A wire wheel is provided in which some of the array of spokes extending between the hub and the rim penetrate the latter in the outboard bead seat. This bead seat is of smaller diameter than the inboard bead seat but is covered by a ribbon of a plastics material the outer diameter of which corresponds to the bead seat. The plastics ribbon is trapped in the channel of the outboard bead seat and seals the spoke holes penetrating the outboard bead seat. Nevertheless a metal step is exposed above the plastics ribbon for abutment by the toe of the outboard tire bead (not shown).