Spyder, Aircraft Safety Wire on Wheel Lugs, necessary?

It's normally not necessary. But maybe it is in this case.

Those are 12mm screw-in studs, but those are not ball-seat lug nuts. They look like conical seat to, so could maybe come loose. Conical seat lug nuts are a no-no on VW ball-seat wheels.

FYI, those are CSP front brakes.

Danny beat me to it, wrong nuts on that car... dangerous.

I've had a few clients that had me safety wire their lugs, and in all cases it was juts to mimic a vintage photo and for no other reason.  I HATED it.  They are a pain in the a$$ to do, it makes a quick torque check impossible,  and it never fails that as soon as you're done twisting  all 5 lugs on a wheel it needs to come off for some reason or another...

I did a lot of safety wiring as an Aviation Electrician in the Navy. Carey is right ! It is a pain in the drain to deal with.  The safety wire job in that photo is installed wrong as well.  Can't tell from the photo but are the holes chamfered ?  if not,  the wiring will be cut on the first little bit of stress. The safety wire "pattern" should look like an "S" between two fasteners and in a manner such that if one fastener loosens, it will be against the tension of the wire and the other end, the wire is trying to tighten that fastener.  Position of the fastener holes helps to achieve a good safety wire pattern in some cases.......Bruce

I forgot to mention that the wire gage used was too thin too.......Bruce

So pretty much, with the car that is pictured, this safety wire job is mainly non functional and incorrectly installed, so most likely just for show, to appear vintage?

@americanworkmule posted:

So pretty much, with the car that is pictured, this safety wire job is most likely just for show, to  APPEAR vintage?

You hit the nail on the head. It’s all about appearances. Like roof racks and safari windows on VW busses. (Not to mention the obligatory vintage window swamp cooler*)
Go to a car show and more than half are so equipped. BITD, fewer than 1/1,000 were. I know because our family had “the one,” because we needed it because our family of 6 traveled extensively in our 60 Westie.
Same with luggage racks and old suitcases on Speedsters. I never once saw that IRL until I joined this forum.

*I built a homemade version of same one summer on a trip from Provo to Las Vegas with a length of dryer hose, a styrofoam cooler, and a couple of bags of ice.
My brothers ridiculed me (it’s always the same with great visionaries!) until the cool air started flowing into the back seat, then they were fighting me for the hose!!!