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

Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:15 pm

I don't want to encourage you but I have seen 20's on a single cab.

Sun Jun 15, 2008 9:23 pm

I am in the process of fitting a set of s class mercedes wheels to a 80 vangon, and when thinking of getting spacers I'm wondering if knowing the center bore on the benz wheels is 66.5, and the vanagons centerbore is 60.1, would I then get hubcentric spacers with a 66.5 centerbore or 60.1 centerbore? And is the rear centerbore on a 2WD vanagon the same as the front

Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:28 pm

Mercedes CLK320 16x7 ET37 wheels with Toyo Open Country A/T 225/70/16 tires. 7mm spacers front, 12mm spacers rear. THe front spacers were required due to THIS! Rear spacers installed simply for looks. Front caps do not fit, rear caps would fit but I don't like them just on the rear, so their not installed.

Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:40 pm

I have the exact same wheels on my 86 Syncro, no spacers at all.
just loogy nuts....and it all fits fine :D
....except the spare...rear tire carrier in progress
My tires,Cooper discoveries are a little taller, I think, at 29"
With the stock wbx this is a very slow drive...4th is a "coasting down hill gear only" :roll:
I stay in first alot longer,,,and use 2nd alot more,

My 89 2wd with stock alloys and tires is positvely "Zippee" when compared.
Thats why the Syncro is getting 150 more pony's..and some new ratios :D

Wed Jun 25, 2008 7:41 am

et 37 17 x 7.5 hub 66.5

do i need the same spacers as above for the front or different for the 7.5" width?

Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:41 am

toomanyveedubs wrote:
et 37 17 x 7.5 hub 66.5

do i need the same spacers as above for the front or different for the 7.5" width?

Yes! I would run 7mm spacers front and rear with those wheels.

Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:28 am

I just went to order rear studs and they only had 54mm in stock, are they too long, and do I need nots or anything with them??

Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:17 am

In the SF Bay Area, I'm not buying these but someone might want to haggle with this guy for a lower price. From what I have read these should be 5x112 bolt pattern, 14mm lugs. And he's throwing in the bolts:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/for/735218411.html

Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:35 pm

Got these on the vanagon over the weekend. I found them off of craigslist. I think they came off of an Audi 200.

15 x 7.5 et35
Bored out the centers to 66.56
Longer rear studs
10 mm spacers in the front

Special thanks to Loogy for all the help.

Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:50 pm

mercedes-benz 18x9.5 rear with kumho 265-35W18 tires.

just kisses the trailing arm, nuts only go about half=way onto the studs, don't even think about opening the slider more than a foot.

Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:37 am

loogy wrote: Mercedes CLK320 16x7 ET37 wheels with Toyo Open Country A/T 225/70/16 tires. 7mm spacers front, 12mm spacers rear. THe front spacers were required due to THIS! Rear spacers installed simply for looks. Front caps do not fit, rear caps would fit but I don't like them just on the rear, so their not install

Chris,
What did those tires/wheels do to your speedometer?

I am rolling on 215/60/16 on a 16 x 7 passat wheels and my speedo is dead on according to the "your speed" radar displays we have in kirkland.

Did the size of the tire slow down your speedo to read under the actual speed? And if so, do you know how much?

Thanks,

Paul

Sun Jul 06, 2008 2:19 pm

Franklinstower wrote: loogy wrote: Mercedes CLK320 16x7 ET37 wheels with Toyo Open Country A/T 225/70/16 tires. 7mm spacers front, 12mm spacers rear. THe front spacers were required due to THIS! Rear spacers installed simply for looks. Front caps do not fit, rear caps would fit but I don't like them just on the rear, so their not install

Chris,
What did those tires/wheels do to your speedometer?

Well, this particular van's speedo read way too fast before the larger diameter tires. With the 28.4" tall tires, the speedometer now reads 4-4.5 mph fast and the odometer reads 10% slow.

Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:02 am

Hello All,

I have been looking at this thread and have a question about a rather well priced set of rims that I have a chance to pick up.

They are reproduction MB E320 wheels 15"x6.5" ET48 and have 195/65/15 tires on them.

Now I know that the lug holes will have to be enlarged not a big deal.

But what size spacers would I have to run and would the amount of spacer needed remove the need to enlarge the center bore???

Thanks,
Brett-

Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:07 pm

Hello Brett,

For those wheels, you do not have to bore the centers at all since the Mercedes centerbore is 66.56mm and the 2wd Vanagon centerbore is 60.5mm.

I would run a 15mm spacer.

I'm not sure what lugs that particular mercedes wheel uses, but if it takes the stock type ball seat lug, you will need to use 22mm small ball seat lugs with them. The stock Vanagon ball seat lug nuts are too large and won't seat properly.

Mon Jul 07, 2008 7:35 pm

Thanks for the reply, now to look into 15mm spacers and pricing....

Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:52 pm

testing the big wheels again today with some cheap spacers, 1/4" on the rear and 1/2" on the front.

18X9.5 ET 38 rear and 18X8.5 ET 35 front

looks like this,

Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:46 am

Okay, so it looks like I have a good line on some wheels off a 1990 Mercedes 300E, but wanted to run it by the forum. They are 16x8, ET36 - apparently they're a +1 upgrade.

First of all, will 8" wide wheels fit okay? I assume I'll want some spacers to push them out a bit, but not sure if I'll then run into issues with the slider door.

Anything else I need to worry about? I've read through a bunch of the threads, but bear with me, as I'm still sort of clueless on this wheel fitment stuff...

Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:58 am

I can't say with regard to the front suspension geometry, but I'm sure Loogy can. I have 16x7.5 on the rear, ET of 29, tires are 215/65/16. I was looking at the slider this weekend since I just got new tires and was camping. It is close, but there's probably on the order of about 0.5 to 0.75 inches bewteen the tire and the door. Since my tires bulges out a bit more than the wheel, the tire is the critical piece here. The 8 inchers should be OK, as you'll only be 0.125 (half the 0.5 inches) further out than me with the wheel, but again, the tire will be the critical factor.

That's assuming you adjust the ET to around 30. An ET of 36 will put your wheel and tire a bit further in toward the center of the van, but then you have to look at the rear swing arm (I think that's what it's called) to check for clearance. Again, I have about 0.5 or 0.75 inches inboard as well, so I think you're OK as long as your tires are not giantic.

Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:53 am

shenan-agon wrote: Okay, so it looks like I have a good line on some wheels off a 1990 Mercedes 300E, but wanted to run it by the forum. They are 16x8, ET36 - apparently they're a +1 upgrade.

First of all, will 8" wide wheels fit okay? I assume I'll want some spacers to push them out a bit, but not sure if I'll then run into issues with the slider door.

Anything else I need to worry about? I've read through a bunch of the threads, but bear with me, as I'm still sort of clueless on this wheel fitment stuff...

The good:

16x8 on the rear is no problem even with the 36mm offset. You could add up to about a 15mm spacer and still have enough clearance depending on what tires you ran.

The bad:

A 16x8 on the front is not good at all. In order to gain enough clearance to the suspension, you would need an effective offset of around 17mm. This means that you would need to run a 19mm spacer or adapter. Nothing is preventing you from running a 16x8 on the front, but you will need to position the wheels way outside the recommended offset range and it's nothing I would condone. My suggsetion is to keep looking for wheels in the 7" wide range as they are the easiest to fit, at least for the front.

Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:16 pm

And so there you have it. :D