# Zenith Wire Wheel info



## Top_Dog_Calistyle (Jun 8, 2003)

As I said before in another post, I was going to go talk directly with the owner of Zenith wire wheels to find out the scoop concerning the selling of the shop, the quality of the wheels etc. etc.

Just to let you know I even printed up some of the questions and staements that were being said in topics concerning Zeniths just to be sure to ask the right questions.

Not only was Mr Zenith very talkative, but he even took me and my homebody thru the shop and showed us his shop and repair shop, he showed us certain products that he has patents on, and gave us a good history about the company and whats been going on.


Now what everyone seems to wanna know is has the shop been sold?? Tha answer is NO.

The truth behind what happened is, that he was actually gonna sell the shop to Ray, who was the record owner of McCleans, they had worked out a complete deal, but ray COULD NOT COME UP WITH THE MONEY TO CLOSE THE DEAL, so the deal NEVER WENT THRU, and The Zenith wire wheel company was never bought or sold.

Mr Zeno ( as we call him) is and still remains a good friend to the guy Ray over at McCleans, and he spoke well of dude.

Mr Zeno also knows the owner of Dayton wire wheels company very well, and talks with him often also. He says that they both use some of the same suppliers for there spokes, plating, and other needs. So in that sense they both are similar wheels, but Mr Zeno told me that the "SPECS" he demands for the metals in his wheels and the plating process he has used on his wheels are higher and more demanding to insure more quality, then Dayton.

For instance the metal specs he uses for his knock off are 90,000 tensils, as compared to Daytons 65,000 tensils, which make his knockoffs a bit stronger and keep them from chipping & bending. While he says the "tensils" for a china wheel are around 25-35,000.

Now im not no fuckin engineer, and cant explain all this shit to any of you, im just passing on the info.

I even asked MrZeno about Keith, and he knew exactly who I was talkin about and gave me a lil history on Keith @ Homeboys, but all in all he spoke very highly of Kieth and had nothing but good things to say about him :thumbsup: 

I asked him about a warranty on his rims and such, and he told me that he gives a 90 day warranty on the structural integrity of his rims, but thats it. He has had too many people go out and buy the wire wheel cleaners that have "Muretic" (splg) acid in it. He explained that some wheel cleaner companies put that shit in there to help "clean" the rims, but it is also the active ingredient for the stripping & removing of chrome form metal surfaces. And if you leave that shit on too long it will eat your chrome up bigtime. He also did admit that Dayton has a much better warranty on thier wheels. 

But he told me a couple of other things, and that is that for one, he appreciates the business, but he is now 81 years old, and is ready to hang up his spurs  

He can and will ship his rims anywhere in the world, he showed me a pair about to go out to sweden.

He also told me that he is more of a "custom rim builder" and he in not going to change that. He has scaled down his operations and is not employing as many people as before, mostly due to the economy and shit, but he is also ready to retire.

Of course my next question was, well then what happenes to the shop, and he gave me one of those sly ass old man looks and said, well i dont know sonny, maybe i'll sell it, and maybe I will shut it down, but I wont know until next year.

He gave me a hell of a good deal on some 13" 3 X Gold 72 spoke Z's some im gonna be going back to pay him a visit real soon  

Overall it was a very good visit, we had a very good talk and he was very upfront.

Sorry this was so freakin long, but this is the real deal scoop as best I could get it and relay it to you.


any questions ??


Also the number for The Zenith Wire Wheel company is 

408.379.3136
898 S Mcglincy Lane #A
Cambell, Ca. 



Last edited by Top_Dog_Calistyle at Dec 8 2003, 01:28 PM


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## dreday (Sep 29, 2003)

Homeboy, you need to be a news reporter...  

Good info though, :thumbsup:


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## [email protected] (Jan 6, 2003)

That's cool with me, I wondered because there is a picture of him and the owner of Mclean shaking hands formalizing the deal in my May issue of Scrape Magazine when it happened at the SEMA show in 1996.

The best thing to clean wire wheels with is a 100% non-nylon soft paint brush and mixing a soft hand washing solution like dove in a spray bottle with water  



Last edited by [email protected] at Dec 8 2003, 05:31 PM


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## Crush (Feb 27, 2003)

Very informative and should put an end to all the misconceptions floating around.

Thank you for taking time to find out the real deal.

:thumbsup:


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## HB WIRES (Jun 18, 2002)

well homie i guess thats his side of the story(jim c.)........zenith and mcleans were sold together to star wheel inc,,,which was a div. of roadster family....after 6 months deals were made... it was sold to (zenith corp.) sold to to roadster....and mclean/star was sold to excalibur wheel....they were bought from my ex boss frank g. the owner of mclean/alfa...I work time 2 time for mclean/zenith over the last 10 years..as far as the real owner that would be ray at roadster wheel.i do know that over the years jim c has cont. to make zenith,with rays blessings...my guess is your interserested in buyin the name you sould call...me befor you do???909-5388246....peace 



Last edited by homeboyz at Dec 10 2003, 06:54 PM


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## Top_Dog_Calistyle (Jun 8, 2003)

Hey Keith, like I said he had good shit to say about you, so im sure you know a good bit of what went down, but anyways, he made me a deal of 4 - 3X gold Zeniths 72 spoke cross lace for 1300.00 or so, can you do better ? 



Last edited by Top_Dog_Calistyle at Dec 10 2003, 06:27 PM


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## HB WIRES (Jun 18, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Top_Dog_Calistyle_@Dec 10 2003, 07:27 PM
> *Hey Keith, like I said he had good shit to say about you, so im sure you know a good bit of what went down, but anyways, he made me a deal of 4 - 3X gold Zeniths 72 spoke cross lace for 1300.00 or so, can you do better ?*


 thats a good deal,,,nothin like that in stock sorry.... 13/7 96 spoke gold nib/koff 980.00...jim cool...


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## dayton roller (May 27, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Top_Dog_Calistyle_@Dec 8 2003, 08:22 PM
> *As I said before in another post, I was going to go talk directly with the owner of Zenith wire wheels to find out the scoop concerning the selling of the shop, the quality of the wheels etc. etc.
> 
> Just to let you know I even printed up some of the questions and staements that were being said in topics concerning Zeniths just to be sure to ask the right questions.
> ...


 thanks for the info


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## bigsexy408 (Jul 4, 2003)

wo that factory is down the street imma have to roll by and see if homeboy will twerk a deal on some dubs


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## topheavychevy (Jun 6, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Top_Dog_Calistyle_@Dec 8 2003, 02:22 PM
> *He has had too many people go out and buy the wire wheel cleaners that have "Muretic" (splg) acid in it. He explained that some wheel cleaner companies put that shit in there to help "clean" the rims, but it is also the active ingredient for the stripping & removing of chrome form metal surfaces. And if you leave that shit on too long it will eat your chrome up bigtime.*


 Does "Eagle 1" use that Acid ?


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## DUANeO (Feb 3, 2003)

does zenith have a website?


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## ZENITH_OF_CALIFORNIA (Dec 16, 2003)

> _Originally posted by homeboyz_@Dec 10 2003, 07:52 PM~1389850
> *well homie i guess thats his side of the story(jim c.)........zenith and mcleans were sold together to star wheel inc,,,which was a div. of roadster family....after 6 months deals were made... it was sold to  (zenith corp.) sold to to roadster....and mclean/star was sold to excalibur wheel....they were bought from my ex boss frank g.  the owner of mclean/alfa...I work time 2 time for mclean/zenith over the last 10 years..as far as the real owner that would be ray  at roadster wheel.i do know that over the years jim c  has cont. to make zenith,with rays blessings...my guess is your interserested in buyin the name you sould call...me befor you do???909-5388246....peace
> *


CORRECT


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## BEVERLY & ATLANTIC (Oct 28, 2005)

Zenith Wire Wheels :thumbsup:


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## MalibuMan82WGN (Oct 9, 2006)

sweeet news...lets see some zeniths!! post some pics!!


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## keneken (Oct 15, 2006)

DAYTON WIRE WHEELS. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: 

ZENITH WIRE WHEELS :thumbsup: 

CHINA WIRE WHEELS :thumbsdown: 

84's :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:


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## cholomike (Jul 12, 2012)

Top_Dog_Calistyle said:


> As I said before in another post, I was going to go talk directly with the owner of Zenith wire wheels to find out the scoop concerning the selling of the shop, the quality of the wheels etc. etc.
> 
> Just to let you know I even printed up some of the questions and staements that were being said in topics concerning Zeniths just to be sure to ask the right questions.
> 
> ...



Thank you for the scoop


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## Kiloz (Jul 7, 2011)

This thread gets cited so might as well share it in here.


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