How to prevent wheel straps from marring wheels

Andy · December 4, 2021

I’m struggling to prevent wheel damage with tie downs. Some wheels just stick out to far from the tire to prevent contact between the strap and wheels.

its worse with wider cars my roll back deck is 8’3” wide seems to me more outward angle I can get the more clearance I can get.

The problem is compounded by other factors a lot of my tows are off gravel driveways or roads my straps always have grit in them I clean them from time to time but it’s a moot point it rains a lot here theres dust and grit in them a lot of my tows are sixty plus miles with the start location being running through some winding mountain road so theres movement and often load shift. Mind you I’m ADD anal retentive and am not just half ass strapping cars down and going.

towed a car this week with expensive wheels that stuck out From the tires slightly spent a ton of time getting the straps positioned with as much clearance as possible only to find a married spot on one wheel when I got there. It was minor and probably never to be found but seeing this after really spending to much time getting this car loaded with clearance was aggravating

One thought I have is if a longer or shorter cross strap the one with the loop ends would gain me more clearance if there sold in different lengths even? But I really doubt this is going to help.

Hopefully I’m just doing something wrong and there’s an easy solution.

GRUMPS The Towman · December 5, 2021

I keep a good stock of clean terry-cloth / micro fiber rags in a Small container that I use strictly for placing between my straps and any fancy wheels I come across. So far so good.. It is also one of those "lil extras" that customers see you go out of your way to do that can garner an extra tip from time to time..