TheSamba.com :: View topic - "What wheels fit?" The ultimate wheel post.

Fri Feb 19, 2010 10:01 am

It looks like the centerbore on those is quite small.. what to be machined to 66.6mm

Fri Feb 19, 2010 10:34 am

SockMonkey wrote: It looks like the centerbore on those is quite small.. what to be machined to 66.6mm

I agree that it looks small, but I'm wondering if that's a center ring that can be removed.

Check out TaigaGreen's post on this page. Looks like he has the same rims (different offset) and he mentions removing a center ring:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3960693&highlight=allroad#3960693

EDIT: I just re-read that post and he was talking about the Doka, not the Westy...You're probably right.

Mon Feb 22, 2010 8:15 am

Hi, this is my first post here, I hope I can contribute something to this great threat. I think I haven´t seen these wheels here yet. Merc SLK 15x7 forged aluminium. The lug holes had to be drilled out to 14mm. ET 37mm. It takes 12mm spacers in the front and 10mm in the back to fit the center caps. As a rule of thumb for the offset:

6" wide rim ET (offset) ca. 30mm
7" wide rim ET ca. 25mm

In the rear the spacers can be 10mm more for the good looks.

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Mon Feb 22, 2010 12:21 pm

Here is a picture of the older ML 16x6.5 wheels. In the US they are 16x8 I think. These wheels are also available in 17". The 16x6.5 in the picture come with an offset of ET45 and they were fitted with 20mm spacers all around.
Wheels were 215/60. I went back to 15" because I got the SLK wheels really cheap and they are very light. One ML rim weighs 10kg (22lbs) The SLK wheel is 6kg (13lbs) because they are forged and not cast aluminium.

Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:32 pm

A.Vanhellsing, welcome. Nice looking van.

So you have the Mercedes forged alloys in 15" over there? Cool! We only got them in 16x7. I sure wish we had the 16x6.5" ML wheels here, but yeah, we only got the 8" wide versions.

Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:57 am

Hello skinnymalinky1

to run these wheels on a 2wd you can try 20mm spacers in the front and see if the rims will clear the grease cap. You would have a healthy ET25 then.
To get it road leagal in Germany you can not bore out the center hole. I doubt that any Tüv person would agree to that. The rear axle load can be lowered to 1200kg. You would need 585kg x2= 1170kg which should be possible ever depending on the Tüv guy. Sorry if that is not so interresting for the non german folks. :wink: Grüsse aus Düsseldorf A.

PS. Thinking about it I am pretty sure I have seen these rims on a 2WD here in town.

Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:01 am

A.Vanhellsing wrote: Sorry if that is not so interresting for the non german folks. :wink:

We all drive Vanagons. Everything German is interesting. :D

Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:32 am

@ joetiger :wink:

Here is the picture of a wheel made by Mangels S.A. of Brasil. These wheels are 15x7 ET23mm. They were made especially for the vanagon and are a direct bolt on. Were also available in chrome. I like the oldschool took of them. They are becomming pretty expensive over here because they ran out of production. Downside is they are heavy, soft and very fast rusting.

Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:57 am

How about these from a 1990 'Audi Quattro V8'?

They're 15", but I'm waiting on rim width and offset. They'd be going on my 87 Syncro that I'm hoping to do the Girling G60 brake setup on...

TIA!

Wed Feb 24, 2010 5:00 pm

The first thing I bought for my 85 Westfalia were tires. At the time I had not even heard on Samba, just a spur of the moment purchase. (SO GLAD THAT I DID!!!) I was going on a 1000 mile trip and the PO had old tires on it with cracks on the sidewalls. I went into a Discount Tire store and they recommended and sold me a Hancook H714 185/75 R14. Now that I am a bit more "seasoned", I realize that this tire counld be wrong for me. The weight rating is 1290 lbs and max tire pressure is 44 lbs.

How bad off am I? Any suggestions on what I should do?

Thanks
:(

Wed Feb 24, 2010 5:01 pm

Found this helpful data base for people trying to fit VW or Audi wheels.

http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q_how_to/wheels/wheels_overview.htm

Scroll down to where it says "5 x 112 bolt pattern"
Click on the dia and make and it links to lots of pictures and dimensions.

Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:30 pm

are these 16" or 17"? Will they bolt right on or is there modification required?

Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:35 pm

Will they fit in the clam shell?

:lol:

Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:07 pm

buildyourown wrote: Found this helpful data base for people trying to fit VW or Audi wheels.

http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q_how_to/wheels/wheels_overview.htm

Scroll down to where it says "5 x 112 bolt pattern"
Click on the dia and make and it links to lots of pictures and dimensions.

Thanks! This is a very helpful link. If I'm looking at the right wheel then I'm looking at 15x7 et35, which, again, if I understand Loogy's 'Wheel post pt 2' should fit my Syncro if I bore out the centres and (?) invest in the correct nuts.

Buddy is trying to sell them with new (passenger car) tires so I don't know if I can talk him into selling them separately. I'd think he'd have an easier time selling the tires on their own but we'll see I guess.

Thanks!

Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:41 am

Here is a direct fit, maybe need center bore enlarged.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290406886467

Thu Feb 25, 2010 9:01 am

toomanyveedubs wrote: Here is a direct fit, maybe need center bore enlarged.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290406886467

No need to enlarge the centerbore, but the lug holes will need to be drilled and appropriate lugs and longer wheel studs will be needed. There will be no chance of fitting the stock Mercedes center caps.

Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:46 pm

I was finally able to get these wheels on this week. The forum has been a wonderful resource and this project was easier because of it.

15" MB Wheels
ET 37
Lug-holes drilled to 14.2mm
5mm spacers in front
Spacers, lug-nuts, and bolts from Loogy.
Studs (finally) from bugsnbuggies. They cannot get the 65mm anymore, had to cut 72mm.
Tires are 225/70. About 27.4" tall. Not quite as tall as the 215/75s, trying to mitigate the power loss with a nice sized tire. Knobbier A/T tires look great but this is no Syncro and there is already an abundance of road noise.
Futura Super-Sports. I have driven 100s of thousands of miles on Futuras, fully satisfied with the brand. $72 each, rebate for the fourth tire arrived last week.
Load rating c, 1750ish lbs(-11% = 1557)
PSI 44lbs
Total cost with wheels, tires, hardware, labor to change studs, about $800.
Looking for Centercap solutions, considering old wolfsburg steering caps..
Tell me what you think.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30690904&id=1164834351

Sat Feb 27, 2010 3:40 pm

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/searchWhe...vid=000808

OK, not quite able to make sense of a lot of things in this thread. Can someone tell me if these wheels will work on a Westy with Carat springs? Any mods needed? Any spacers, etc? What type of lug bolts are needed, etc.

Any tire recommendations? 195/65/16s? Vredstein Comtracs, Vanco 8s?

Thanks. :lol:

Sun Feb 28, 2010 8:32 am

@Gauche 1968

If looking for wheels you can look for wheels that fit Mercedes S-Class cars.
The bigger S-Class Mercedeses like the W116, W126, W140, W220, W221 all have the bigger lug holes for the 14mm bolts. So they do not need to be drilled out like the ones for the smaller Mercedes MK 8, W123, W124, W125 ect.

It looks like you could use these wheels plug´n ´play.
The offset of 20mm fits without modification.

How big are the lug holes? You want 14mm or you have to drill them out.
What is the center hole? You need at least 66.6mm
Load index?
The van tires like Vancos don´t fit on every aluminum wheel.
Up front you need Mecedes M14x1.5 Ku R12 bolts
In the rear you need M14x1.5 Ku R12 nuts
I recon there are some people here who can supplie these.

Cheers

Sun Feb 28, 2010 8:53 am

Gauche1968 wrote: http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/searchWheelsByVehicleAndSize.do?bp=&yr=1993&wd=16&rw=&vid=000808

OK, not quite able to make sense of a lot of things in this thread. Can someone tell me if these wheels will work on a Westy with Carat springs? Any mods needed? Any spacers, etc? What type of lug bolts are needed, etc.

Any tire recommendations? 195/65/16s? Vredstein Comtracs, Vanco 8s?

Thanks. :lol:

With an offset of 20mm, I would have to recommend against those wheels. There just isn't any viable reason why a 16x7 wheel needs any more than a 30mm offset (other than center cap fitment, but that is not a good enough excuse in my book). With a 20mm offset, the front wheels/tires will be sticking out of the front fender wells greatly increasing your chances of catching the tire on the fender lip due to the lower Carat ride height. The right rear will be VERY close to the sliding door with a 215 tire and will most likely rub with a 225.