Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:42:09 -0500
Reply-To: Max Wellhouse <dimwittedmoose@CFU.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Max Wellhouse <dimwittedmoose@CFU.NET>
Subject: VANCO 2/CLK Alloy 16's FIT!!(long)
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I'll make a long story shorter than usual. Eventually I'm going to
put the bigger front brakes on, so the rims had to get
larger. Snooped around on Samba to see what looked cool, fit, and
were affordable. I really liked the Rhein wheels, but maybe some day
if I win the lootery. Eventually bought some Chinese made Falcon(I
think that was the brand)rims from Tire Rack that were 16x7.5" ET
35 5 spokes for $88 each for the 98-2000 MB CLK. Brought them home
last summer as I was passing through South Bend. The more I looked
at them, the more I was thinking they were cast and not forged and as
a good vendor often does, Tire Rack was gracious enough to give me my
money back on them. Actually, I think they were glad I wasn't
putting them on a non-conforming vehicle, as it were. BTW, these
wheels did not need drilling out to 14mm should you decide to buy them.
Started cruising Ebay and CL for the real forged MB wheels and
eventually found a set of the 7 hole design CLK's from a guy in PA.
They weren't cherry, but for $380 including shipping, that was
cheaper than new 16" steel wheels from various vendors w/o shipping
added. They were straight and had no road rash however. Then getting
the Continental Vanco 2's mounted to them was taken care of by a
friend of mine that has a mobile tire service here in town. The load
range D sidewalls were a bit of a challenge for him, but he got the
nitrogen in there. I carefully hand-drilled the 12mm lug bolt/nut
holes out to 9/16" and everything turned out perfectly. Next was
contacting Loogy at T3 Technique.com to figure out how long the add
in studs for the front rotors needed to be and what to do for using
12mm Mercedes Wheels on a 14mm stud. Loogy to the rescue as he has
these nuts custom made for the 14mm thread pitch and the 12mm ball
seat configuration. Try finding those nuts at Advanced
Auto!! Although I didn't do the Prussian Blue Test fittingthing to
make sure, I am told that the 14mm ball seat is of a different
configuration than the 12mmThey have the covered caps like the VW
alloy nuts and the chrome plating looks to be quality as well. The
nuts are $3 each and the 10 studs for the front rotors were another
$36. Couldn't afford the center caps just yet, but they really
finish off the wheel nicely.
As far as clearances go. The Vanco 2's are 215/65/16's and are a
little taller than the stock 185-14 Agilis 61's. Haven't done a GPS
test on speedo accuracy, but the sliding side door is not affected by
the right rear tire, there's no rubbing front or back, but I must
say that the clearance between the front sidewalls and the upper ball
joint mount is about the width of a pencil. Loogy says that's
adequate and I've seen no chafing over the first 50 miles of driving
so far. Will replace front suspension parts soon, as they need it
at 240k, but will put off the alignment til after that.
The initial test ride was pretty harsh due to having my installer guy
put 55PSI of nitrogen in all 4 ties. I've since backed it down to 43
front and 48 rear, so we'll see how that does.Guess I'll have to get
a photobucket account to show off the wheels at some future time. My
son approved, so that's a start./
My snow tires are ever so thankful.
DM&FS
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