Date:         Thu, 12 Aug 2004 13:26:49 -0700
Reply-To:     Doug in Calif <vanagon@ASTOUND.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Doug in Calif <vanagon@ASTOUND.NET>
Subject:      Re: more (interesting) questions about rhein rims
Comments: To: "phlogiston@ispwest.com" <phlogiston@ISPWEST.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Ben,
I have been running my SA Rhein wheels on my bus for over a year with the
"limited" threads.
Hand torque them only and do not over tighten.
You can get by this way almost indefinitely but I recommend you check them
frequently.

You (and I) should locate the longer studs / bolts and use them.

An item I ran into on my 85 was on the rear brake drums their is a 6 mm bolt
that holds the drum on the flange that sticks out and when I bolted my
wheels on it HITS and you will go down the road with the tops of the wheels
wobbling about an inch or so out of true.   You need to remove this bolt
completely.  The wheel will hold the drum on the flange.

Doug


----- Original Message -----
From: "phlogiston@ispwest.com" <phlogiston@ISPWEST.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 12:27 PM
Subject: more (interesting) questions about rhein rims


> so i finished mounting and balancing my agilis tires on my shiny new rhein
rims last night and went home to install them... (btw, i used all adhesive
balanced weights and it seemed to work ok; i was able to get all the wheels
to a point where if i took them off the balancer, rotated 180deg and
re-balanced, the upper weight would come out as 0 and the lower less than 10
or 15 grams).  the front ones went on fine, although the lug bolts that i
got from cafe volks had a lot of scale and pitting on the finish, not at all
like the shiny chrome on the lug nuts for the back.
>
> which brings me to my question:  do most of you running these wheels use
the stock lug studs in the rear?  because some of the nuts only went on like
3 or 4 turns, including when i put the car back down and torqued them.  most
of the nuts went on about 5 or 6 turns, but there was 1 or 2 on each wheel
that didn't.  is this consistent with what other people have seens when
installing these wheels?  is it enough?  where can i get new longer lug
studs?
>
> also, what torque are you guys using on these wheels.  i didn't want to
over tighten and damage the aluminum, so i went to 65 ft lbs all around...
but then later i remembered that i used to tighten the magnesium lug nuts
onto the alloy rims of a past car to 90 ft lbs.
>
> in conclusion these rims look great!  they have a weird 3d bulbous kind of
look that doesn't look at all modern but goes great with the van.  i only
wish the front lug bolts were shiny, too.
>
> thanks for any advice...
>
> Ben.