no way fuchs were never that common on vw, unlike the globes. 😀
No one there even knew what globes were.. pfft. stupid Americans. 😂
71 notchback,
Past owner of, 70 NB, 73 SB and 72 FB TLE
Don't forget, the Performance Challenger is also a carbon copy of the Bathurst Globe.
See
http://www.performancewheels.com.au/Home/Wheels.asp?theGroup=C&Cat=Classic
And thanks for all the feedback and info guys.
