----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 =
6:49
AM
Subject: [Syncro] Re: Ronal 16" =
Rims
available from Van-Again Now!
I advise caution about these Ronal wheels fellow =
listers.
The smallest ET that I have heard of being used typically with =
Vanagon
is ET23 whereas the factory ETs are ET30 or ET34 range.
So, =
having
access to a rim that has ET of 0 seems different from the factory ETs =
to a
degree that seems large or borders on extreme. I would also be =
cautious about
ET15.
The problem with an ET that is mismatched to the =
vehicles OEM
specs is either that the tire will hit someplace, or more importantly =
that the
wheel will not sit on the bearings the way the manufacturer intended, =
which
can lead to premature bearing wear. Most articles I have read about =
wheels are
very explicit about the importance of keeping to a factory ET in order =
to
minimize bearing wear.
The main reason for selecting 16" =
wheels over
15" wheels is so that very large diameter tires can used, in my view. =
Such
very large tires, however, easily hit the sliding door and other body =
panel
parts and so a very small ET, such as ET15, may have a worse tendency =
to cause
the tires to hit. You can read about some of the hitting problems in =
the large
tires article referenced in my Vanagon SIG below.
I think we =
should
keep looking until we find a 16" wheel in the range of ET25 to ET28 or =
so,
which seems to be an ideal range. If these cannot be located, I am =
quite
certain that there are ET23-ET25 wheels to be had, which I judge a =
safer bet
than ET15.
At 11:08 AM 3/27/01 -0500, you wrote:
I am please =
to announce
that Van-Again has, with the help of the good folks
at Ronal, =
found two
of their rims that fit the Vanagon perfectly and that we
can =
sell at a
reasonable price.
The first is the R-28 16x7.5 =
with a ET
15 offset. These are pictured here on
Ronals website http://www.ronalusa.com/wheels/wheels_html/r28.html.
These would sell for $220 each.
The other =
rim that
is available is the R-36 16x7 with a ET 0 offset. These =
are
pictured at:
http://www.ronalusa.com/wheels/wheels_html/r36.html
These would sell for $210 each.
These are new, TUV =
approved, and
made in Germany. I spoke to the folks at
Ronal about the =
offset
and they said that because the wheels are much wider
than stock =
the
offset is fine for the Vanagon application. They have also =
test
fitted them on the Vanagon and you can see what they look like =
mounted
at:
http://www.ronalusa.com/cars/cars_html/vw_vanagon.html=
I also asked them about the load rating on both of these =
rims and
they are
both designed to be used on much heavier, off-road =
vehicles
than the Vanagon
(Chevy Tahoe) so there is no problem there
either. Also they checked to see
if there was any =
interference
with the wheel wells or sliding door and there
was none. =
They also
ran 205/55/16 tires on the wheels , w. a rolling
diameter of =
24.83",
compared to the stock, 185/75/14 w. a RD of 24.85" so =
speedomenter and
odometer error can be avoided as well. I hope I have =
answered any
questions you may have. Please email or call me if you are
interested in purchasing a set of these rims or have any more
questions.
Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John =
3:16
www.vanagain.com
Phone: (856)-765-1583
Fax: (856)-327-2242
________________________________________________________
Derek
=
Drew &nb=
sp; &nbs=
p;
New York, NY & Washington, DC
=
derekdrew@rcn.com &=
nbsp;
212-580-6486
Email me for viscous couplings
'90 Syncro Westfalia...
...seen off-road at
Note: most valuable Vanagon sites on the planet (for owners) =
are:
My refrigerator article:
My article that shows how to deal with insurance companies: =
To view Wolfgang's incredibly informative wheel article
To view Tim Smith's incredibly useful gearing calculator
To view some 16" Trailing Arms that enable much larger tires =
see
&nb=
sp;
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