Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 13:04:36 -0800
Reply-To: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Go Westy's 16" wheel offset ?
In-Reply-To: <43E4FC34.8040101@mchsi.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Are they alloys, and what style please?
Thanks,
On 2/4/06, Al and Sue Brase <albeeee@mchsi.com> wrote:
>
> My own experience with a stock 14" Vanagon alloy wheel convinces me
> that they are pretty strong. I was hit a glancing blow in the rear edge
> of the sliding door/ right rear tire// quarter panel area by a mid size
> GM vehicle that I turned left in front of. (She did turn off her left
> signal just before she hit me. I think the cell phone call was more
> important.) The blow totalled my car and hers. It bent the right
> trailing arm by 5+ degrees. The momentum bent the front transmission
> mount moving the trans nose about 1/2" to the right. It ruined the tire,
> but it put only a very small dent on the rim of my alloy wheel.
> Certainly the rim didn't take all the blow, but it did take that part
> of the blow that bent the trailing arm.
> I put the wheel on my current 91 GL and have been driving on it for
> thousands of miles.
> Probably a couple of destructive tests could determine quite easily
> what the yield point of the wheels would be. No doubt the manufacturers
> have already done such tests. Convincing them to make such knowledge
> public might be a challenge! There is no upside for them to say it would
> be okay. The best thing for them to say would be: "Don't do it! We
> warned you!"
> Al Brase
> November 1955 (Wolfsburg) pickup LOOKING FOR ORIGINAL 15" RIMS!
> 69 doublecab
> Vanagons
>
> mark drillock wrote:
>
> > Having compared in my own hands the steel 15" Passat wheel with the
> > steel 15" Vanagon wheel from VW South Africa I can assure you that the
> > Vanagon wheel is made of much thicker steel and weighs quite a bit more.
> > I doubt that the Passat wheel would fail in any way under normal use and
> > I know people who have used them and are still using them on Westys. I
> > don't see any way to avoid the fact that the Passat wheel would suffer
> > damage more easily than the Vanagon one. I refer only to steel wheels
> > in this regard. I have had poor experiences with the 14" alloy Vanagon
> > wheels and know plenty of other Syncro owners who have bent, cracked,
> > and/or chiped those Vanagon 14" alloys. In contrast the 15" Audi 5000
> > Turbo alloys seem much stronger in my experience and the experiences of
> > others.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> >
> >
> > rsf wrote:
> >
> >> I would guess that the failure rate on those vehicles mentioned is not
> >> different then the failure rate of the factory 14" alloy rims. I just
> >> cannot
> >> find comments in the board achieves to prove any different.
> >>
> >> Plus neither the gowesty/van-café rims have load rating either so
> >> it's pure
> >> guessing that they are major differences between the rims. (of course
> >> the
> >> Rhein are vw recommednd is SA) You are just drawing conclusions that
> >> something is made considerably less durable only because it's used on a
> >> lighter vehicle. Fair assumption that designs are created at the lowest
> >> possible cost to fill the void but I'm pretty sure rim manufactures
> >> create
> >> to a higher standard (then door handle manufactures) so they can cross
> >> platform their product........................
> >>
> >>
> >
>
--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
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