Dave,Any idea, based on the amount of material you had to eliminate from the
bolt holes, what that may have done to the OE intended load-bearing capacity
of these wheels?
Just curious.
bob

On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 10:44 PM, David Vickery <david_vickery@yahoo.com>wrote:

> I finally got around to fitting MB wheels on my syncro.  I used the OEM MB
> 8 hole, 15x 6.5 or 7, ET 37 from a 90's C class car.  I finally got them to
> be direct bolt on to my or any van.  The hubs are the right size but the
> thickness of the alloy required a lot of machining to get them to direct
> bolt on.  I learned a lot in the process and had checked into wheel adapters
> and longer studs before deciding to ream out the holes to the same thickness
> as the OEM VW alloy wheel.
>
> Initially I thought it would be more expensive to get wheel adapters, so I
> went with wheels that had about the right ET 37 vs. stock 30.  I wouldn't do
> it that way again.
>
> I also had bought the longer studs that were intended for a 911 and I
> bought longer lugs too when I had a 2wd van.  That was expensive too and was
> more involved that I wanted to get into so I resold them.  Plus they aren't
> really bolt on when you do that, they only bolt on to a modified van.  I
> wouldn't do it that way again either.
>
> If I had to do it over again, I would find wheels with a large offset like
> ET60 and I would just buy adapters to bolt on before bolting on the wheels.
>  That would be the easiest way to go, and in the end the cheapest if you
> figure in any cost for your time and tools or other parts you will have to
> buy.  The drill bits to ream out the holes cost almost $100 by themselves.
>  Plus someone mis-informed me and I had to buy a second countersink bit.
>
> You can adapt the larger ET wheels easily and the bolt pattern options are
> plentiful from places that sell adapters.  You can also get a 25mm thick
> 5/112 to 5/112 "adapter" that just corrects the offset and is a direct bolt
> on with MB wheels.  The link below is $52/adapter but I think I saw them a
> little cheaper somewhere else.
>
> http://adaptitusa.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=165
>
> Sounds like the link posted from thesamba has all the correct info.  But
> this was my experience after going through it.  And I didn't know about the
> samba link when I started.
>
> BTW, I did all the machining by hand drill, and it worked out fine.  I
> later found a wheel shop in Denver that machines them for $20/wheel.  Oh
> well.
>
> Dave in Denver
>
>