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

Sun Jul 23, 2023 3:32 pm

Fifteen52 Traverse MX 5x112 17"x8 ET20
Faken Wildpeak Trail 235/55/17
Enlarged center bore to 66.56mm

Sun Aug 13, 2023 12:16 pm

https://mobelwagen.com/products/512b-interceptor

Mobelwagen has some new wheels listed - look nice! 16x7.5, ET23 - anybody have a set yet? Any experience? Would love them for my 2WD 89 full camper. Issues with the sliding door rubbing the rear, or with fitting over my Epytec conversions?

Wed Aug 23, 2023 12:46 pm

I noticed that also that Mobelwagen/Raceline added the Interceptor to now include Vanagon/VW Bus lug pattern and offset. Based on initial research the offset and width is similar to gowesty spec'ed alloy wheels. I have an email in with them to possibly do a test fit as I'm right down the road from them.

Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:27 pm

TadaoBaba wrote: https://mobelwagen.com/products/512b-interceptor

Mobelwagen has some new wheels listed - look nice! 16x7.5, ET23 - anybody have a set yet? Any experience? Would love them for my 2WD 89 full camper. Issues with the sliding door rubbing the rear, or with fitting over my Epytec conversions?

I agree ... very nice looking wheel. The tire size in the pics are 225/75r16. I only found one brand -- Yokohama which I like -- that had a good load rating and was all-season rather than all-terrain. My additional question is I wonder how far off my speedometer will be with such a tire.

Wed Aug 30, 2023 9:14 am

oasis wrote: TadaoBaba wrote: https://mobelwagen.com/products/512b-interceptor

Mobelwagen has some new wheels listed - look nice! 16x7.5, ET23 - anybody have a set yet? Any experience? Would love them for my 2WD 89 full camper. Issues with the sliding door rubbing the rear, or with fitting over my Epytec conversions?

I agree ... very nice looking wheel. The tire size in the pics are 225/75r16. I only found one brand -- Yokohama which I like -- that had a good load rating and was all-season rather than all-terrain. My additional question is I wonder how far off my speedometer will be with such a tire.

I agree that it looks good - but a 225/75-16 is 29.29" tall! That's a hell of an effective final drive ratio change.

Sat Sep 30, 2023 2:08 pm

Has anyone installed the mobelwagen interceptor 512B? Thinking about
Getting them for my 1988 vanagon gl camper but worried
About fitting issues. What is the best way to check if the wheels and tires fit? Go to a tire shop or local VW shop?

Tue Oct 03, 2023 10:24 am

tillhebel wrote: Has anyone installed the mobelwagen interceptor 512B? Thinking about
Getting them for my 1988 vanagon gl camper but worried
About fitting issues. What is the best way to check if the wheels and tires fit? Go to a tire shop or local VW shop?

You will soon know! My coworker just recently bought them for his vanagon to replace his gowesty alloys with similar dimensions 16x7.5" ET23. He has since picked them up and shortly before he mounted them I hurried and mounted just the wheel on my 74 baywindow to test fit. Anyways the baywindow test fit is another topic...I'll get pics once he returns!

For those that want to see them on a baywindow... here is my quick review
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270489&start=1720

Sat Oct 21, 2023 1:18 am

Greetings!

Writing today with a first impression of my new set up:

'84 1.9, stock; just turned 130k miles
x 5 Michelin Defender 2 215/55/16 97R XL
x 5 Mobelwagen 512B Interceptor 112x5 ET23

Bought the wheels from MW website on sale at $126.99/ea
Tires from Costco website at 161.99/ea with free install/mount/balance

So all in all about a $1700.00 upgrade from stock steelies mounted with
BFG KO2's from 12 years ago new.

SOOOOO FREAKING QUIET!!! Oh and handles a little bit better.
No noticeable acceleration issues. I had to remove the small bolts
on the rear wheel hub but no issues with fit and clearance all the
way around and 2cm clearance of sliding door.
Pix when I can get a round tuit`

Sat Oct 21, 2023 10:15 pm

Hello all,

I recently installed 16" Mercedes Bundt style wheels from Maxilite on a stock Wolfsburg/Carat/MV spring height. I really appreciate Christopher from T3 Technique's help with some of the specifics on hardware and tires so I could get it right the first time.

Here are the specs:
16x7"
5x112 ET23
holes for 14mm lugs and conical seats
The lug nuts/bolts for the stock 14" alloys work perfectly.

I went with a staggered tire set:
205/60r16 fronts (near as makes no difference to original equipment diameter and width for Wolfsburg albeit moved 7mm outward due to 23mm offset)
225/55r16 rears (for higher load rating)

Fitment notes:
So far I haven't encountered any rubbing. The sliding door just clears the rear tire - measuring twice based on numbers from a wheel calculator worked! I imagine raised letter tires would not fit.
The little M7 drum brake bolts were removed.
The tire installer was impressed with the trueness of the wheels with very little weight needed for balancing and one wheel of the set needing no weights at all. I have to admit I was surprised about that and didn't know what to expect of Maxilite.

Additional note about bundt wheels:
I don't know how these wheels' specifications compare to genuine Mercedes bundts which came in 14" and 15". I suspect the Mercedes wheels follow the 12mm ball seat pattern of other OE Mercedes wheels. The genuine 15" bundts are incredibly hard to find and probably extremely expensive, maybe even more expensive than genuine Fuchs the Porsche community covets.

Mon Oct 23, 2023 10:08 am

Hey Samba!

I really like these wheels. I went through all 173 pages of this thread and didn't see 'em. Does anyone know what wheels these are?

Mon Oct 23, 2023 2:43 pm

Rota wrote: Hey Samba!

I really like these wheels. I went through all 173 pages of this thread and didn't see 'em. Does anyone know what wheels these are?

It looks like these could be an Audi style. I remember seeing a few softer 5 spoke designs from Audi. It also could be a Borbet design. Maybe those leads could get you on the right track.

Tue Oct 24, 2023 3:21 pm

FINIX wrote: Rota wrote: Hey Samba!

I really like these wheels. I went through all 173 pages of this thread and didn't see 'em. Does anyone know what wheels these are?

It looks like these could be an Audi style. I remember seeing a few softer 5 spoke designs from Audi. It also could be a Borbet design. Maybe those leads could get you on the right track.

My obsession with wheel pages in 90s Eurotuner mags wants to say, "Azev"? Might be a starting point. Just a guess.

Wed Oct 25, 2023 5:25 am

norcalvanman wrote: Greetings!

Writing today with a first impression of my new set up:

'84 1.9, stock; just turned 130k miles
x 5 Michelin Defender 2 215/55/16 97R XL
x 5 Mobelwagen 512B Interceptor 112x5 ET23

Bought the wheels from MW website on sale at $126.99/ea
Tires from Costco website at 161.99/ea with free install/mount/balance

So all in all about a $1700.00 upgrade from stock steelies mounted with
BFG KO2's from 12 years ago new.

SOOOOO FREAKING QUIET!!! Oh and handles a little bit better.
No noticeable acceleration issues. I had to remove the small bolts
on the rear wheel hub but no issues with fit and clearance all the
way around and 2cm clearance of sliding door.
Pix when I can get a round tuit` Congrats on the new 'shoes'. We have 15" Defenders on ours, mounted on Mefro rims. I do like these Michelins. Quiet as you noted... 8) I've never tried ours out in Snow, as we switch to other brand Snow Tires mounted on Passat Rims when Winter is approaching.
I'm surprised they were still available, I thought Michelin had discontinued them.. :-k
So I looked up the current state of Defender tires. Looks like there are several Defender tire models on Michelin's web site. I didn't see 15" tires anymore, but didn't dive that deep into it on their site with the sizes available. :(

Sun Nov 05, 2023 7:49 am

norcalvanman wrote: Greetings!

Writing today with a first impression of my new set up:

'84 1.9, stock; just turned 130k miles
x 5 Michelin Defender 2 215/55/16 97R XL
x 5 Mobelwagen 512B Interceptor 112x5 ET23

Bought the wheels from MW website on sale at $126.99/ea
Tires from Costco website at 161.99/ea with free install/mount/balance

So all in all about a $1700.00 upgrade from stock steelies mounted with
BFG KO2's from 12 years ago new.

SOOOOO FREAKING QUIET!!! Oh and handles a little bit better.
No noticeable acceleration issues. I had to remove the small bolts
on the rear wheel hub but no issues with fit and clearance all the
way around and 2cm clearance of sliding door.
Pix when I can get a round tuit`

Very nice! I just got my Mobelwagen 512B Interceptors and i am now in the process of finding the right wheels. If you could post some pictures to see how the Michelin Defender 2 215/55/16 97R XL look mounted that would be awesome!!

Sun Dec 03, 2023 9:28 pm

TadaoBaba wrote: https://mobelwagen.com/products/512b-interceptor

Mobelwagen has some new wheels listed - look nice! 16x7.5, ET23 - anybody have a set yet? Any experience? Would love them for my 2WD 89 full camper. Issues with the sliding door rubbing the rear, or with fitting over my Epytec conversions?

I do not have those wheels but I do have 16x7.5 on an 87 westy 2wd with WRG4 225/70 R16 XL tires. The sliding door just barely clears the side wall, the fronts rubbed the arch trim on full lock with slight articulation, and will rub with an adult passenger while turning. I have brand new Schwenk springs, Bilsteins XHDs, so it isnt lower due to old springs. I did a little trimming of the inner arches and trim and there is no more rubbing mostly, but has rubber on close to bottoming out. I am going to be adding .75-1" spacers to hopefully fix this. I think I would have been happier with 215/205s.

Sun Dec 03, 2023 9:56 pm

Meanwhile I put my new mobelwagen interceptor wheels on my 1988 vanagon. After a tire shop recommended Michelin defender wheels without paying
attention to the right load rating I decided to go with my first preference and put BFG KO2s on it and they are awesome. No rubbing issues, only slightly noisier and way better driving stability

Mon Dec 04, 2023 3:48 pm

tillhebel wrote: Meanwhile I put my new mobelwagen interceptor wheels on my 1988 vanagon. After a tire shop recommended Michelin defender wheels without paying
attention to the right load rating I decided to go with my first preference and put BFG KO2s on it and they are awesome. No rubbing issues, only slightly noisier and way better driving stability

Nice wheels. I like em

https://mobelwagen.com/collections/aluminum

Sat Jan 06, 2024 8:25 pm

Wow....So glad to see these and they look Way better than the tires I just picked up.

I found a set of on 5-112 VW rims from a Tourag.

Anyway I was panicking about the size after comparison online

I would have liked to get BFGs

Sun Mar 17, 2024 4:30 pm

Interested in purchasing these wheels, I found a post on the other wheels thread from 8 years ago with a van running these with 10mm spacers all around. Will I need to do anything else to make these wheels fit my 2wd 86 westy?

And while I’m here, another person is selling the Mercedes part 2104010702, which I believe is an ET 41 based on that part number. This style wheel is probably the most common merc wheel used on vanagons, at least around here. Can both of these wheels be fitted fairly easily?

Mon Mar 25, 2024 12:15 pm

Hi there,

Really like the Mobelwagen's - really havent seen many pics of what they look like on vanagons. Seems like all pics are either to dark or shot at angle. Those of you that have them, any pics you can share? One other question, are they the same weight as the GW/ASA wheels? (22lbs).

Thank you!