MillionMileSprinter
Millionmilesprinter.com
It seems there are tons of threads discussing what other wheel options we have for our vans, but of the three listed in the title (Audi, Porsche and VW) none of them are "plug and play". They all have to be machined. The wheels are easy to find on Craigslist with *close to* the required ratings on the tires (I won't go into that right now. There are tons of threads discussing this- you make up your own mind). Needless to say, for 18" wheels the tires have to be 255/55/18. I experienced a small rubbing and had to trim the front bumper with those tires, so I wouldn't go any bigger.
It really burned me up that I only paid $400 for these barely used tires and wheels and then had to shell out around $250 to get them machined to fit my van. So I came up with a plan...
Grinders just didn't work (I briefly tried) and with a handheld drill, there was no way to keep everying clean and round. I went to Lowe's and was looking through the tool section when my eyes fell on the hole saws. Yes, the kind you get to drill a hole in the front door of your house to install a lock. If you look at the packages, you will see that *some* are also designed to cut metal. So I borrowed a salesperson's tape measure and ran out to measure the lip on the van. It came out to 3 3/8" (86mm) OD. They didn't have that size saw, but they did have the next one larger and smaller, so I got those- 3 1/2 and 3 1/4 (89 and 83mm I think).
My drill press didn't have a long enough reach to use with the tires, so I had to do it all by hand.
First I used a 3" hole saw to cut a plug out of a 2x4 that I then sanded down so I could hammer it into the middle of the hole in the wheel. That gave me a guide for the pilot drill to keep everything straight. I ended up removing the pilot drill in the middle of the hole saw and replaced it with a long straight rod so it wouldn't constantly be making the pilot hole bigger every time I used it.
Then I got to work. I started with the 3 1/4 (83mm) saw, hoping that there would be enough "wiggle" in the saw that it would end up being big enough, but it wasn't, so I had to use the 3 1/2 (89mm). Then I realized that there was still a lip on the far inside, nearest the plug, so I used the 3" (77mm) saw to take care of that. The saws cut through the alloy very quickly and easily, especially with the guide plug to hold everything in one spot. I'm glad I did the 3" saw last, because it cut away at the plug and made it wobble some in the hole.
For depth, I had read here on the list that 1/4" was enough, but I wasn't happy with that, so I went to a depth of 3/8". Slight difference, but it made me feel better. I made sure I measured at multiple points around the circumference, because with a hand drill, I could not get a perfectly level cut.
After this, I still had some very thin ridges between the three holes I had cut. Fortunately for me, I had the forsight to *just in case* buy a pack of 3" cut off/grinding wheels there at Lowes. The 3" is important because most of those cut off/grinding wheels are too big to fit into the hole in the van wheel. I used a few of those to smooth everything out and I was done!
Total time: 3 hours.
Total cost: $400 for the wheels and tires, $45 for the supplies (which I get to keep for other projects), and $35 for 20 chrome wheel bolts
If I had to do it again, I probably would special order the 3 3/8 hole saw. The 3 1/2" saw makes the hole a tiny bit too big, which makes it a bit of a pain to install the wheels, but once you figure out a system with your jack, it's not terribly hard.
The van's ride is a little less harsh now over bumps, and in the city, there are lots of bumps!
The wheels also make the van look less like a utility truck and more like a family van (which is what ours is). Also, for some reason, they make the van look not so long. Maybe proportinally speaking, because the wheels are bigger than stock, they make things like the long back window look not quite so long... I don't know.
The wheels do stick out a bit from the van. Actually, the rear wheels barely fit within the verticle plane of the top the wheel arch, but the fronts do stick out an inch or so. If your locale is picky about this, keep it in mind. I know guys who keep their old stock wheels for their cars and stick them on the cars for inspection and then switch back to the bigger wheels the rest of the year.
I also ordered longer bolts for the wheels. 45mm. The alloy wheels are thicker than the steelies (ligher, too!), so I wanted to be sure I had enough meat on the threads. You might be able to go slightly smaller, but there are no interference problems with the 45mm, and they utilize the entire length of thread available.
I think that's about it. Oh yeah- DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! Don't do it! Modifying the wheels on a multi-ton vehicle is a potentially dangerous thing. I'm only telling you about it so you can give me a digital pat on the back for my genius. There: that should cover my liability.
Enjoy the pictures:
It really burned me up that I only paid $400 for these barely used tires and wheels and then had to shell out around $250 to get them machined to fit my van. So I came up with a plan...
Grinders just didn't work (I briefly tried) and with a handheld drill, there was no way to keep everying clean and round. I went to Lowe's and was looking through the tool section when my eyes fell on the hole saws. Yes, the kind you get to drill a hole in the front door of your house to install a lock. If you look at the packages, you will see that *some* are also designed to cut metal. So I borrowed a salesperson's tape measure and ran out to measure the lip on the van. It came out to 3 3/8" (86mm) OD. They didn't have that size saw, but they did have the next one larger and smaller, so I got those- 3 1/2 and 3 1/4 (89 and 83mm I think).
My drill press didn't have a long enough reach to use with the tires, so I had to do it all by hand.
First I used a 3" hole saw to cut a plug out of a 2x4 that I then sanded down so I could hammer it into the middle of the hole in the wheel. That gave me a guide for the pilot drill to keep everything straight. I ended up removing the pilot drill in the middle of the hole saw and replaced it with a long straight rod so it wouldn't constantly be making the pilot hole bigger every time I used it.
Then I got to work. I started with the 3 1/4 (83mm) saw, hoping that there would be enough "wiggle" in the saw that it would end up being big enough, but it wasn't, so I had to use the 3 1/2 (89mm). Then I realized that there was still a lip on the far inside, nearest the plug, so I used the 3" (77mm) saw to take care of that. The saws cut through the alloy very quickly and easily, especially with the guide plug to hold everything in one spot. I'm glad I did the 3" saw last, because it cut away at the plug and made it wobble some in the hole.
For depth, I had read here on the list that 1/4" was enough, but I wasn't happy with that, so I went to a depth of 3/8". Slight difference, but it made me feel better. I made sure I measured at multiple points around the circumference, because with a hand drill, I could not get a perfectly level cut.
After this, I still had some very thin ridges between the three holes I had cut. Fortunately for me, I had the forsight to *just in case* buy a pack of 3" cut off/grinding wheels there at Lowes. The 3" is important because most of those cut off/grinding wheels are too big to fit into the hole in the van wheel. I used a few of those to smooth everything out and I was done!
Total time: 3 hours.
Total cost: $400 for the wheels and tires, $45 for the supplies (which I get to keep for other projects), and $35 for 20 chrome wheel bolts
If I had to do it again, I probably would special order the 3 3/8 hole saw. The 3 1/2" saw makes the hole a tiny bit too big, which makes it a bit of a pain to install the wheels, but once you figure out a system with your jack, it's not terribly hard.
The van's ride is a little less harsh now over bumps, and in the city, there are lots of bumps!
The wheels also make the van look less like a utility truck and more like a family van (which is what ours is). Also, for some reason, they make the van look not so long. Maybe proportinally speaking, because the wheels are bigger than stock, they make things like the long back window look not quite so long... I don't know.
The wheels do stick out a bit from the van. Actually, the rear wheels barely fit within the verticle plane of the top the wheel arch, but the fronts do stick out an inch or so. If your locale is picky about this, keep it in mind. I know guys who keep their old stock wheels for their cars and stick them on the cars for inspection and then switch back to the bigger wheels the rest of the year.
I also ordered longer bolts for the wheels. 45mm. The alloy wheels are thicker than the steelies (ligher, too!), so I wanted to be sure I had enough meat on the threads. You might be able to go slightly smaller, but there are no interference problems with the 45mm, and they utilize the entire length of thread available.
I think that's about it. Oh yeah- DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! Don't do it! Modifying the wheels on a multi-ton vehicle is a potentially dangerous thing. I'm only telling you about it so you can give me a digital pat on the back for my genius. There: that should cover my liability.
Enjoy the pictures:
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