Club 80-90 Forums

I was recently at a car boot sale in the camper and a fellow club member commented on my steel wheels.

He said they were a lot deeper than any other wheels he had seen fitted to a T25, and he had seen lots. So my question is, are there different width steel wheels that were fitted as standard by VW. I have regular 195/R14 C tyres fitted but after looking at some old photos of other T25s mine do appear to be deeper.
Here's a photo of the camper, the wheels were on it when we got it so it would be interesting to know if we have something Rare

Banded me thinks
i.e cut in half and an extra steel band welded in
Look good but not always safe unless done properly


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Thanks for that, how unsafe are they!!

A couple of years ago we took the van to get the front wheels balanced because there was a wobble in the steering at speed. The local quickfit tyre place told us to come back after half an hour whilst they did them. Upon returning we were given the keys back and they said they had done them as best as they could and there was no charge The wobble was cured and I thought although it was strange to get this done for free but didn't think any more of it. Maybe they didn't charge because the wheels wouldn't balance and by not charging us there wouldn't be any comeback if the wobble was not cured.

If they are banded would balancing the wheels be a problem?

Do I need to look for replacements, I wouldn't want to compromise on my families safety just to look different.

Hard to say how well they were done as you don't know who did them
I'm sure there is a market for them on ebay if you choose to play it safe, its your call
Chances are they are ok but there is a risk there , there is also risk to your family by driving an old van without the modern airbags and antilock brakes etc.

yes when banded chances are they will be hard to balance unless done well

Could they be the wider syncro steels?

lloydy wrote:Could they be the wider syncro steels?

I'm sure I read somewhere syncro are only 1/2" wider than standard

I remember reading somewhere, maybe an ebay ad, that someone had simply mounted the original steel wheels backwards to create this look. It didn't seem feasible when I read it - I assumed at the very least that the wheel nut mating face would be wrong, and the hubcaps would have nothing to sit on. Has anyone heard of that being done?

CJH wrote:I remember reading somewhere, maybe an ebay ad,

No not possible just take a wheel off and look at it or look at your spare

Well curiosity got the better of me, so I have just been up to my garage and pulled a hub cap off. The wheels are VW Audi (they have the rings logo) and have several stamps, one looks like it says D14 5.5J another says DOT but there is what looks like a hand stamped one that is either OIN or DIN. The rims measure about three inches from where the vertical face of the wheel to the very outside edge of the rim, or two and a half inches to the curve of the rim. The tyres are about six inches wide at the tread and are the same on the front and rear of the camper.

From what I have seen of the standard wheels that sell online from VW heritage mine are definitely wider but have the same 5.5 stamped on the rims so I guess they must be banded.

They couldn't have been mounted backwards because the mating faces would be wrong as said earlier.

what size tyres are you running?

defo banded , interesting to see if they have also moved the center.

no probs if done correctly.
may make the steering heavier than standard tho.

I have regular 195/R14 C tyres fitted to all the wheels and the tread measures about six inches. The steering is heavy but aren't they all without power steering fitted

not heavy without power steering as standard

if you ever get the chance try some standards on the front!

The standard steering is not heavy. Your wheels look like either banded where the rim is cut and a steel band welded in or re-rimmed where the old rim is cut off and a new wider rim is welded on. The offset of the wheel is designed to keep the centre point of the tyre tread in line with the pivot point of the steering king pin inclination (we don't use king pins now but it is still called king pin inclination). Moving the offset out like yours mean more effort is needed to turn the tyre from the straight ahead position because it can't pivot in on its centre point, the centre of the tread should also be inline with the larger inner wheel bearing which is designed to take the weight of the vehicle the smaller outer is not designed to take all the weight of the vehicle.

CJH wrote:I remember reading somewhere, maybe an ebay ad, that someone had simply mounted the original steel wheels backwards to create this look. It didn't seem feasible when I read it - I assumed at the very least that the wheel nut mating face would be wrong, and the hubcaps would have nothing to sit on. Has anyone heard of that being done?

this iirc is done by landy lovers so you may have heard/read it before