In a message dated 5/10/01 9:20:16 PM, slwalters@earthlink.net writes:

<<maybe a group custom wheel purchase would be a good idea, if we can be sure 
that the wheel builder is sufficiently knowledgeable to build us a wheel that 
will really have the load capacity that we want. >>

Why do we not try to go to The Source in our quest for 15 inch steel or Alloy 
wheels? And I don’t mean the head waters of the Nile, I mean Hayes-Lemmerz.
If you all look at your VW steel wheels, odds are good that Hayes-lemmerz ma
de them and thie name is stamped somewhere on the wheel. They are a huge 
company, they supply wheels to many Auto manufactures, not just VW, but other 
European and American manufacturers. They make the steel wheels for the AMC 
Hummer....
It’s interesting to note that the popular South African “Sunburst” 15 inch 
alloys are made by NFD, or NF Diecasting. Who do you think owns them? Right, 
Hayes-Lemmerz. They bought this major SA wheel maker about four years ago. 
Now, if you will all point your browsers to:

http://www.hayes-lemmerz.com/about/index.html

you’ll discover they have facilities world wide, freakin every where, 
including in our back yards...
CAST WHEELS:
Northville, MI
Gainesville, GA
Howell, MI
Huntington, IN
La Mirada, CA
Somerset, KY

STEEL WHEELS:
Bowling Green, KY
Sedalia, MO

So perhaps someone can go knock on the thier door and ask if they would be so 
kind as to stop thier assembly line so they could make up a bunch of sets of 
PERFECTLY suited 15 inch wheels for our Vanagons. 
Ask them for a steel or alloy wheel:
61/2Jx15H2 (or maybe 7Jx15H2)
5 x112mm bolt circle
ET 30 (or ET24 if 7 inch wide)
66.6 mm diameter hub bore
14 mm bolt holes with bulge radiused seat
Load Capacity of 1984 Lbs. (900kg)
Oh, and we want cool wheel covers for the steel rims.
Oh, and ask them if they can make a few with tire bead lockers for Derek.

<< 61/2Jx15HZ      (Don't know what J and HZ mean, although I think HZ is  
about speed rating.)
 >>

6 1/2 = the wheel width

J = the type of flange, or lip if you will, the area that interacts with the 
tire. J is typical for passenger cars.

15 = is the wheel diameter

H = I thought was a designation for “hump”  eg. “H2” is a two hump 
designation for the area of a wheel (in profile) below the flange (J) - the 
roughly U shaped portion not including the center hub. I think a “two 
humper” cascades down twice from the flange to the center point.

I did not know that “Z” was a speed designation, but it makes sense to have 
this, like on tires.

Seriously though, perhaps if enough people wanted to pool monies, maybe go 
through a vendor (what about it, Ron?) we may be able to gather up a big 
enough order fro the not to laugh in our 14 inch faces when we ask them to 
stop the presses and build us some 15 inch wheels that we can afford.

Raul Cisneros
NY
87 Syncro Westy (NFD 15 inch alloys, Hayes-Lemmerz 15 inch (Passat) steels, 
14 inch Hayes-lemmerz Standard steels, 14 inch carat alloys H-L?