ShopTalk Forums | Aircooled VW Tech & Restoration Help

Here's my updated front pictures, using my spare 15" rims I've got 12-1/2 turns of my front lugs w/o spacer.




Rear wheel (no machining)

Front wheel:

ok since I beat this dead horse w/ a stick, here is some solid info for you folks.

wheels with a 58mm center bore obvoisly won't fit. the center hubs are 66mm in diam, so you want about 68 mm hole in the center of your wheel. However a 58mm hole, which is quite common, seems to come close to fitting. if there is a taper to itand it is larger on the back side, a 3mm spacer on the back wheels and 8mm spacer on the front wheels will make the new wheel fit, but you will need new studs up front. also Audis for the most part it seems use a 12mm stud. a 14mm stud, like our bays, will fit thru the 12mm hole (not true of mercedes alloys) BUT the ball on those lugs is also smaller. T3 Technique sells a small ball 14mm nut which will solve all your problems. you can tell if you need this nut as your old nuts won't sit deep enough in the wheel. buy one and count the number of turns till it seats, then compare it to stock. I get almost 2 full turns more, 3mm extra engagment, no small difference.

also a rule of thumb I came across on the web, you need 6 - 6.5 full turns on your lug nuts to consider them on enough, any less and you need to buy new studs. of course if you are running aftermarket super mega alloy wheel studs and nuts, less turns may be fine, remember it's only a rule of thumb.

Most places I've seen recognize 7.5 turns for M14x1.5 hardware and 6-6.5 turns for M12x1.5


Small-ball being 22mm radius and large ball-being 24-26mm radius - I've run large-ball lugs on small-ball rims with 6-turns w/o issue - as pictured above. Also something to think about if you have some tapered lugs:

http://www.brandsport.com/excl-793.html

good to finally hear a number for radiusesss, I was gonna try and measure it somehow. Still shopping for more rims, these have a little too "little" offset for me, meaning they are too far from the car. these will work fine, and will be spares, but I'm going to hunt down something better, they'll find me, just gotta give em time.

FACTORY 73-79 BAY WINDOW WHEEL STUDS

so there is some misinformation, and most suppliers only carry one stud for front and back.

FRONT STUD: 45mm underhead lengeth, ~38mm thread
REAR STUD: 35mm underhead Length, ~28mm thread

Which length is it that they list and have available?

35 mm, and they call it front, not rear
thats Dorman 610-246
although if someone is in need, I would just call em and verify on the phone, since they have two part numbers w/ the same spec, it is possible it is an error in the online catalog