My alloy wheels are 15 X 7 ET24 and they only just clear the sliding door so I think that ET0 could cause problems.

Phill Lander

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~pjlander/volkswagen_syncro.htm

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Derek Drew 
  To: VANAGON@GERRY.VANAGON.COM 
  Cc: Syncro@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 6:49 AM
  Subject: [Syncro] Re: Ronal 16" Rims available from Van-Again Now!

  I advise caution about these Ronal wheels fellow listers. 

  The smallest ET that I have heard of being used typically with Vanagon is ET23 whereas the factory ETs are ET30 or ET34 range. 

  So, having access to a rim that has ET of 0 seems different from the factory ETs to a degree that seems large or borders on extreme. I would also be cautious about ET15. 

  The problem with an ET that is mismatched to the vehicles OEM specs is either that the tire will hit someplace, or more importantly that the wheel will not sit on the bearings the way the manufacturer intended, which can lead to premature bearing wear. Most articles I have read about wheels are very explicit about the importance of keeping to a factory ET in order to minimize bearing wear. 

  The main reason for selecting 16" wheels over 15" wheels is so that very large diameter tires can used, in my view. Such very large tires, however, easily hit the sliding door and other body panel parts and so a very small ET, such as ET15, may have a worse tendency to cause the tires to hit. You can read about some of the hitting problems in the large tires article referenced in my Vanagon SIG below. 

  I think we should keep looking until we find a 16" wheel in the range of ET25 to ET28 or so, which seems to be an ideal range. If these cannot be located, I am quite certain that there are ET23-ET25 wheels to be had, which I judge a safer bet than ET15. 

  At 11:08 AM 3/27/01 -0500, you wrote:

    I am please to announce that Van-Again has, with the help of the good folks 
    at Ronal, found two of their rims that fit the Vanagon perfectly and that we 
    can sell at a reasonable price.   

    The first is the R-28 16x7.5 with a ET 15 offset.  These are pictured here on 
    Ronals website http://www.ronalusa.com/wheels/wheels_html/r28.html. 
    These would sell for $220 each.   

    The other rim that is available is the R-36 16x7 with a ET 0 offset.  These 
    are pictured at: 
    http://www.ronalusa.com/wheels/wheels_html/r36.html 
    These would sell for $210 each. 

    These are new, TUV approved, and made in Germany.  I spoke to the folks at 
    Ronal about the offset and they said that because the wheels are much wider 
    than stock the offset is fine for the Vanagon application.  They have also 
    test fitted them on the Vanagon and you can see what they look like mounted 
    at: 
    http://www.ronalusa.com/cars/cars_html/vw_vanagon.html 

    I also asked them about the load rating on both of these rims and they are 
    both designed to be used on much heavier, off-road vehicles than the Vanagon 
    (Chevy Tahoe) so there is no problem there either.  Also they checked to see 
    if there was any interference with the wheel wells or sliding door and there 
    was none.  They also ran 205/55/16 tires on the wheels , w. a rolling 
    diameter of 24.83", compared to the stock, 185/75/14 w. a RD of 24.85" so 
    speedomenter and odometer error can be avoided as well.  I hope I have 
    answered any questions you may have.  Please email or call me if you are 
    interested in purchasing a set of these rims or have any more questions.   

    Thanks, 
    Ken Wilford 
    John 3:16 
    www.vanagain.com 
    Phone: (856)-765-1583 
    Fax: (856)-327-2242 

  ________________________________________________________
  Derek Drew                              New York, NY & Washington, DC
  derekdrew@rcn.com                     212-580-6486
  Email me for viscous couplings
  '90 Syncro Westfalia... 
  ...seen off-road at 
  http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/Syncro_Madness_Area.htm
  Note: most valuable Vanagon sites on the planet (for owners) are:
        http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?S1=vanagon
        ftp://gerry.vanagon.com/pub/
        http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro 
        http://www.vanagon.com 
        http://www.syncro.org   
  My refrigerator article: 
         http://www.vanagon.com/info/articles/Refrigerator/Reefer_Madness.htm
  My article that shows how to deal with insurance companies: 
         ftp://gerry.vanagon.com/pub/auto-insurance-madness.html 
  To view Wolfgang's incredibly informative wheel article
         http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/fitbigtiresonvanagon.htm 
  To view Tim Smith's incredibly useful gearing calculator
         http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/syncrotireandgearratios.xls 
  To view some 16" Trailing Arms that enable much larger tires see
        http://groups.yahoo.com/group/syncro-org/files/Wheels%2C%20Tires%20%26%20Gearing/Wheel%20%26%20Tire%20Photos/16_Inch_Trailing_Arm.jpg
              
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