Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 17:21:38 -0800
Reply-To: TJ Hannink <tjhannink@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: TJ Hannink <tjhannink@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Mercedes wheels
In-Reply-To: <BAY101-F183C755DB1A9E9EE4952EEA0F30@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
You can't determine wheel fitment with offset only, rim width also needs to be part of the equation. You need both to calculate backspace, or the measurement between the mounting face of the wheel and the inside of the rim. Backspace needs to stay pretty constant as the wheel is widened or the wheel will hit. In order for the backspace to remain constant as the wheel widens, the offset needs to decrease.
Think of it this way, if you made a stock 5.5" wheel wider by adding 1/2" to each side of the wheel, which is essentially what you are doing using a wider wheel with the same offset, it would hit the spindle. You have to compensate for the additional width by moving the mounting face closer to the rim centerline which decreases the amount of offset. If you added 1" of additional width only to the outside edge of the wheel, the backspacing would remain constant, but the centerline of the wheel would move in 1/2" and the offset would decrease by that same amount.
I run 14" x 6.5" ET23 wheels on my camper and they have the same amount of backspace as my stock steel wheels. They fit without any spacers and provide the same amount of clearance as stock wheels do.
Larger diameter wheels provide more clearance and allow you to use less offset to compensate for wider wheel widths, thats what the measurements were for in my March 2005 email.
AFAIK, the stock steel wheel has an offset of 38-mm. I have 4 of them in the garage and have measured them several times, there are no ET markings on them.
Good luck,
Tim
Dave Vickery <davevickery@hotmail.com> wrote:
TJ, that is some impressive calculation.
But I thought the vanagon stock steel wheel was ET30, did I read it wrong?
But if it is 38, then why when I put Mercedes 15x6.5 ET37 wheels would they
rub, which they did. For them I needed 12mm spacers on the front of a 2wd
Dave.
TJ Hannink
Goldibox - 1987 Vanagon Camper, Wolfsburg Edition
1981 Bluebird Wanderlodge, FC-33
Winter Park, Florida
http://home.earthlink.net/~tjhannink/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wolfsburg_campers
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FAVOR website: http://home.earthlink.net/~clubvanagon
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