Show me some wheels!

Before I throw in the towel on this wide 5 conversion I was hoping to be inspired by you folks. It seems the IRS reject that I am keeps me limited in what I can do with wheels unless I'm willing to spend huge $$$$. To the best of my knowledge I, the IRS reject, am limited to a 15x4.5 ZERO positive offset wheel. Which loosely translated means I can use the stock VW 4 bolt wheel or......wait, it'll come to me........NOTHING!
Soooooo, are there any other IRS rejects out there? What do you have on your car? I neglected to mention this though, I DO have some options; Chrome or painted. With hub caps or without. Man, what am I complaining about?! The possibilites are endless! Well, they're actually only four, but that's better than three!!!!

On my CMC with IRS the original 5 1/2" Mangel chrome wheels I had would not fit the rear.

I got some 5 1/2" wheels from Beck that stick out from the drum face the same as the 4 1/2" wheels. The extra inch is all to the inside.

These fit with my 175 tires. Unfortunately, these unused, but old, tires should probably be replaced (another thread) and the size I have doesn't seem to be available. I an not sure if 185 tires will fit.

Mickey, my post on your other thread about the 8-spoke Minilite-style wheels was unclear. If you stick with 4-bolt hubs, you can get Panasports and Superlites in a variety of sizes and offsets, including the same 15x5.5, +24mm offset that my stock chrome Mangels are. I am pretty sure that you can get 4.5" wheels as well. That's all assuming you like the look, of course. If you do, check out:

http://www.panasport.com/street.html
http://spruellmotorsport.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=10&osCsid=ba5280f601e6fa1e116e12e1ce892123
http://www.packracingproducts.com/?gclid=CLzouZ7y7Y4CFSc8gQodXnzwIQ

Mahle mini gas burners
914 Fuchs
Sprint Stars
Turtlebacks
The Fuchs and Mahles are 5.5" with a 4-3/4 backspace.
the sprintstars and turtlebacks are 4.5
My favorites are Pedrinis.
See my photos as I am somewhat of a shoe slut and have tried various styles on my car. another set is to come soon. Centerline stlye.

Terry - Appears from your pictures that the Riviera wheels also fit so assume the 8 spoke EMPI (or cheap replicas) sand cast alloys do too. MOM, ATS too.

Good link with pictures:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/914_wheel_types/914_wheel_types.htm

Some at above link are 5 lug 911 wheels.

Wolfgang,
The Rivieras don't really fit.
I had a rare set of 4-1/2" Rivieras on the rear with 165 tires. the clearance was minimal.

Here's a link to a buddy's gallery of nearly every four lug wheel every made to fit a VW Beetle.

http://www.runtrod.com/gallery/v/wheels/wheels4/

Gotta be SOMETHING here with the right off-set that appeals to you. Check it out, write down a few names and put a "wanted" ad on TheSamba . . . see what turns up for ya.

Maybe?


And a five lug gallery, just in case.

http://www.runtrod.com/gallery/v/wheels/wheels5/

i like the mpi cast 8 spoke look with spinners, got them from some dealer on samba under wheels, he is out of oregon somewhere, fairly inexpensive.

Here is thread to some old Mangel wheels 5.5 in chrome in wide 5.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=421624

OK, what do you guys think of these? Will they fit? I'm narrowing the rear 1.5" on either side and these state a 3" backspace so does this mean they'll have 2.5" positive offset? I think they would be a good compromise to the orginal idea I had for an old skool Carrera GT.

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C32%2DCLP4

I think they fit the bill. The look will be similar to Cory's.

I'd get 5-1/2" painted wide-5 steelies recentered to the offset you are after if it's what you really want. As Michael said above- Bek should have what you need. Anything else is going to be a compromise you'll probably regret as soon as you do it. The "Centerline-style" wheels look cool, but aren't going to give you the old-school racer look you are pining for.

Another option would be to keep the brakes you've got, but get new rotors in a modern Porsche 5 lug drilling, and run replica Fuchs. The rotors are an EMPI part, and are pretty inexpensive, the Fuchs are at CIP.

Good luck.

If you want to run aluminum wheels, I'd start looking for Weld Wheels rather than Centerlines. The Weld Wheels look older, more vintage in their simplicity. Much more like something that would be found on a 356 weekend racer back when, don't you think?

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=640287

The Centerlines look really cheezoid with those rivets, and the Centerline-style are worse since they aren't really two piece rims and don't even NEED the rivets.

Or . . .

How about this. Search out a set of Marathon wheels on The Samba.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=559062

These were a factory VW wheel that came on a couple of Special Edition models that were produced in the 70's. The Marathon wheel looks neat and is kinda dished, but has the stock off-set because of how the arched spokes work with center section.

The coolest part of the deal is the the Marathons look a bit like the stock Porsche wheels that came on the 924.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=416422

And a lot like the neat aluminum inflatable-spare wheels that Emory (Parts Obsolete) is putting on so many of the Outlaws these days.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=540012

This way, the "look" of your wheels already has something of a Porsche history to them. Although they're VW, they wouldn't look out of place on a genuine 356. Obviously they would fit . . . but they'd look right.

Pop a two bar knock-off on the center cap . . . totally SWEET!

Keep em comin!

Stan,
I do like the Fuchs look, but I'm just not going to go through another drum/rotor nightmare. That scar runs pretty deep right now.
I've decided that I'm stickin with the 4 bolt pattern, for now at least. I may revisit the wide 5 thing again in a year or two. I've got a ton of money wrapped up in this project already. I've got nobody but myself to blame for it. I didn't expect to pay what I am for a new engine, trans and exhaust. And being that I KNOW I don't want ot skimp on those, I'll just have to shelf some other things until down the road. I can do new 4 bolt wheels and some really good tires for half of what it would have cost me to convert WITHOUT tires.
So I now have two choices as far as Carrera GT 'inspirations'. One is the old skool (photo) and the other is the "pretty boy". The pretty boy would be with the shiney wheels and caps, or the knock offs that TC suggested (sorry, no picture. There is a pic on the back of a book I have). How easy is it to put those knock offs on chrommies?
Here's another kicker - The 15x5.5 4 bolts that Cip1 is offering won't take a stock baby moon without being modified. It just keeps gettin funnier, at least to me. It's no biggie for now as I haven't committed to anything yet, just humorous.

This is where I got the centerline idea from.

These are Eagle 117's 7x 15 polished aluminum GM 5 on 4.75 on a CMC flared speedster ~Alan

Stan,

How do you like your CB discs?

This is how I roll:-)

George-

I like them a lot. This year, I bought the Bivens from George Brown's car (the new owner wanted chrome wheels), brushed them, and clear powder-coated them. I took the CB hubs, brushed them as well, and powder-coated them the same as the wheels. I'm running long-stud 14mm lugs and nuts, which are black-cad plated.

The whole package looks very "period-racer", and can be cleaned up with soap and water (no AL polish, etc). I'm glad I pulled the trigger when I did- I believe Bivens are NLA (with the death of Boyd Coddington), but there was nothing cheap about the package.

FWIW, I've got a set of Mangles wide-5 chromies which were recentered for my car, and a set of Dunlop 185s. I was going to hold onto them for another pair of shoes (as Terry N puts it), and run them with chrome moons, but after having the Bivens for a while- I doubt I'll ever go back.

"wheels" - Is that what they call those on the west coast, Gerd?

Lane -

..one time, at band camp, I got hit in the face by a 'wheel'!

Holy f**k, Gerd! Poor Dave Navarro couldn't handle it in the end....

there is a wheel in that pic :)

I guess Dave Navarro wasn't able to polish her wheel to her satisfaction!!

Justin - That's a GREAT shot of your Speedy (sans hubcaps) in front of that James Dean mural!!

Mickey - here's my '95 VS with 4-bolt wheels and nipple hubcaps. Aside from a trained-eye, who would know the difference between 5-wide and 4-bolt with hubcaps on (number of wheel slots)? Certainly NOT the people who ask "...is it real"? And look how GREAT Justin's car (4-bolt) looks without the hubcaps in the picture above (James Dean).

A CLASSIC look either way!!

I got bored of my steel wide-5s so thought i'd try something different for a change (keeping the steels as they were specially made by Mangel for me with 10mm extra offset)

These are chromed sprintstar wheels 15x5 et14 with Continental CT22 165/80R15 tyres. Spinners added for extra affect...

I'm sure people will either love 'em or hate 'em!

Simon

Wheels, I got'em! If anyone is interested let me know.

1SXE-TUB is currently rolling with BBS LM modular 17" (7.5" fronts with 205/40's and 9" rears with 245/35's)

2 sets for sale

Fuchs (7" & 8"replicas)with 205/40/R16's

BBS 16" RS 7" & 8" with 215/40's fronts and 225/40's)
3 piece modular.

Simon,

Those Empi Sprint Stars are ABSOLUTELY sensational ! ! ! ! ! Where did you find four wheels worthy of chrome plating? I can't even find two decent one's to complete a set.

Just BEAUTIFUL ! ! ! !

TC

here's some BRM'S

TC,

Note I didn't say EMPI Sprintstars... These are Midland Wheel Supplies wheels which are exact copies of the flat-4 reproductions (stay with me here!) Came ready chromed and for once were the same price in the UK (albeit at a VW show) as CIP1 sell them for on their website.

Very happy with the quality of both wheels and chroming.

Simon

Simon,

Could I beg a few more close up pics from you of those wonderful wheels ? ! ? !

I honestly LOVE that look!

Gotta go trad look here..

Speedster "D"

I think these wheels are pretty tight

Mickey, I'm not sure you're clear on your options here.

There's a big difference between going wide 5 (with a huge PCD) and getting your hubs redrilled or swapped out for 5 bolts with a similar PCD.

You should have no problem with a narrow PCD 5 bolt pattern design. My car runs on genuine fuchs (5x130 I think)

PCD?

OK, I just Googled it. Pitch Circle Diameter

I find that a nice looking wheel is the 914 Fuchs. It is not the classic look of a 5 bolt pattern, but it is strong and very light if you are looking for mininum unsprung weight. I have been running these for the last 17,500 miles. They work for me.

Thanks John. I never considered the PCD. I just assumed Mangle made a sturdy enough wheel. It's yet to be determined what I'll be dealing with as far as needs for suspension set up and performance. Once I get the new engine in and drive the car I'll know better what I'll need to do with the rest of the set up.
I've already started the process of switching out bolt patterns. Hopefully the wide 5 will be adaquate. It's really the only wheel that looks 'right' to me on these cars. That said, performance is performance. And as TC pointed out in another thread, tinkering with the suspension in these cars can become addictive. I hope I don't become an addict.