At 11:15 AM 12/6/98 -0600, Pat Rabun wrote: >2. Can 16" rims be used on a U.S. spec. synchro without problems.
It's not the RIM that is the problem, rather the TIRE. It seems that anything larger than approx. 28.7" will rub on the rear trailing arm and also rub on the inside front fender flare (towards the rear) when you hit big dips. The former can be fixed by purchasing the special 16" rear trailing arm. The former can be "fixed" by cutting your fender flare sheet metal (yuch!).
This "fact" limits the tire choices drastically. For example, I was originally thinking it would be way cool to have 225/70x16 BFG tires on my Syncro (which are approx. 29.29" in diameter). But after talking with several list members I'm beginning to believe that 28.7" is the practical limit for US Syncros due to the clearance problems mentioned above.
This means that you have a choice of: 215/70x16 to acheive 28.7" or 225/75x15 to achieve 28.3" or 215/80x15 to achieve 28.5"
Cheers,
<bold>Michael J. Sullivan </bold><italic>Director of Catalog Design Open Market, Inc. </italic> ********************************************* phone: 781.359.7624 work: http://www.openmarket.com scan tips: http://www.hsdesign.com/scanning vanagon: http://www.hsdesign.com/vanagon ********************************************* |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.