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Mon Oct 16, 2006 4:46 pm

We just got a 1970 Beetle which has the orginal plain rims on it. My wife wants the EMPI 8 Spoke Chrome or Polished Rims for next year when we go to the car shows. After putting these rims on does it show alot of the brakes or dont you even notice them behind the wheel? Any pics would be welcomed.

Thanks. John. :bug_red:

Mon Oct 16, 2006 5:43 pm

Yes more of the drum will show.
It would be best to sand them down, and paint them so you don't have rusty lumps behind your new wheels.

Mon Oct 16, 2006 5:47 pm

John
Here is my 73 with the Empi 8 Spokes.....drums cleaned and painted black.

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/218826.jpg

I later lowered the car and mounted 17 inch Boyd Coddington Wheels on her.

Mon Oct 16, 2006 6:16 pm

Just to let you know that if you have a bone stock car and put aftermarket wheels on you will loose points when being judged at a show.

Mon Oct 16, 2006 6:29 pm

Whut Glenn said is true!
Mine is a custom so I don't have that problem.

Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:04 pm

My last car had these with drums and it does show some of the drum. Like ach60 said it would be worth it to sand and paint them. Expecially if your talking shows.

Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:12 am

Thanks for the info. Is there a special kind of paint I should get to paint them black? Is it as easy as pulling the stock wheels off, taking sand paper to it then spray painting it..careful not to get any on the bolt threads?

Thanks for the info.

Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:21 am

It's that easy. Use a flat black engine enamel.

Wed Oct 18, 2006 4:06 am

i just got some for my car there good looking was going toi use them for shows but i realised almost every show car has them or sonmthing wich looks the same gona hev 2 use them as my daily drivers now!!

Wed Oct 18, 2006 8:10 am

as long as u dont douse the paint on, i would'nt worry too much about getting paint on the threads. use a rust converter after u sand then use brake cleaner to remove any extra stuff on there, then go buy ur self a brake paint kit in black. most auto parts stores have it. normally its sold to paint calipers, but it will work for drums. get the spray can (the kit with the lil paint can wont be enough for drums). hope that helps

Sat Mar 31, 2007 7:13 am

Yesterday I ordered my 8 Spoke Empi wheels. I was ordering other items from Mid America so I went thru them to get them. First they said it would be about 2 weeks to get them. Now they said between 3 and 4 weeks. These are the chrome style. So hopefully they wil be worth the wait. I will also go out and get the paint people here on the site suggested to paint the drums.

Thanks. Johnw996 in Michigan.

Sat Mar 31, 2007 11:45 am

roymann wrote: John
Here is my 73 with the Empi 8 Spokes.....drums cleaned and painted black.

I later lowered the car and mounted 17 inch Boyd Coddington Wheels on her.

Other pictures I found while scouring the gallery:

Sun Apr 01, 2007 5:11 pm

Thanks for the pictures. That last picture of the baby blue car looks almost exactly like our car. Now we know what the wheels will look like. I guess it will be worth the wait.

Thanks again. John in Michigan.

Sun Apr 01, 2007 8:22 pm

Hi...If you nneed 8 spokes let us know...we have polished for $395 and chromed for $600....I always paint my drums semi-gloss or satin black..
www.L5vw.com

Tue Apr 10, 2007 9:12 am

www.L5VW.com wrote: Hi...If you nneed 8 spokes let us know...we have polished for $395 and chromed for $600....I always paint my drums semi-gloss or satin black..
www.L5vw.com

is that for a set of NEW polished?? 4 wheels? if so, thats a pretty good price :shock:

Tue Apr 10, 2007 10:23 am

Yes for set of 4 new in boxes... !

Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:04 pm

wow...i might be contacting you soon...lol

Tue Apr 10, 2007 9:02 pm

Just to put in a good word for Chris (L5VW), I bought a set of black 8 spokes from him and got a great deal. Including shipping charges, it was the best price I found on a set.

Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:15 pm

Got mine for $125 for all 4!! found them on here, they were silver but i sanded them down and painted them with this awesome gloss black. i need to get some silver lugs...thinking about painting the drums white but i'm not sure, i kinda like them black.

Sun Apr 22, 2007 3:13 pm

We went with the Empi Chrome 8 spoke wheels. We were told they would not be in for another 3 weeks but were surprised when they showed up last week. They were to come with the bolts,lug nuts and hardware kit. Bad news is the box was delivered with one of the corners wide open. The rims were there but the hardware kit grew legs and walked out. So now we have to wait until another hardware kit arrives. They do look nice and hopefully will look good on the car. I still have to get the flat black paint to paint the drums but we will like them. If anyone lives in MI. let me know some good car shows to go to.

Thanks for everyones comments.

John in Michigan.