Subcompact Culture

I know it's kind of a big thing in the VW community,
and I was wondering if anyone is running on widened steel wheels?

Say a 15x8 or 16x8 or 9?

___

Scionotiks

they are probally using spacers

sexyscionlover

no its possible to widen the steel rims. look at VW vortex. its a cool thing to do on a tight budget and i love the look of it. im sorry to say though, no im not on widened steelies.

Boxer_Rebellion

There's an xB on here that had stock steelies (from an older Celica or something) widened to 8 or 9 inches. Looked nuts.

Subcompact Culture

Really? I'd like to find that pic.

Kind of off topic, but what is the backspacing for the OEM 15" steelies? Many of the companies that deal with wide steelies use this term a lot. I think it might be something like 4.8 or 4.9 ...

Boxer_Rebellion

BAM!




You're welcome

RTon20s

If you are interested in widened Steelies I would recommend Wheels of Steel. They are located in Visalia, CA. My home town. I am going to be going by there on my lunch hour today to pick up a lug key. They can widen wheels to pretty much any width, build their own wheels, chrome and do wheel repair. If I had time today I was going to ask if they currently built old style smoothies in a 4x100 pattern for our car as well.

Here is their website...
http://www.custombuiltsteelwheels.com

Big_Bird

boxer those are really nice

Subcompact Culture

Thanks for the pic, but those don't look widened, just painted with a trim ring added. Am I incorrect?

The place I was looking at was www.diamondracingwheels.com. They have a variety of 15x8 and 16x8 wheels, plus, I guess they can widen steelies, too (plus, I live 5 minutes from them).

Boxer_Rebellion

^^^Those are 15x8. They are painted TCM with trim rings and those cool plastic centers... I think they pretty darn nice.

There are other styles of widened wheels you see on VW forums that have a much more pronounced lip... These were Corrado steelies I think ...


Another wheel-

Subcompact Culture

Those are 15x8? That gives me a good idea what they'd look like then.

The first pic of the Corrado steelies are 14x9. I cna't rmember what the above-pictured wheels are.

Boxer_Rebellion

You're right.1

I think the black ones are 15x9.

RTon20s

There was a request by PM to check with my local steel wheel company to see if they make old style smoothies in 4x100. I went by at lunch, and unfortunately they do not.

In looking at their site though, you can get custom built steel wheels similar to our stocks in a dual pattern. No need to send yours in and have them widened. You can choose the stock backspace available, or have a custom offset done for an additional $5 a wheel. I know that the company also does chrome, but I am not sure how much additional they would charge for chrome wheels vs. black.

Here is a link to the page with the wheels. Look at the WS60 "O.E. Replacement"
http://www.custombuiltsteelwheels.co...59_60_225.html

Boxer_Rebellion

Those wheels look rather gnarly... would you run a smoothie cap to cover the centers? Or at least some type of center cap...

Also, what does 5.5 rear spacing equal in terms of offset?

aireck

this is something i might consider doing....
any word on price for a set of wide steelies???

xb1013

i want it
i want it
i want it

IF..... i have the money and the tires arent so expensive

magicmanjk808

i was thinking of doing this before, but decided not to. it would be sick, i'm sure.

Subcompact Culture

I found this chart on the VW forums. The numbers in the middle of the chart signify offset. So, an OEM Scion steelie, which is 6.5" with an offset of +38 would have 5.25" of backspacing.



Now, if you were to go with an 8" wheel with et +20, your backspacing would remain similar to stock. What I'm not sure about is if more backspacing leads to a bigger dish. However, after looking at this image ...



... I'd say the lower the backspacing, the more lip or dish you could get a way with.

I'm thinking about doing this as soon as I can unload my 18s. However, I'm not sure what size to do. I was thinking a 15x8 or 15x9 with like a +20 offset or a 16x8 or 16x9 with a +25 or so offset.

I'm currently on S-tech springs, but might consider getting some coilovers instead to go lower, which would probably look better.

Any idea what the limit would be on width/offset (or backspacing) without having to roll my fenders?

Boxer_Rebellion

Exxxxcellent...

tat2dude25

Thank you for the thread. Never knew this option existed. I am currenly looking for new rims on a tight budget. I am definitely gonna check in to this. I really like it. Anyone else know of any places that sell theese or just center caps etc. etc.