After the raging debate of wheel possibilities on our beloved form of
transportation, I found a small table on one of VWs many websites. This
table shows how much load the original steel and ally wheels can
support. Bad thing is that they don't include the Vanagon wheels, but
you can see if your 98 Passat wheels are good enough. You need the p/n
though, as this is listed after p/ns not vehicle type. The URL is:
http://www.vw-service.de/deutsch/quali/daten/raeder/docs/kapitel_2/2_tr198.html#n2

I might add that the "weakest" wheel, for the Polo, can carry 390 kgs.

PerL
87 Syncro 112i