Mismatched wheel widths?

[Sofia74]

I scraped, blasted, cleaned and repainted our 1974 KG Coupe wheels and then, only when delivering them to have tires mounted, noticed that they are different widths! I put them in the Jeep and thought “that looks odd…”

Of the five, I have two 5-inch wide wheels and two 5 ½-inch wide wheels. Did VW provide different width wheels on the same car?

I suspect no, and this is just another surprise previous owners have left me...

[c21darrel]

Weren't they originally fitted with 4.5's?
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[Sofia74]

You caught me. I don't know. 4.5" in 1974? Seems narrow but looking now...

[PolarBearVW]

My 1974 had (4) 4.5j et41s and a 4" spare.
Not sure if this was stock - but I recall others having similar sizing as well.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9058113&highlight=#9058113
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1974 Ghia Coupe

[jeffrey8164]

The size and ET should be stamped into the backside of the wheel.
If they’re genuine VW there should be a VW stamp as well.
I don’t recall any 5.5” VW wheels but they might have come from 1303s or Mexican versions.
There have been aftermarket wide versions of stock wheels around for decades.
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[Sofia74]

Just looked and found no stamps. I need to add that I measured wrong - I was measuring the overall wheel width and not the width of the barrel. Doesn't change that I have two different widths of course. Since the tires are now on, I just have to guess that I have a combo of 4" and 4 1/2" wheels. ( I subtracted 1" from the overall width as an estimate of the barrel width)

[jeffrey8164]

People often put different sized wheels on the car either for looks or clearance issues. You can use the 4s on the front and the 4.5s on the back.
Of course rotation becomes unavailable.
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Turning owners into mechanics since 1938.

“Let he that is without oil throw the first rod”
(Compression 8.7:1)

[Jacks]

The 5.5 may be 914
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[Rome]

Wheel width is properly measured inside the rim, between the "shoulders" where the outer edges of the tire (bead) rests. Orange Bentley repair manual (1970 thru 1974) lists that Ghias of those years have 4.5" wide rims with 46 mm offset.

The pictured rims would not be 5.5" 914 rims, because those have a much greater "deep dish"effect. The surface where the hubcap sits is much farther down/inwards on a 914 5.5" rim than those pictured.

If you are able to discern how deep (or far outwards) the inner edge of a stock hubcap sits in relation to the outer edge of the rim, you can develop a relative indicator of the offset. Many people do not have this ability, so that the small differences in offset for this style rim are not noticed. This style "hubcap" rim in 4.5" wide had at least 4 different offsets on Beetles, Ghias, and Type 3, ranging from 34 mm to 46 mm. That's half an inch variation. When you are able to see the offset number in the FRONT of the rim, stamped into one of the flat lands between lug bolt holes, it is shown as ET_ _. ET is the abbreviation in German for the words "press-in depth", Einpresstiefe. The _ _ is the offset in millimeters. So OEM Ghia rims would be stamped ET46.

[Sofia74]

Okay. I see what I am doing wrong. I was looking at the backside of the wheels. I now see the stamping on the front side of the wheels under the paint. I also think I see some VW stamps.

Tomorrow, with better light and being I hope a little more sober, I'll check out the stampings and see what I see.

Thanks as always.

[Rome]

'atta way!

In my experience, the 4" wide 4-bolt "hubcap" factory original rims were not stamped with the ET#, but there was less variation. The same Bentley manual per my response above lists such rims as having 40 mm offset. Last year I bought a set of 4 near-NOS (never mounted, but slightly scratched up) 4" wide rims. 3 were from the German supplier SUEDRAD; the 4th was from Lemmerz (correctly spelled with no "t" before the z). The size and brand are stamped into the lug bolt front surface lands, but not the ET.

Your wheel paint job looks good. Did you use quality paint and a spray gun? Now you can tell the shade difference between the "true" silver on the surface, and the "warm silver" on the insides.

[Sofia74]

Little more info:

Two wheels are stamped: "ET41" and "4 1/2J x 15" with a VW stamp
Two wheels are stamped: "4J x 15" with a VW stamp. One of those has a distinct "T" stamped as well.
The fifth wheel has a vague circle that could be a VW stamp but nothing else I can see.

I think the mystery is solved. The four I'll put on the car have the same size tires. I'll put the 4 1/2 wheels on the back and the 4 inch wheels on the front, not that it matters much. That will work for now. The car won't be road worthy for a while yet.

I painted the wheels with the same Bernina Blue I used on the body. A VW color but I can't remember the brand I bought...

[andk5591]

Just an FYI, i bought a car with 3 different width and offset wheels.. if no stamps, measure width and offset. I saw a table once that had all the stock wheel variations...Was amazed at how many there were.
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