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Volkswagen Wheels

Wheels and Tires Index
	Bolt Patterns and Offset
	Tire Sizing
		Tire Size Calculator
	Wheels		←You are Here
	Torsion Bar Indexing
	Lengthened Trailing Arms

Wheel - Metals

Wheels come in steel, wrought aluminum, cast aluminum and magnesium.

Steel is the strongest and most durable. If you bang your wheel on a rock and loose your bead, you can often bang the wheel back into shape with a mallet and finish your race or get back home. You can even to a field weld these if you have a welding rod and some know-how. Steel is also the heaviest and thick aftermarket wheels can really increase your unsprung weight This increase in weight makes accelerating, braking and even handling (unsprung) more of a challenge.

Wrought aluminum is what a lot of racers use. These are far lighter than their steel counterparts so you have a lot less unsprung moving weight. They are also more forgiving to bumps and bangs than cast aluminum and tend to bend instead of cracking or fracturing.

Cast aluminum will break if you hit it hard enough. Magnesium wheels are in the same boat and should not be used for offroad applications.

Bolt Patterns

This is important if you want to actually put a wheel on your VW. And because VWs use their own bolt patterns and backspacing, you may decide to modify/replace your drums and/or rotors so that they can accommodate a wheel with a different bolt pattern. Bolt patterns are discussed in greater detail in our Bolt Pattern Page.

Backspacing

The backspacing or offset (same thing -but measured differently) is so important for steering geometry, wheel bearing longevity and tire fitment. It is discussed in greater detail on our Bolt Pattern Page.

Wheel Choices

4x130 Picture Database

RuntRod had a wheel database

Mid America Motorworks

Kustom 1 Warehouse

JC Whitney

J Bugs

California Import Parts (cip1)

Chirco Automotive

Cool AirVW UK site

The Samba

Bugs and Buggies

Cosmic Wheels

OE Vee Dub

Action Import Motors

Vee Dub Part Unlimited

Race Ready Race wheels

Pete Paulsen

Custom & Commercial

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