BRM Alloy Wheels

[dandeez81]

Hi All, hoping someone may be able to give us some advice, just bought a rather nice set of BRM's from the Volksworld show for our 81 Aircooled T25, the guy at the stand (Midland Wheels) said they should go straight on but having had a quick go at installing i suspect we need spacers for the rear drum bolts at least, anyone bought anything similar and can advise on whether machining out the bolt holes is better/safer than spacers? (not to mention give better clearance to NS rear wheel arch and sliding door clearance) unfortunately cannot get the front steel wheels off at the moment as when the brakes where overhauled they overtightened the studs! but wondering whether the centre holes on the new wheels will need boreing out.

the wheels we bought are very common on the T2's and seen a few T25's with them, they are black BRM 5 spoke ones with 185 R15 55 tyres (similar to replica fuch's).

Cheers

Dan

[jason k]

you can simply undo and remove the drum retaining nuts as the wheel bolted on will suffice.

however


the offset of the brm is not ideal for a t3 / t25 which will cause undue strains and stresses on wheel bearings etc.

also and this is very important check what load rating your tyres are, i would bet a pound to a penny they are car spec.

you need a min 94 rating

[andisnewsyncro]

Try typing "wheels" into the wiki for a lot of useful info, especially on the rear brake drum locating screws which I think are the ones you're talking about Dan.

[dandeez81]

Thanks Jason, huge help mate, assuming the rating you mentioned is embellished on the tyre somewhere along with the sizes etc? if they proove unsuitable we will send them back and try again!

[jason k]

yeah its on the sidewall so 195 55 15 and then 2 numbers and a letter.

the two nos are the load rating.

[ricicles]

check the offset also, most of these wheels are not correct. the tyre sizes look wrong also, i think you may get an incorect speedo reading and your gearing will be wrong. worth checking

[kevtherev]

the tyre sizes look wrong also, i think you may get an incorect speedo reading and your gearing will be wrong. worth checking

ricicles is correct
Those tyres are 73mm too short on the spec circumference for a transporter

spec is 654mm
yours are 581mm.. so the speedo will be 11% out

A 225/60 X 15" would be better

[ricicles]

i bet those wheels are only 5.5 wide,i think 225 will not be suitable. they will bulge like a bankers pension

[g60steve]

Send em back and fit something more suitable and that's not made of cheese.

[jason k]

subtle as always steve!!!

they are not the best tho.......

[andisnewsyncro]

Just had a look at Midland Wheels' website & they don't even list our vans, so I'd be a bit dubious about the "they should fit" statement made by the chap on their stall.
I'd send them back and get some that will fit correctly, you don't want to go machining brand new, expensive wheels in my (humble) opinion
As mentioned before, there's plenty of advice and links to info on the wiki,( and on brickyard) about what will fit and how to work out what size will change your ratios & speedo readings etc. Make sure you properly load rated tyres too, otherwise your insurance won't be very happy with you either.
Good luck & happy hunting

[matty o]

Had a big argument with Midland wheels last year.

They would not supply the ET at first and when they did it totaly wrong.
I pointed out that it was not anywhere near right for a t25, i was told that spacers would put it right, i pointed out that it was the other way and spacers would make it worse the reply i got was that the ET did not matter.
I then asked for the load rating of the wheels
All they could say was that the wheels have been used for years on T25s and had not had any fail.

I am not saying Midland wheels a are bad but you get what you pay for.

they will nacker the bearings faster but how much quicker i dont know.
You will have to repaint them next spring
Do you want to drive round on a loaded up camper on wheel that have not been weight tested.

[ricicles]

i see jk are now selling them as suitable for t3. they have put a wolfrace logo next to them, i wonder if they are the correct ofset.

[g60steve]

Wolfrace...not sure about?

They're ET23 so will fit but they are gash and don't suit a T25 at all.

[kevtherev]

eee-uck.

There's a fine range of Audi and mercedes rims.. check 'em out