[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by fiddlybits

Guys, I getting confused here.

What I am reading is they are not needed but....

"They are cheap insurance...."
"They give peace of mind....."
"They are a safeguard... "

......but against what?

Rough insides of the wheels

My question now is: Did Ford ever install these or were they added later when a rim had a problem?

See Tom's post above

Some thoughts:

On my old motorcycles I had spoked wheels and the purpose of the rubber band was to protect the inner-tube from the ends of the spokes. But the Model A wheels use a welded spoke that does not go through the rim.

But in some cases roughens up the surface, See Toms post.

If it is to keep the tube from contacting metal then the rubber band is too narrow as it only covers the valley bottom. The tube would still contact the metal from the bead to the valley walls.

There are liners and there are flaps, flaps are wider. Depends on how bad the metal is

The rim is not a split rim so there is no need for protection from the split.

I could see installing them if I had rust or rough surface problem on the inside of the rims but a new wheel would not have this. (and we don't)

Then don't install them, no post here has said you HAVE to.

An old story:
My wife was preparing a ham one time and I watched as she cut the end off the ham and put it in the pan. I asked her why she cut off about 1/5 of the ham and she said that it was the way her mother taught her to bake a ham. Curious, I call my Mother In Law and asked her why she had taught my wife to prepare the ham that way. She said that it was the way HER mother had taught her. When asked about this her mother said "the whole ham would not fit in the tiny pan she had".
So, for 2 generations a procedure had been performed for no reason at all other than "that's the way I was taught". It was never questioned.

Are rim liners (rubber bands) being put in because "we always have"?

NO, most are not as lucky as you to have wheels in such great shape. Restorers put them in due to not wanting to take a chance on missing something on the wheel and they are cheap insurance. You can use duct tape if you want.



Respectfully, what is the purpose of the rim liner in our Model A wheels?

Re-read the thread to see several reasons.

Scot

You asked a question and were given answers, put them in don't put them it the decision is yours. My wheels were rough in the deepest part of the wheel. It was easier to put in a liner then to restore the metal to smooth.