No more Centerline racing wheels....

[Lordmodelbuilder]

Not sure if anyone posted this or not but I just heard yesterday that Centerline Racing Wheels closed up shop last month.

Big bummer to the 1:1 automotive world.  Maybe someone will take over production.

Edited May 14, 2017 by Lordmodelbuilder

[Dave Van]

Sorry.....never liked them in 1/1 or model.....seemed bland to me.

[mikemodeler]

Had a neighbor who had set of them on his street car back in the late '70's and when polished, they looked great. I earned some money over the course of two summers keeping them clean long before there was a Mother's Power Ball to make the job easier! 

[Longbox55]

Their site still seems to be up, but I did see posts on a Yelp site that matches up with what you're saying, Brad. doesn't surprise me, though. Last time I had any dealings with Centerline, they cost the shop I was working at a $1300 wheel/tire sale because they never shipped the wheels. They weren't even an odd fitment, just the regular Centerline wheel for a '67 Dodge Dart. They claimed they only had 2 on hand, and had to wait for 50 orders before they would make the other 2 needed. By the time they called us to say that they had them ready and were shipping them, the customer had cancelled the order. Our shop wasn't the only one in the company that had issues with them, ended up costing them a rather large contract due to poor customer service.

[High octane]

Sorry.....never liked them in 1/1 or model.....seemed bland to me.

They were for racing, and didn't have the good looks of a Cragar or Keystone wheel.

[Dave Van]

Yea....I know.....just thought the 70's era cast wheels the P/S guys used were much cooler. 

[Mark]

The early Centerlines were better looking than the Cragar "street version" Super Trick wheel, which didn't look much like the racing version at all. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

When they were introduced for road racing, they were the trick setup for a time.

They were lighter, rounder, stronger and easier to balance than cast wheels (the original racing Centerlines were spun aluminum) and you could make up virtually any offset / backspace combination by swapping rim inner and outer sections (they bolted together, sealed with a big O-ring).

 

[Daddyfink]

One of the biggest problems for Centerline was keeping up with trends and competition from cheap wheel makers in Asia. Plus, their customer service was not all that great. 

I once contacted them regarding some wheels and they took forever to reply and then gave me a crazy price, maybe trying to scare me off. Shame, they did make some cool stuff at one time. 

 

[Mark]

When they were introduced for road racing, they were the trick setup for a time.

They were lighter, rounder, stronger and easier to balance than cast wheels (the original racing Centerlines were spun aluminum) and you could make up virtually any offset / backspace combination by swapping rim inner and outer sections (they bolted together, sealed with a big O-ring).

 

It was the original Cragar Super Trick wheels that were made up of interchangeable, spun halves.  The Centerline wheel halves were stamped, and permanently riveted together., at least all the ones I have ever seen.  Maybe they made some early ones that copied Cragar's design.  One of my older brothers bought a bunch of original Super Trick wheels some years ago.  I borrowed a couple of the halves to measure for a project.  The bolt-together Super Tricks weren't intended for street use, Cragar sold a "street version" that was made up of a steel rim and aluminum center section like their other wheels.  The street wheel was chrome plated, heavy, and really didn't look anything like the racing wheel. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

It was the original Cragar Super Trick wheels that were made up of interchangeable, spun halves.  The Centerline wheel halves were stamped, and permanently riveted together., at least all the ones I have ever seen.  Maybe they made some early ones that copied Cragar's design.  One of my older brothers bought a bunch of original Super Trick wheels some years ago.  I borrowed a couple of the halves to measure for a project.  The bolt-together Super Tricks weren't intended for street use, Cragar sold a "street version" that was made up of a steel rim and aluminum center section like their other wheels.  The street wheel was chrome plated, heavy, and really didn't look anything like the racing wheel. 

Both the Centerlines and the Cragar Super Tricks came out in 1970, and were essentially copies of Fred Puhn's design from the 1960s. They were probably changed just enough to avoid patent infringement issues. I saw my first set of this type of wheel on a D-Sports racer in SCCA at the runoffs (the nationals were still referred to as the ARRC, American Road Race of Champoins) at Road Atlanta, a little Quasar, also designed by Puhn. That particular set of wheels was bolt-together (if I remember correctly, and I probably do because I was really blown away by the whole concept and the reduction in unsprung weight the wheels made possible...of immense importance in ultra-light road racing cars, of which we would run two slightly later in my career, a D-Sports tube frame Abarth, and a C-sports 1300 OT Abarth coupe). They were also somewhat expensive, even more than the cast magnesium Campagnolos we ran on the Abarths.

At some point, Centerline began to move away from hyperlight pure racing wheels, began making riveted units, relatively heavy street wheels, and I lost interest entirely.

EDIT: At least that's the way I remember it. It has, after all, been about 47 years.

   

Edited May 17, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[OneTrickPony]

I owned Centerlines, Super Tricks, and Street Tricks back in the early 80's. The Super Tricks were the bolt together wheels, Centerlines were riveted. The Street Tricks sort of looked like chromed Super Tricks if you squinted just right ;-)

The Centerlines and Super Tricks were the drag racing versions. The Super Tricks were recommended to only be used with tubes because they did not have the safety bead to hold a tubeless tire. The Centerlines had the safety beads.

I wrecked the car with the Street Tricks and 3 of the 4 wheels broke the center section out from the rim. They were cast aluminum centers welded to steel rims and all three broke at the welds from sliding sideways. I decided at that time that I would never own any wheels built like that ever again, and I haven't.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Again, to the best of my remembrance, the original racing Centerlines from 1970 were pretty much identical to Fred Puhn's Chassis Engineering "monocoque" wheels...bolt together, sealed with silastic and a big O-ring. The CE wheels were spun from 6061 aluminum alloy, with a T6 heat treat.

Anybody who was actually involved in road-racing in 1970 probably saw both the original Centerlines and the Chassis Engineering wheels.

Again, it's entirely possible I'm remembering the Centerlines wrong, but I know for a fact the Chassis Engineering wheels were spun and bolted. In 1970, when the original Centerlines came out. 100% certainty, no BS.

[peteski]

I had Centerlines on my '76 Camaro (in the '80s).  I still have them in the basement.  I always liked their clean brushed-aluminum look.

They are made of front and back halves riveted together using stainless steel rivets.  The halves are sealed by a thick bead of clear silicone.  So that is how they were made (at least in the '80s when I bought them).

[mademan]

It sucks... most people just remember that Centerline made 14-15"  wheels...... people dont realize all of the other lines and brands associated with them, from Truck wheels to 20+ " billet wheels. Definitely a huge loss in the automotive world .... unfortunately I wasnt able to get another set of 20" Smoothies for my next project

[JollySipper]

I've always liked these wheels..........

Were these ever used in a racing application, or were they just for street use?

[Ace-Garageguy]

I've always liked these wheels..........

Were these ever used in a racing application, or were they just for street use?

That's a street wheel with fake rivets. 

[Rob Hall]

It sucks... most people just remember that Centerline made 14-15"  wheels...... people dont realize all of the other lines and brands associated with them, from Truck wheels to 20+ " billet wheels. Definitely a huge loss in the automotive world .... unfortunately I wasnt able to get another set of 20" Smoothies for my next project

 

Yeah, for street use, they seem like a '70s-80s style thing to me...I remember the 14-15" sizes then, don't remember noticing them in the 90s to present as wheel sizes got larger.  I do like them for some model cars, though.   The funny thing is in 30+ years of driving, I've never bought a set of aftermarket wheels..only had stock wheels on my 1:1 cars.

Edited May 19, 2017 by Rob Hall

[mademan]

 

Yeah, for street use, they seem like a '70s-80s style thing to me...I remember the 14-15" sizes then, don't remember noticing them in the 90s to present as wheel sizes got larger.  I do like them for some model cars, though.   The funny thing is in 30+ years of driving, I've never bought a set of aftermarket wheels..only gad stock wheels on my 1:1 cars.

Ive owned 40+ cars..... cant stand stock, and cant stand having a car that looks like anyone elses...... so ive bought allot of aftermarket wheels, lol

[426-Hemi]

-I've never been a big fan either..... I like "other" wheels even stock ones at times apeal to me more then the Centerlines....

Sadly enough those who posted about them "not delivering" your NOT alone! I've worked in a garage that had a similar issue, AND heard of a few others local to me at that time complain about Centerline not filling orders.....

[my80malibu]

They were for racing, and didn't have the good looks of a Cragar or Keystone wheel.

very true I had some on my Malibu,and passed many cars that had Crager& Keystone wheels.