the Passat alloy wheels I have seen machined look all right to me.

Bear in mind the center bore doesn't have to go full depth ...just the inner
3/8 inch or so.
Looking at that, it did not seem that it would compromise strength at all.

those wheels were on a synco...and spacers or adapters were used...which I
do not think much off
'maybe well-made not-too-thick spacers with nice long wheel mounting studs
...
not too bothered about that.

for steel wheels....there does not seem to be enough material there to me at
all, to remove some in the center bore.

what I realized is that more modern cars have suspension and brakes that
stick out further, and the wheels reach in further to accommodate that.
Our vanagons still have the old fashioned thing where the suspension and
brakes do not stick that far out from the van, and the wheels do not reach
way in.  Makes the more modern wheels harder to fit to vanagons.

Scott
www.turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Davis" <panoptagon@TELUS.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 2:41 PM
Subject: Center Bore Machining.

>I am in the market for new rims and tires. I would really love to use
> Passat 5 double spoke rims but I am a little hesitant to use wheels
> that need to have their center hole machined.  Does anyone on the list
> have any idea about this?  Is it dangerous?  The passat rims have a
> 57.1 mm center hole.
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Jeff