I received a surprise call from a customs broker today indicating that the first batch of 48 CV-900s were actually being offloaded from a ship at the port of Baltimore, and that they would be through customs by the end of this week. I thought they were still in manufacturing in Germany so this was a pleasant surprise. In this email I include instructions for you to actually take delivery of a set of the CV-900. The theory part begins in a few paragraphs and contains information of interest to any wheel buyer, 15" or 16".

Since this email is longer than I had originally intended, be advised that it covers: 1. Load bearing rating discussion 2. Optimal ET discussion 3. How to order and take deliver of the CV-900 4. New pictures of the CV-900 5. Discussion of suitable tire sizes for various types of owners 6. Technical discussions that have nothing to do with these wheels but on wheels and tires generally.

WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/images/perfectwheel16s.jpg http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/images/perfect16wheel.jpg http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/images/16perfectwheelw245andhubcap.jp g http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/images/16wheelinfrontfromangle.jpg http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/images/wheelandtireonvanwithhubcap.jp g Me dressed like a slobby typical Vanagon owner at Mid-Atlantic fest: http://volksweb.relitech.com/party/2001/derekn16rim.jpg .

SUMMARY / REPOST INTRO:"WORLDWIDE SOLUTION IN PROGRESS FOR 16"WHEEL" Be advised that I have made progress with manufacturers on obtaining a batch of "perfect" vanagon wheels in 16" size. The manufacturer introduced these wheels early this year, but listed them as not fitting Vanagon / T3 and so nobody realized the breakthrough. I have corrected their understanding.

Because the ET is 30, longer studs would not be needed. No spacers or adapters of any kind would be needed. The center caps / hubcaps are included as well, and for most users who need them, I have lugnuts and/or studs at no extra charge. These facts lower the all-in costs of this wheel significantly.

Also, the wheel is a light alloy wheel specifically manufactured for the purpose of off-road driving and being installed on heavy van conversions so it is stronger than other wheels we have discussed except possibly the T4 ET48 wheel (900kg rating), which, of course, has entirely the wrong offset and requires a somewhat massive spacer.

The manufacturer, which focuses among other things in making wheels for vehicles of Styer Daimler Puch that are used off the road, initially turned me away, but after some spirited and persuasive and lengthy emails, they are turning to our cause, and I would say, actually becoming excited.

This is a WORLDWIDE solution, and the only solution of its kind for 16" wheels that I have seen in any country, on any web site, or in any email. Specs for the new 16" wheel are: 66 center bore, 5 x 112, 14mm stud holes, ET30, 16" x 6.5" width, 900KG rating (Incredibly strong), 21 lbs (light weight attractive alloy). As for 15" wheels, I regard that as largely solved by the South African 15" wheels, which I view as satisfying all the requirements we need in a 15" size so 15" was not the problem. (The best source of South African 15" wheels before March 18, 2002, is Bill Kasper at cikasper@cruzio.com and after that date it is unclear, but you could try our John Wessels at euromog@aol.com or send me an email.)

WHAT ABOUT THE FACTORY 16" WHEEL? -- at just 5.5 inches wide it is too narrow for many tires (if you have one, consider having Stockton Wheel make it wider for you). -- it has been discontinued -- it is expensive -- it is heavy -- it is an ordinary steel wheel (although very strong)

WIDTH PERFECTION The width advantage of these 16" CV-900 wheels is that: -- the 6.5" width is better than wider widths such as 7" or 7.5" or 8" that may cause the rubber of the tire to rub against the sliding door, suspension components, or wheelwells. 7" appears to be OK, 7.5" is troublesome, but 6.5" seems best. For more reading on this, see Wolfgang's incredibly informative wheel article at http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/fitbigtiresonvanagon.htm -- the 6.5" width is better suited than narrower widths such 6" or the horrendous 5.5" factory width since some tires such as 245/75/16 require 6.5" or larger, and most of the other tires which are rated to go on 6" rims will be sit better on a 6.5" rim due to that being more to the center of their seat range. -- the 6.5" width better matches the available sizes of beadlocks availalbe from tireloc so from that perspective it is superior to 7" width if thinking of adding this type of beadlockers later.

ET PERFECTION -- the ET of 30 is pretty much a perfect balance of fit concerns for large size tires (reference the work of Wolfgang at http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/fitbigtiresonvanagon.htm and also jens 16syncro regarding 245/70/16) and also from a theoretical perspective in minimizing bearing wear. You can go with smaller ETs such as ET25, but then you will 1) experience increased dirt thrown up on the side of the vehicle (vehicle dirty after going through one puddle) 2) be moving away from the factory's choice of ET30 for its alloy wheels in both 14" and 15" sizes with consequent unknown issues in regards to increased bearing wear, and 3) are more likely to hit your wheelwells with large size tires and/or wheelwell flares. You can also safely go up to higher ETs such as ET35 or even higher, but this will move the wheel close to the body of the vehicle, introducing increased chance of the wheel hitting the body or rear trailing arms or being unable to mount snow chains. The range of wheels from the factory had ET30 and up, so the possible effect of using ET23 upon premature bearing wear is unknown

WHEEL COATING This wheel's coating, which is a kind of hard slippery plasticy paint material, will resist the accumulation of brake dust, and so preserve a better appearance, according to manufacturer statements. California's HR Seth, among others, has pointed out that the superior South African brakes seem to have a problem in the brake dust area--making the wheels dirty--which problem we have not entirely solved yet. Seth suggests switching to alternate brake pads, whereas I see that there are now devices on the market to physically block the dust from coming out that side of the wheel. Possibly these wheels will help, but whether that is true is unknown.

WEIGHT DISCUSSION Collecting wheel weight data in one place. I found -- 18lbs regular factory alloy rim -- 21lbs the CV-900 -- 23lbs South Africa 15" steel wheel (according to John Wessels) -- 23lbs South Africa 15" alloy wheel (according to Eric Abercrombie) -- 28lbs Factory 16" Steel Wheel (according to Eric Abercrombie) -- 35lbs for a Stockton steel wheel in 16" size (www.stocktonwheel.com) Lightness helps preserve lower unsprung weights when loading on extra lbs with upgraded brakes and tire sizes, and so is a significant benefit. Select a wheel/tire combination too heavy, and you may have to also change your shocks to a heavier duty type.The CV-900 is is lighter than either of the 15" 23lb South African wheels by two pounds, and seven pounds lighter than the too narrow 5.5" factory Volkswagen 16" steel wheel manufactured for Vanagon Syncro 16" version.

CUSTOM MANUFACTURING The wheels were custom manufactured to our needs. Among other elements, the depth of the cone seats were increased for us to a custom depth so that most Vanagon studs would be able to be used without modification or replacement, the bore was custom manufactured, the holes were drilled to 14mm, and the ET was set at 30.

WHO ACTUALLY MAKES THESE WHEELS? The wheels are manufactured by the company Wolfgang mentions in his article at http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/fitbigtiresonvanagon.htm as making wheels which are then modified by Off Road Center Meisen or Sport und GelE4ndewagentechnik in Germany so they fit the Vanagon. The company's name is CW Fahrzeugtecnik, which has an association with Borbet, and a history of making strong and off-road optimized wheels. The CV-900 was introduced subsequent to the publication of Wolfgang's article. For various technical reasons the CV-900 is a superior choice to the wheel Wolfgang mentions, and to many eyes looks better too. CW Fahrzeugtecnik cooperated with me in making tests and machining modifications into the CV-900 to fit our vehicles.

ABOUT LOAD BEARING CAPACITIES The CV-900's 900kg rating is higher than any other wheel for which we have load bearing ratings discussed in Vanagon circles except for the new T4 wheel, which also carries a 900kg rating, but which as I have previously discussed, has the wrong offset, is heavy, and requires fairly massive spacers. I judge the offset of ET48 or ET53 as so far off I am a little surprised to see it being used for Vanagon / T3 at all.

Audi wheels are reported on European Vanagon-equivalent listserves to have kg ratings of 590kg (1290lbs x 4 3D 5160lbs total), and so, depending on the wheel, can be dubious choices when their total load bearing capacity is several hundred lbs less than our vehicles are rated to run, at, in the case of the syncro, 5,500lbs. Some listmembers have had good results with Audi wheels, and surely not all have such a low rating, but this information does give one pause about selecting an Audi rim without knowing its actual load rating. At this time, pending further information, it may be advisable to think twice about Audi rims for that reason.

While 900kg is spectacular, numbers above about 750kgs are probably acceptable but the stronger the better. The KG number is supposed to be registered with TUV in Europe, I think, but I had very spotty results in trying to get the numbers, more often getting the response, "It should be strong enough" which I interpreted as "Please go away; we have no idea."

My Web site www.consumersearch.com refers $300,000 annually of wheel and tire purchases to Tire Rack, for example, so I had some pull there to get the real answers. But I was dismayed to find that the big North American web sites where you can go and buy wheels admitted to me that they had no idea the KG rating that applied to the wheels they sell, and list wheels mostly based on bolt pattern and ET or because the manufacturer says the wheel fits that particular car. Sometimes even the manufacturers seem to be just eyeballing their wheels before making application recommendations. I found one manufacturer who told me his wheels were suitable for Vanagon Syncro but when I went back to Tire Rack they said "no way" on that particular wheel -- not strong enough, but could offer no supporting detail.

So some of this devolves to voo-doo and misinformation. A tip off that a wheel is suitable for heavy vehicles is if the manufacturer promotes the wheel as being suitable for off-road use and/or heavy van conversions. That's how I found the CV-900 -- that the wheel was being promoted for *both* of those purposes.

When I finally drilled down to somebody at the manufacturer who had the number it turned out to be 900kg and I knew we finally had something significant there. We have not obtained the KG rating for the 15" South African wheels. But because VW offers these specifically for the South African Vanagon (Kombi or whatever you want to call it) I believe it is probably safe to assume the wheel has an adequate KG rating.

Some of the Mercedes cars were heavier than Audi cars, so it is more likely to find a used Mercedes rim with sufficient KG rating. This information would be helpful if you are going to buy based on guessing... to veer toward Mercedes wheels as opposed to Audi but the extent to which this is true or not is unknown.

So it would seem that we have something of a breakthrough in having 900kg rating, 21lbs weight, 5 x 112 bolt pattern, and ET30 with the CV-900. No other wheel has this combination of strength and light weight and correct fit. The strength may have benefited from its having been introduced only the last year or so, by which it has benefited from recent manufacturing design.

WHICH SIZE SHOULD YOU GET, 15" OR 16"? There is a current trend in the automotive industry to move to every larger and larger wheels. This is moving beyond the fad stage into a rage stage, and we are seeing SUVs coming out with 17" and even 20" wheels. The new wheels on the new VW microbus are extremely large, for instance. So partly the choice is a matter of personal taste, and how you like the look of either wheel. Most importantly, the upgrade to EITHER size is advisable because either size enables upgrading to 15" brakes from South Africa, which brakes will not fit on 14" wheels. Also, there is a larger range of tires available in the 15" and 16" sizes than 14".

Note that 15" tires tend to be cheaper than 16" tires as a general rule, particularly in Europe. Also, particularly in the smaller diameter tires, the selection of 15" tires is greater than 16" tires, but this difference is being narrowed over time as the industry moves to larger size rims. In any case, here is the guidance in the event that you have not already made up your mind: The 16" wheels will enable tires to be mounted with a shorter sidewall, and so will provide a benefit in sway resistance and on-road handling over the same 15" wheel. So if you have a two wheel drive vehicle, and / or rarely drive off the road, the 16" wheel is an advantage from the point of view of handling. The 16" wheel also better fits the very largest diameter tires than can go on syncro, so in the event that you contemplate upgrading to very large size tires, including upgrading your gearing to accommodate an off-road optimized vehicle, then the 16" wheel is a superior choice.

Some off-road oriented Vanagon owners may wish to stay with a 15" wheel, provided they are not switching to very large diameter tires, on the theory that a 15" wheel provides more sidewall to flex down in low air pressure situations for the purpose off road floation driving across swamps and other muddy areas. So there is a possibility, although it is speculation, that the 15" wheel is a better choice if you plan on off-road driving and plan on only a modest increase in tire size. This advantage may be slightly negated by the benefit of the increased strength of the 16" wheel vs. 15" but that advantage cannot be objectified because, although we know that the 16" wheel is rated at 900kg, we do not have the KG ratings of the South African competing 15" wheels.

In short, the 16" wheel is the performance choice for highway driving and for some users with off-road optimized vehicles, but the 15" wheels may be a better choice, at least in theory, for some users who want the most rubber to flatten out in an aired down situation (e.g., 18psi) on a muddy course, and who don't want to preserve a migration path to very large tires.

WHAT IF YOU ALREADY BOUGHT SOUTH AFRICAN 15" WHEELS? If you decide you would prefer the CV-900s to the South African wheels, be advised that you will easily be able to sell the South African wheels to other list members in the next year as they are great and there is a lot of demand for them. If you bought wheels through Bill Kasper's South African project, you will actually almost certainly then be able to make a profit on your South African wheels, in fact. Pre-Kasper levels were about $170-$200 per SA wheel. The only thing is that you won't be able to sell your South African wheels easily until next Fall, is my best guess, as the market will still be absorbing Bill Kasper project results in the meantime.

16" WHEEL PRICING The pricing for the 16" Wheel is $170 per wheel plus local delivery in the USA. Local delivery will cost a maximum of $17 per wheel but less if you someplace other than the west coast. Below $17 shipping will be charged at actual cost, and there are now new lower rates through Federal Express Ground that beat UPS's best rates so we will use that. There are even lower cost solutions through Consolidated Freight and/or Forward Air that I am looking into. If you live in the New York City AD Washington DC axis, then I can most likely bring you your wheels to you or you can come get them. If you live in Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, or elsewhere in the world shipping will be charged at actual cost. Note that the shipping to European locations is minimal. I will be maintaining an inventory of spare wheels here in Washington DC in the event that you need to buy just one more.

HOW TO ORDER If you would like to order this wheel, send a deposit of $200 to derekdrew@rcn.com via www.paypal.com or by check. Unless you state otherwise, it is assumed you want five wheels. You can also print out a page of this email and send your personal check to Derek Drew, 5467 31st Street NW, Washington, DC 20015. Wheels will be allocated on the paypal date or the basis of your postmark on your letter containing your check, but you will need to email me notification at the same time that you put your check in the mail in order to make sure I don't give your wheels away to somebody else during mail time. The balance will be due after I give you your final shipping estimate. The main purpose of sending a check or paypal balance in advance is to establish priority for who gets a wheel from the initial set of 48, or who is going to be waiting for the next batch. The initial wheels will be going into the mail during the last two weeks of March, 2002. If we sell out before you get your deposit in, then you will have the option to wait an additional est. ten weeks or so for the next batch, or to receive a refund, whichever you prefer.The CV-900s can be shipped to any country but TUV pre-approval for using this wheel with Vanagon / T3 / Syncro in Europe has not been obtained.

NUTS AND STUDS When sending your payment, I will need to know if you will need strait cone style nuts and/or studs or whether you already have these. Mounting nuts and mounting studs, in addition to the hubcaps, are included in the price of the wheel, but only if you need these. Basically, you will need me to send you nuts and/or studs if you have the old style nuts and studs for metal wheels that don't have a strait cone pattern. Note that the SEAT of the wheel for the studs or nuts is the same strait cone pattern that we have on our factory 14" Alloy wheels. So if you have bought wheel locks for your 14" alloy wheel, you can most likely reuse those same wheel locks with the 16" wheel. Also, you can reuse your 14" alloy wheel nuts. Nuts and studs, for those who need them, are provided at no additional charge.

WHAT ABOUT RONAL WHEELS? Ronal wheels may work but for various reasons I decided to avoid them. You can see these at http://www.ronalusa.com/cars/cars_html/vw_vanagon.html . The two wheels are the R-28 or R36. But the R-28 is 7.5" wide AD a little too wide, in my view -- and there is a question about whether Gary would be willing to supply them in ET30. In the past he has refused on the phone with me to consider any ET other than 20, for reasons that he won't discuss with me except to say with annoyance that any other offset won't fit and to add that he has no time to discuss it. (He is obviously wrong.)

The R-36 appears from an initial view to be apparently available only in ET0, which is absurdly low and Ronal should know better than to be offering these tires in this ET. Also, the KG ratings of these wheels are unknown. Ronal promotes their wheels on their website as having been shown to be stronger by TUV than some other wheels Ronal competes against, but when pressed, Ronal cannot supply any information to back up these claims and Gary Allison becomes annoyed again. On a surface impression, the CV-900 looks beefier than the R-28 or R-34 due to the CV-900's wide spokes. Until Ronal can cough up the test data it touts on its web site, it is not clear whether these claims have a solid basis or not. Pursuing these matters with Ronal is kind of fun because of the unique character of Gary Allison, who responds to serious technical inquiries about as welcomely as one would respond to a root canal. Additional of my comments about Ronal wheels appears in the archives here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/5508

WHAT ABOUT GOWESTY WHEELS? You can see GoWesty wheels at http://www.gowesty.com/MM101.ASP?pageno3D130 All of those wheels are either 7" or 8" in width, wider that optimal in my

view. The 7" width is probably OK, however. Unfortunately, only the 15" alloy wheel comes in 7" width and the 16" wheel comes in 8" width AD undesirably wide. Beyond width issues, the ET is not stated, and the KG rating is not stated and the prices are higher than for the CV-900 so I kept looking. GoWesty's alloy wheels appear to be cosmetically to be identical to some Mercedes wheels but I don't know where their wheels actually come from. Go Westy's judgement does not inspire confidence, however, since they promote use of a Michelin X-One tire with an entirely inadequate load bearing rating for Vanagon (see below for more on that issue).

WHAT ABOUT REDRILLED WHEELS? You can buy a wheel with the correct specs but the wrong bolt pattern and then have new holes drilled in them 5x112 in certain circumstances. You can also buy wheels with 12mm stud holes and have then drilled out to 14mm in certain circumstances. For more information on this topic and some innovative approaches to buying wheels that don't fit and then making them fit, search the archives on Ben T's name: Ben T's name or email address BenTbtstr8@AOL.COM or see his website: http://hometown.aol.com/bentbtstr8/myhomepage/index.html There are many strange and interesting approaches to wheels on that site. For a variety of reasons, however, I did not find that these approaches enabled me to achieve the specifications I wanted as discussed in this document, and so eventually I turned away from these solutions.

WHAT ABOUT VANAGAIN.COM WHEELS? If you go to http://www.vanagain.com/newwheel1.htm you will see wheels that are either not quite ideal from a spec perspective or information about them incomplete or their prices were higher than the CV-900, or actually all three of the above. Ken says all these wheels are so large they require a $199 sliding door extension.

WHAT TIRES TO GO WITH THE 16" WHEEL? The sort answer is that I have not completed that research and somebody else will probably do so before I do. The long answer is that for normal Vanagon owners who do not plan to change their factory final drive gears and who do not drive off the road or desire additional 4th gear ultimate top speed or additional ground clearance, I recommend using a tire size that will run about the same number of revolutions per mile as the factory original tires. This will preserve stock gearing characteristics. The traditional factory original tires were the Michelin MXLs with 819 revolutions per mile in size 205/70/14. The equivalent 16" tire would also have about 819 revolutions per mile.

Ronal USA suggests a tire in size 205/55-16. The BF Goodrich Touring tire in that size runs 839 revolutions per mile, which is in the ballpark of the OEM 14" tire in revolutions per mile but slightly small in diameter / height in my view. Another size that would provide similar gearing, although with slightly worse acceleration, would be 225/60/16 (782 revs per mile). This size is the same revolutions per mile as 27 x 8.50/14 that many of us run and a good bet. Go Westy sells a Michelin X-ONE tire in size 215/60-16 (providing an ideal 805 revs per mile) and Michelin also lists a 215/65/16 X-ONE that provides a little more ground clearance and worse acceleration at 782 revolutions per mile so look into tires of those two sizes as well. The only trouble is that the Michelin X-ONE that Go Westy promotes has a load bearing rating of only 1477 according to a chart I saw at Michelin's web site. If I did not miss something, that tire is therefore mostly unacceptable for Vanagon. The tire with 782 revolutions per mile has slightly better load bearing rating of 1565 so I might go for that one notwithstanding the hit in the acceleration dept over the one that Go Westy recommends. See additional comments below about load bearing ratings for tires. You can see the two Michelin tires just discussed at http://tires.michelin-us.com/assets/pdfs/doc_xone.pdf and other Michelins at their web site. Note that there were reportedly some Dunlop tires in size 225/55-16 which carried adequate load bearing rating for Vanagon but I am not sure whether their revolutions per mile were in the desirable range.

Ben T runs 205/75/16 on his vehicle, and seems pleased with this size. Factory stock 16" sizes are 205R16 95R or 6.50R16PR10XCL or 195R16, according to Rainer. David Marshall says running 225/60 16 size tires did not rob his van of too much power and he was happy with them.

In any case, when shopping for a tire for 16" rim and stock geared van, I would recommend almost *any* size that is between a width of 195 and 235 which results in revolutions per mile between about 782 and 830. You can go outside these revs per mile ranges by another 10 to 20 revs per mile without ill effects that are too pronounced, but there *will* be ill effects either in an acceleration hit or a top speed hit. Before closing, it is important when picking your tire to select one that has adequate load bearing rating for the Vanagon. Such tires typically, but not always, are called Light Truck tires, have extra plys in the sidewalls, and usually inflate to 50psi instead of 35psi. Don't tempt the gods, and try to make sure your wheel is rated at 1600lbs and over if it is a regular tire and 1500 lbs and over if it is a BF Goodrich All Terrain Radial.

So in short, for vehicles that don't intend to change their gears from stock, you should survey tires in sizes between 205 and 235 with aspect ratios of approximately 50 through 60, as in: 205/50/16, 205/55/16, 205/60/16, 215/50/16, 215/55/16, 215/60/16, 225/60/16, 225/50/16, etc. ...while checking the revolutions per mile information discussed above and shooting for about 800 (782 through 830) and checking the load bearing rating. If preserving stock acceleration ability and hill climbing ability is important to you, then narrow the advice above toward a slightly narrower range of, say, 795 revolutions per mile through about 830. In a very large size, such as 235, you may even want to check a 45 series tire or 40 series(very squat), but I did not do that research so I don't know the resultant revolutions per mile nor whether such tires exist.. One final check will have to be undertaken to finalize your choice of tire, which is to make sure it is rated for a rim of 6.5 inches in with, but most tires meeting these specs will meet this rating.

If were *me* picking a tire for my own use with a 16" wheel, but without gearing changes, I would break the above rules and pick a tire in size 215/70/16 that would run 747 revolutions per mile (Bridgestone AT) or 743 revolutions per mile (BF Goodrich All Terrain Radial -- my favorite tire and popular with other Syncroists for both on and off road use). Such tires would come with a significant performance hit vs. 819 revolutions per mile, but have the advantage of higher top speed capability and increased ground clearance for better off-roading ability. Your wife, when driving such a tire up hills in the mountains with stock gears, will drum her fingers on the dashboard, and think that the motor is *really* underpowered. You'd then be thinking about motor upgrades. The size recommendation contained in this paragraph will be preferred mostly only by those who use their syncro as an adventure vehicle off road and wish extra ground clearance. If that does not apply to you, a more normal tire size as described above is probably a better bet. Note that this size, 742 revolutions per mile, is basically the same revolutions per mile as 215/75r15. This is the largest size 15" tires that owners without gearing changes should normally run. The size 215/70/16 is the same size as that. There is a Nokian 195/75R16C 107/105Q NOKIAN HAKKAPELIITTA CS at 27.5" diameter that sounds pretty good and has a huge load rating. I would guess that the revs per mile would be about 755 but not sure about that.

If you already have or are planning alternate final drive gears, such as 5.43, 5.86, or 6.17, then tire size recommendations will be different. The sweet setup in those cases are for 6.17 final drive gears plus tires in one of the following sizes. 245/75R16, 30.6"; 215/85R16, 30.5"; 225/75r16, 29.4"; 235/70R16, 29.1", 225/70r16, 28.5". When planning to use one of the above very large tires, you will need to research gears to match, and are advised to check: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/7207, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/7221, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/11535 and email me for more info, derekdrew@rcn.com 202-966-7907, NY, NY,& Washington DC.