Not being – quite – utterly obtuse i tend to still pick up techniques and tricks along the way.
More precisely, living in a country with different and sibyllin package size limitations (between regular AIR mail, super fast EMS, and leisurely paced SURFACE shipping…) it is sometimes a safer option to pack wheels individually rather than two by two, unless you are into repacking on the spot, the spot being a tiny « yubbinkyoku », or Japan Post office.
Dont ask me how i know.
…And by that i dont mean my Japanese which is shamefully non existent.
But moving on, here is the technique i cobbled together for individual packing.
It is more supplies intensive, but faster and allow for a more constant protection than the all carboard 2 x 2 one.
What you need :
• Bubble packaging
• 2 cardboard disks, same diameter as the wheel, see cardboard method for details
• Tape : One brown heavy duty tape or 1 clear heavy duty tape + Brown covering tape
• One sharp knife or cutter.
Time required : 20-30 minutes per wheel.
Optional : « FRAGILE » / « handle with care » stickers
For this tutorial we are going to use a pair of AMG Monoblock AEROs, the original Hammer wheels (incidentally available here)
Lay the wheel upside down, apply bubble packaging.
Then dispose cardboard disk, affix it with 3 tape pieces in a 3-pointed star pattern.
Do likewise for the recto.
Now onto the perimeter. For that you will have to determine rougly a length and then cut it on your pre owned piece of carboard. The one i used had been more than fairly owned and not as crisp as some new ones, but it was perfect for this purpose : easily bendable. That is the all point of a tailored package : making sure it holds the wheel snug so said wheel doesn’t move around during transportation.
Now that you have enough to cover the whole length of the area of the wheel, tape it loose just enough for it to stay in place, using tape sparsely.
Now that it is in place you can go full thottle and tape the entire length.
If your area carboard piece is too tall cut it : just lay your knife flat on one of the disk and push it outward : it will cut the cardboard at just the right height.
Now that this is it done you have all the main actors in place, you have to make them stick together as one.
It is basically team building time.
First on the two faces two criss cross taping like so.
Then crossing that X another taping that goes full circle.
Once you have reached that point you are getting close.
It is no time to get out of focus. If you had to tape several pieces of cardboard for the area, now is the right moment to reinforce it vertically.
Great. Now our wheel is protected, well in place, but it doesn’t look great.
What’s more if like me you cant get your hands on proper sticky tape that isn’t transparent, you cant really see if your tape actually covers the edge completely.
We are gonna need to cover it.
An additional benefit of taking the time to do so it that it is going to look objectively better.
A package well made aesthetically is a very potent advantage if you are a seller.
It shows thoroughness and attention to detail to your customer.
The covering is fairly straightforward : two overlapping rounds of tape around one of the edge.
Press firmly by hand to make sure the edge is hermetically covered.
Then move on to the other face.
Then some vertical covering of the weak links.
Then you are done.
A final touch is the FRAGILE stickers, 3 or 4 applied on the edge of the face to alloy for the shipping slip to be taped on the center.
There you have it.
It takes between 15 to 30 minutes per wheel according to your experience level.
Me i was lucky i already had some cardobard disks laying around.
As the pictures will show you, there is no area where the cardboard isnt snug against the bubble wrap, or the wheel itself.
That’s the most important part of both of my techniques.
Packing sturdy outside but loose inside is like driving one of those pre crash proof cars of the 1950s : yeah the car is a proper tank and will take some doing to get damaged, but the poor souls inside won’t.
hope this help and if you have any questions ,comments or challenging views, please leave them below.
French Felgen 