Date:         Mon, 3 Feb 1997 19:33:34 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         vwbus@netbiz.net
Subject:      Re: Alloy wheel deal (retraction)

> rubs without em, if you move it it ain't a good idea.  Plus the
> spacer Ron mentions is going to exasperate the bearing problem, as
> the 45mm offset has already shoved the wheel 1.5mm OUTBOARD of where
> it should be, now adding a space shoves it out FURTHER.

Whoops, thinking backwards there, sorry the ET45 wheels move inward,
hence the need for the spacer, although it positions them correctly,
it unfortunately puts more stress on the wheel actually not on the
hub's bearings, the bearing load will be unaffected so long as the
origional offset is maintained.  Now to make matters more confusing, I
just measured a stock vanagon 5.5JX14 right at an even 40 mm offset,
hence it would seem that although the Audi wheels might go a bit too
far, they go perhaps in the right direction and might be a better
choice than the Tire Rack's Borbet solution, so ignore my previous
advice.  If I did it, which I might, I'd certainly use 5-10 mm spacers
all round though, to put the offset right in the middle of the factory
alloy/steel zone.  One last bit to consider as well, alloys often use
nuts/bolts contoured differently from those used on steel
counterparts, I'd compare the shape of the origional Audi bolts to
those used on a Vanagon or check if Carat alloys came with special
bolts, but gut feeling is this is probably not an issue as the Germans
favor a rounded contact face bolt for both applications as a rule.

Also FWIW as Zeidler mentioned, offset, ET (german) is the distance
from centerline to mating surface.

John
vwbus@netbiz.net