Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:36:57 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Wheel alternatives...
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Cool Don.......
but .......what are we talking about here, money wise, for 'the perfect set'
of wheels built to ones personal vanagon specs ?
my guess would be 150 dollars per wheel.
at that price level, when they are available.......you can get 'real'
vanagon 15 inch alloy wheels - south African ones.
I'm a big believer in 'doing it right' especially where wheels and
suspension are concerned.
I'm not real big on modifying other wheels to work ........though within
reason, that's can be OK.
I had one syncro here with Passat 15 inch alloys on it.
the centers were machined out a bit .......no much, that didn't bother me.
What did bother me though ......
was the spacers/adapters used to fit the wheels.
They had two things fundamentally 'weak' about them to me.
( this wasn't just a spacer, like over longer studs - it's a thick plate
that bolts to your stock wheel lug bots and nuts, and it has studs sticking
out of it that your new wheels are held on by . )
One........unsprung weight ..........seemed like adding 8 lbs per wheel.
'Unsrpung weight is bad.' ........and is the original purpose of having
alloy wheels in the first place.
two .........they were made for more than one application, so the holes
where it bolted to the stock wheel studs - , that hole was oval shaped, or
an elongated circle.......so it could fit more than one kind of van or car.
Very scary !
I just picked up a set of Audi 5000 alloy 15 inch wheels. They go on the
rear all right. But not on the front - they'd have to have the centers
enlarged, and be spaced outboard there. No up to my standards. They fit
my 93 Eurovan MV just perfectly though, like they were made for that van
I'll just paint out that 0000 Audi symbol, and they'll look like they belong
on there.
Scott
turbovans
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Hanson" <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2009 2:10 PM
Subject: Re: Wheel alternatives...
> Dunno what kinda money everyone is talking when they describe making
> other
> brand wheels fit and work properly on a Vanagon, but some of the
> modifications (drilling, different studs, spacers, machine work) sounds
> pretty pricey. We might even be up into the custom wheel price range by
> the
> time all is done, eh?
> Might be worthwhile to consider real custom wheels, like HRE, Knessis,
> etc. These can be made to any specs you want or need. The ones I've used
> (I had two sets of Knessis and a set of HRE for my racecar) were 3-peice
> wheels with forged centers. The off-set, width and diameter can be
> configured to your specs by choosing different rim configurations. You can
> just tell them what you want and choose the centers you like. I built my
> own when I modified my car to accept 12.5" wide tires at all four corners.
> I
> had spare parts for when a rim might be damaged running over a 911 or a
> Viper(grin).
> Might be a good way to go if you have a syncro and insist on using alloy
> wheels off road or have problems with potholes in your locale. You can
> send
> a damaged wheel back and have the bent rim replaced at a reasonable cost.
> Just an idea, if indeed buying and adapting other wheels is as expensive
> as it sounds.
> Don Hanson
> On Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 12:31 PM, David Kao <dtkao0205@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> In the archive there was a trip report to Baja California with
>> 15" Audi 5000 rims fitted to a Vanagon. The author said the
>> Audi rims were able to survive his journey but not the OEM VW
>> alloy wheels. The VW OEM alloy wheels not only look thin and weak
>> they will not take the beating if you tend to travel into forests,
>> canyon roads and mountain peaks where the roads are often unpaved.
>> The Audi 5000 rims apparently stood out much better. Those VW
>> OEM 14" alloy wheels are for city driving.
>>
>> By grinding the center bore of the Audi rims it does make the bore
>> larger. But VW OEM rims have that large bore in the first place.
>> If that makes Audi rims unsafe the OEM alloy rims are unsafe too.
>>
>> David
>>
>>
>>
>> > But, removing
>> > metal from wheels that were designed for a sedan in order
>> > to make them
>> > fit ............... . Hmmmm. Just wondering.
>> >
>> > Dave Mc
>>
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