Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2014 06:59:19 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Wheels another option
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An idea for wheels for those who were looking at dressing up their vans
with alloys.
Lots of us seem to want to swap to fancy wheels..me, I'm fine with
keeping my 84s standard wheels..mine is more of a Worker-Van.... so
functional and just somewhat respectable is all I want in looks for mine.
But I have messed around with wheels some on other vehicles.
I see lots of posts about how to make other vehicle wheels fit properly on
Vanagons...Adapters, spacers, changed lug nuts, enlarged center
bores,...some go to a real lot of trouble and big expense to get The Look
they desire in their van's wheels. Searching around for the data on what
wheel has what offset, taking them to machine shops to bore out the
centers, new lug nuts, extended studs, ect...and often the wheel swap ends
up a bit of a compromise anyhow...not exactly perfect, but looks good and
works pretty good.
There is another way to go. Actual truly custom alloy wheels. There are
multiple companies that build high performance alloy wheels to order. The
"custom to order" route to an alloy wheel-swap could save a lot of time and
frustration. They can be built exactly as you specify.
I've seen write-ups here on extensive fitting and modificatons some
Vanagonites have gone through to get their chosen Mercedes, BMW,
Porsche...whatever... brand wheels to fit onto their vanagons...some of
these wheel sagas appear pretty tedious and quite expensive. If folks are
going to spend time and money dressing up the vanagon, improving the look
and the running gear, it'd be worthwhile to look into some of the quality
custom wheel maker's offerings.
Personally, I am most familiar with the Knessis wheels, having used 3
sets interchangeably on my "German Corvette" (928 Porsche GT) when I raced
it for a few years. The stock Porsche phone dial alloys were just 7"-
71/2" (?) wide and somewhat heavy, with poor air circulation for brake
cooling. I had a source for 12.5" x 17" Goodyear NASCAR race tire
take-offs, so I had Knessis wheels made to work with my car,
interchangeably on all four corners..That company was easy to work with and
the wheels were gorgeous and sturdy as hell...(don't ask how I learned
sturdy) When I bent a rim I could either send that wheel back to Knessis
or fix it in my own shop. I even had a spare set of parts to make the
wheels skinny if I raced in a DOT tire class, on Hoosier tires, which I did
on occasion.
I am not current with all the sources for aftermarket wheels nor the
prices, but if you are like Tom Hanks, or you got your Vanagon from Go
Westie, you could have Your People look into it.....grin...
A link to get you started...
http://www.wheelandtiredesigns.com/wholesale-wheels/Kinesis/
Don Hanson
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