like hen's teeth? or rocking horse poo?

16" stock rims with the wide 5 pattern - not likely to find a set am I? Is it possible to widen a 15" center onto a 16" rim? (like they do when they simply widen rims but keep the diameter the same)

What do you want them to go on?

I think you should be able to have 16's made - I remember discussing this subject with a bloke who works for a wheel repair and general engineering workshop here on the Gold Coast - he thought that it would be easy enough....not cheap though.

R 🙂

on my oval - I like the look of stock wheels, but I also like the notion of having lower profile tyres and keeping the orig rolling diameter..

[Edited on 11/5/2005 by oval TOFU]

hey i got two, 3.5 inch x 16 wide 5, off a ford prefect, a little like mandles, will look good though.

Andy

VolksFolks wrote:a little like mandles,
Andy

mangles yeah ?

i asked a place that changes the offset etc of whels and they said no but i am sure for $ anything is possible, just gotta find the right person

This is basically what I am doing on the Panel..

I have collected a few, but it is sorta one at a time. Expect a couple of $$ per rim, and finding them is the hard part.

It is exactly the mindset I had a the beginning of the project, but a word of advice. If you are seriously considering doing this, then find the tyres you plan on running first... That should keep you busy for a month or two.

The Prefect wheels are very similar, but slightly different.(Iused to have a Prefect ute..) Easily confused with VW rims.

U2U me if you have any questions..

You can get the centres of your VW wide 5 wheel inserted into a 16 inch rim, most wheel places will do this.
Just check first if you can get 16 inch tyres in a narrow size.
I dont know if they come in anything less than a 225?????

Cheers
Dave

Thats why I asked. Might have to import some 165 x 16's from France.. bugger.

considered new crossplys Jim! from antique..

so these are the solid style rims? what did they come on originaly?

robnjo wrote:so these are the solid style rims? what did they come on originaly?

these are the 16' ford prefect rims rob, the pcd is 1.5mm out, will fit vw's ok








[Edited on 11/5/2005 by VolksFolks]

I want a smaller wall than vintage tyres and cross plys..

I want the look of the 16 x 235s, but only 165's with a similar wall..

I figure 165's are not far off maximum width, as they are either 3" or 3.5", depending on the year and whether it is a Bus or Beetle rim. 165 x 16 for a 3.5" rim is a hard thing to find.. 🙂

theres a place here that has some nos tyres, not sure on size, i will enquire, little concerned about then sitting for 40 years though, whats your thoughts! safe?

lower you car 2"and run the 15's :thumb

Dan

I would not reckomend using Ford Prefect/Anglia rims without modifying the PCD to 205mm as the "wide 5" relies heavily on full contact of the stud taper to rim as the studs actually take all the vehicles weight and the Ford rims are not 205 PCD, so fitting them puts a lot of stress on the studs which could end in failure and disaster.

For those wanting 6" wide 16s, get some Ford F100 rims and recentre with VW centres which are an exact fit. Only drawback is the F100 rim is it's heavier material so unsprung weight is up a bit but these rims are dbl "j" so are suitable for tubeless tyres.

Cheers, Ian.

so these are the solid style rims? what did they come on originaly?

Split window Beetles.
Barnys also had 16"s

BennetonVW - they is only 3.5" wide?! I kinda forgot about that. If you have trouble sourcing similar rims and siutable tyres, I'd be even more in the lurch!

57Kombi - I haven't looked up wht the thinnest 16" tyre on the general market, but I'm sure there is a 205. I could be wrong though.

I'm not anal about retaining total stock dimentions of everything (a bit more tyre width wouldn't go astray, but not stoopidly wide {is it ever too wide?}) I just like the stock look of a slightly wider rim with a medium profile tyre, Sorta neo-classical-German-look in a sense.

I've heard SmartCar tyres can be used as they are thin, low profile 15's.. should be good quality too if it's for Mercedes to use as OE..

I'll keep my mind open - this thread is interesting

[Edited on 12/5/2005 by oval TOFU]

To answer some questions..

Different rolling diameter I would presume. (165 x 15 vs. 165 x 16)

The centres are different, and thats one thing that drew me to them. They generally are 3.5inch, but the Split Beetle ones are 3 inch. Barny rims are probably the ideal for me. They are a 3.5 rim, and some Barny rims don't have slots, and these are the types I am after, similar to the one on the right in the below picture.

The pic is a comparison of Beetle 15" and a Barny 16".
The first difference is obviously the height difference of an inch, but secondly is that centre section. Notably different.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for posting that - interesting that the 16" actually has a thinner center than a 15".. Yeh, i'd be after a set of solid rims with no slots. Looks like this will be a project that will come into fruition a while down the track!