Re: [T3] 4 to 5 Lug wheel adapters

["Shad Laws" <shad@lnengineering.com>]

Hello-

> Has anyone had experience with these?  Good or bad?  The options available
for the 5 lug wheels are a lot
> better looking IMHO.  Before I spend the $100 on adapters I figured I
should see if they are crap.  I dont
> want my wheels to fly off when Im driving 60 on the interstate.

Then definately steer clear...  the wheel adapters are quite an unsafe idea.

Your disc/drum/hub/whatever now bolts to a (relatively cheap & weak)
adapter, which bolts to your wheel.  The adapter isn't designed to resist
flex/stress/etc. and whatnot as your disc/drum/hub/whatever.  There have
been many problems because of this!  (note: don't confuse this with wheel
spacers... they are just fine since they don't change the bolt pattern, but
then again that doesn't get you different rims :-)

A couple alternative suggestions:

1) Look at Porsche 914 alloys.  There are three dealer-equipped kinds: Mahle
(cast mag.), Fuch (forged Al., "2.0 alloys"), and Pedrini (cast Al. IIRC).
These can look nice.  And, there are several aftermarket kinds.

2) Get your disc/drum/hub/whatever(s) redrilled for the Porsche 5-lug
pattern.  The VW 4-lug and Porsche 5-lug have the _same_ bolt circle (130mm)
and the same thread size (M14x1.5), so this procedure is common and 100%
safe.  Then all the Porsche options are open to you.  Note that the VW 5-lug
bolt circle is 205mm...

Take care,
Shad Laws
LN Engineering - Aircooled Precision Performance
http://www.LNengineering.com


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