Date: Mon, 4 Nov 1996 18:35:42 -0800
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: mholser@Adobe.COM (Malcolm Holser)
Subject: Re: 15" or 16" wheels on the Syncro?
> I know this subject has been kicked around before, but I've never seen
> these specific questions answered:
>
> Has anyone on the list upgraded their Syncro to 15" or 16" wheels?
>
Mine came with 15" allows, and I'm running 215/70-15R LT Uniroyal Larado's
on it and it does fine. The speedometer is accurate, too, so I suspect that
mine might have lower gearing that most. Three different R&P ratios were
available, apparently. I don't know what I have.
> If so, what wheels were used and what are their specs (ie. width, offset)?
>
The wheels are 6" wide, same offset as stock 14" steelies. There's a VW
part number on them. I understand that the part may be from an Audi. Both
the VW and Audi logos appear. Tim Smith found a set of these with the same
part number in steel rather than aluminum at a Canadian dealer. The center
hole in the wheels fits only the syncro's -- the regular Vanagon's front hub
is too large. Mine were trimmed, easy to do on alloys. It looks like 235's
would also fit. I had no problems with wheelwell clearance, the only possible
place that might be a problem is the trailing arm on the rear wheel. There
is not much space between the tire and the back edge of it. A 235 tire would
be even less -- things an easily get wedged there (no matter what your tire
size, but bigger tires will wedge smaller things!)
> Also, does anyone know the any of the details regarding the optional 16"
> wheels available on German Syncros - such as specs, construction (steel or
> alloy), whether they have matching hubcaps - etc? Will these wheels fit
> within the stock wells used on US Syncros?
>
No info at all -- as Tom says, we all want to hear!
> Finally, has anyone looked into purchasing a set of these wheels?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Paul
I like the look of the bigger wheels, and it doesn't seem to suffer from the
essentially higher gearing, but I drive a LandCruiser off-road for low gears,
it has really low gears available. It sure winds up less at speed, a real
benefit as far as I'm concerned. The LandCruiser only goes 55. The bus is
real tall, though. It was tall before, and this put it up another inch. I
sure don't need to jack it up to get underneath! My Kombi sits something
like 2" taller than a Vanagon Syncro -- about 4" higher than my GL.
malcolm
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