No subject

at Audi used on the SQ asphalt rally sections during 1984 and 1985.  Audi h=
ad some made recently for their Audi Tradition operations and I was told by=
 Alfred Schrantz at the factory that they paid over $2K per wheel!  So this=
 sounded like a heeluva deal.

They were purchased and sent to Ye Olde Wheel Shop for restoration where it=
 turned out that even after removing the paint there was not a single marki=
ng to be found.  So other than simplistic attempts to measure them I did no=
t really know whether they would fit.  Size was 16.5" diameter from edge to=
 edge (clue there) and 9.5" width and seemingly about 6" from the inside hu=
b to the inner rim edge.

The wheels were finished and delivered all of them having been out of balan=
ce and needing repair.

When I fitted them I found that these wheels are in fact 15" and although t=
hey clear the suspension the inner face of the spokes would not clear the f=
ront brake caliper by about 2mm.  A machined 5mm H&R spacer cured that.  Wh=
en my local tire shop tried to fit a 245 x 45 x 15 Dunlop 8000 tire to the =
test wheel, they could not get the tire to remain attached to the wheel rim=
/bead.  It kept sliding down and allowing air to escape.

I know this sounds convoluted but has anyone encountered a similar problem =
with very wide wheels like this.  There is a possibility that this wheel wa=
s never intended for the SQ and AFAIK there never was a 15" 5 spoke wheel f=
itted to the SQ and it may have been on an A1 or A2.  Did these cars ever h=
ave special design tires like the TRX series Michelin's that used a differe=
nt fit.  The wheel paint had to be damaged to remove my Dunlop after the te=
st fit so this wheel will have to go back to Ye Olde Wheel for testing and =
repainting.  But the fit was so tight that the machine normally used to eas=
ily remove the tire bead from the rim was not able to do so without scrapin=
g the paint off.

The tire shop says they have never seen this happen and have fitted "thousa=
nds" of tires including Vintage race Mustang and Porsche tires running on 1=
2" width wheels.

Any thoughts on what I might be able to do to find a tire that would fit th=
is unusual combination.

Colin
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