Date:         Mon, 6 Mar 2000 07:41:01 -0500
Reply-To:     "Michael J. Sullivan" <sullivan@OPENMARKET.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Michael J. Sullivan" <sullivan@OPENMARKET.COM>
Subject:      Re: Mercedes wheels
In-Reply-To:  <v04210102b4e945fd37ba@[192.168.1.22]>
Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii"

Dear Otmar,


You make excellent points (besides, I dig your van!). My main concern is that I hear many people say "oh, I installed Audi rims on my Vanagon and they work fine -- I only had to cut part of my suspension to get it to fit!".


Egads, this makes my skin crawl! Worse, the wheel itself is often machined to get it to fit! So now we have a machine on the road that:


1.) has machined centers out of cast aluminum wheels

    (cast aluminum is very fragile)

2.) suspension modified by cutting notches to allow the wheel to fit

    (who knows what this will do over the life of the vehicle)

3.) significantly less track than even the stock wheels

    (making for worse handling)


The really sad thing is that these vehicles eventually find their way into unsuspecting hands as they get sold on the open market. I feel this "pollutes" the Vanagon gene pool, as it were.


As for those who have wheels that bolt on without any mods whatsoever -- more power to you. I'm sure there is nothing "wrong" with your setup, other than *perhaps* not being optimal (whatever that may be). In fact, as one poster comented: the older Mercedes wheels were forged not cast making for an extremely sturdy set of wheels!


Cheers,

MJS



At 03:45 AM 3/6/00 -0800, Otmar Ebenhoech wrote:

>You've obviously researched this extensively, I'm glad someone has.

>Just so you know, I have nothing to gain from this whole issue since

>I am not in the business.

>

>You have written that the proper way to use these is with spacers. In

>order to keep this from being a typical worthless internet discussion

>of "I can create more panic than you :-)"  I'm wondering what

>potential issues are that may be encountered with the wheel having an

>offset of say 10 mm off of stock.

>

>Obviously, as is proven by the many things I build, I put only

>limited value in the argument that VW designed it that way and

>therefore it is the best. I like to leave well engineered packages

>alone but I also know enough about what goes on in the engineering

>rooms that I never doubt that things can be improved. Sometimes to

>the extent that they no longer have any practicable use. ;-)

>

>So, I think that we first need to understand the potential issues,

>then we can evaluate their weight and make a reasonable judgement as

>to the acceptable variation for various applications. Do you know

>what effects, aside from bump steer, will likely be encountered?

>Otmar-




<bold>

Michael J. Sullivan

</bold><italic>IPS "SWATteam" Architect

Open Market, Inc.

</italic>

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