Mounting my Mahle rims

DaveOBrien

Well I picked up my newly polished Mahle "baby gas burners" today from Romero's Wheel Polishing in Santee. I am very glad I did not chrome them. They polished up great, I know about the upkeep but I need the exercise anyway. Romero's recommended using Never Dull.

I got the idea for these rims from Terry N. posts and at Morro I was really impressed with his rims. I thought they were the Pedrini's but it turned out they were Mahle's. So I then went looking at the Samba and 914World. Got a set of 5 for $400 shipped in pretty decent condition (painted silver). Then it was decision time on the finish.

I decided to get them polished and will post a pic on this thread soon. The polishing was $100 per wheel to remove paint, polish, true up the wheels and sand the very dirty inside.

I got the OG 914 steel lugbolts included in the deal and bought some billet center caps from ISP and chrome nut covers also.
http://www.vwispwest.com/product.php?ispproduct=vwispwest&cat=410&page=1∂=RS-CAP914

Question
My stock lugbolts extend into the drum 1/2" and the 914 bolts about 3/4". This was measured from inside of the stock rim and spare Mahle.
Hopefully I will clear the insides of my brakes with the new lugbolts and not have to cut them. I will check tomorrow.
Please chime in anybody if you have experience with fitting 914 rims and lugbolts to VW drums rear and discs front.

More tomorrow.
Dave

5/20/098:13 PM

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DaveOBrien

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5/20/098:17 PM

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Terry Nuckels'04 JPS Speedster NorCal

Dave,
I have discs front and rear and had no clearance issues with the bolts.
I run 3/8" spacers in the front because the wheel offset caused a clearance problem with the front beam.

5/20/098:58 PM

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Willy P

Dave, you dog! Those Mahles are gonna look tremendo on your car! I will be be back home next week. I want to see them in person. I'll call you when I get to SandyEggo!

5/21/095:51 PM

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DaveOBrien

Hi Terry and Will,

Dry fit my extra Mahle on the front and back today with no brake or clearance issues. So Terry you are right the longer 914 lug bolts fit on VW drums and discs.

I hotfooted down to Discount Tire near Phil's BBQ and had them change out the 5.5" Mangles for the 5.5 Alloy baby gas burners along with a spin balance. My Cooper Sportsmatic 165R-15 are in perfect almost new condition so I kept them.

Just on the drive home I could feel the difference with the lighter wheels! The steering wheel turned like it had power steering, very light. Need to get on some twisty roads soon. The air pressure is probably a little high, need to check.
Kind of fun to bring back and preserve a unique wheel style. They came from a 76 914.

Will, good to hear from you, see you when you get back.

Pics tomorrow
Cheers
Dave

5/21/098:27 PM

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Lane AndersonMt. Pleasant, SC Supporting Member

Pics, please!

5/22/095:36 AM

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DaveOBrien

Lane,

Got the pics on my computer but I saw my smiley face expired. I just paid up but I can't load pics until Theron resets my account. Smiley is back but still can't upload pics, will do later.
for now here is a link http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/7730/mahles1.jpg

Dave

5/22/096:00 PM

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coolryde

Dave those look sweet...

5/22/099:02 PM

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Terry Nuckels'04 JPS Speedster NorCal

Alloy wheels are one of the best bang for the bucks, performance-wise.
Lighter wheels = less rolling resistance.
Looks great, Dave! What tires are you running?

5/22/099:39 PM

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DaveOBrien

Your so right Terry, I have you to thank for blazing the trail on these fine wheels. Those Pedrini's are nice to. I had a line on a set but the seller never called me back. But I like the Mahles better.
I have Cooper Sportmaster 165r/15.
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:LnwG4fUEQ3kJ:www.tirexusa.com/cooper/sportmas.html+Cooper+165R15+specs&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
They came with the car and run really nice. Never have broke them loose yet on a turn even when I tried to keep up with MUSBJIM, that man can drive the twistys!

Dave

5/22/0910:06 PM

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Lane AndersonMt. Pleasant, SC Supporting Member

Very nice, Dave!

5/23/096:00 AM

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Terry Nuckels'04 JPS Speedster NorCal

Dave,
When you wear out those Coopers, switch to a 185/65 tire.
I prefer the Yokohamas: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=AVID+H4S&partnum=865HR5H4S&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes&place=0

The added beef and the aggressive, directional tread pattern kicks ass in the corners.
BTW, you can always take the Coopers and put them back on the stock rims. It's nice to have more than one pair of shoes...;)

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5/23/098:13 AM

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DaveOBrien

I really wanted to buy a set of 185-65r/15's but I could not justify the extra cost right now. Got to wear out the others right now :->
FYI
I spent a total of $880.00 on this including the shipping, polishing, mounting and spin balance using my tires.
So for reference at this time the cost of $220 per wheel which is a little less than new polished 2L Fuchs, new Mahles or BRM 4 bolt wheels. Plus the vintage rims have a good backspace. You might be able to do it a little cheaper but I went to a good wheel refinisher and 400 seemed a good deal for the 5 rims shipped. 400 polishing and 80 mounting.

I was looking at the Falken Ziex Ze-912, heard good things about this tire.
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tires/falken/size/viewProductDetail.do?pc=18118

While waiting for the polishing I was performing this penance. The woes of a wooden house upkeep. As a General Contractor no way was I going to pay a painter up to 10K to paint my house! So Chrissa and I got to spend some time together up in the boom lift.

Dave