-- Folks, After a thrilling adventure recently with the Westy on a snowy pass, we have decided winter tires are a must. I have always liked the performance of Nokian tires, and 195/70 R15 Hakkapeliitta 10C's have the correct load ratings (8PLY, D Load Rating) see http://www.nokiantyres.com/ under light truck commercial. Finding a second set of wheels is proving challenging. Local salvage yards want ~$40 each for very used steel Vanagon wheels, so I searched the archives, and tried a friends Audi wheels for fit. I have located a set of 15inch Audi 5000 Turbo Quattro wheels, 1986 vintage, lug pattern 5x112, ET45 offset, for $150. However, they will require machining of the center hole to fit the front hubs on our '88 westy. Local machine shops don't have a lath large enough, so they would use a milling machine and charge for 3hrs labour, ~$150, which seems excessive to me. How have folks on this list machined such wheels? The stock steel wheels don't appear to be hub-centric (ie the hub doesn't center the wheel, the lug nuts/bolts do). Could I somehow use my drill press and a large drill bit or some sort of self centering cutting tool to perform this surgery at home? I found a picture of similar wheels on a Vanagon at: http://www.enter.net/~bloss/vw/turner/alloy1.jpg Thanks for your assistance, please copy all responses to my home e-mail account, ehall@together.net, as I will be soon be leaving work for the next few days... Thanks! Ezra Hall '88 Westy, still a few minor items to fix |
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