Re: FS:Hockenheim R's

["Scott M." <scottmo@teleport.com>]

Brian,

I recently installed a set of the 16 X 7.5 TSW Blade wheels
(35mm offset) and 205/55X16 tires on my 89 200TQ. Yes, the
TSW catalog states that these wheels with 35mm offset will
fit on the '86-'90 5000TQ/200TQ but they state in small
print that "Body modifications may be necessary on rear
fenders". I ended up using a baseball bat to pry/roll the
rear fender lips out by 3/8 inch to get the wheels and
tires to clear.

After doing this I had a thought: Why couldn't these wheels
with a 35mm offset have some material (5-7mm) machined off
the inner hub/wheel mating surface to change the offset to
something like 40-42mm. This would move the rear wheels
inward and give some badly needed clearance for the rear
fender lips. Audi makes a stock 16X7 inch wheel (A4) with
45mm offset that fits great on the '86-'90 5000/200TQ.  A
42mm offset should work for the 16 X7.5 inch wheel as
others have mentioned using this setup. TSW casts the
wheels with a very thick wheel hub and then just machines
off material to set the offset either at 40mm or 35mm for
the Audis. The 4 bolt 108mm Audi pattern uses the 40mm. If
you look at the wheel hub area, you can see where they
drill them for the 4 bolt pattern. Note: this machining may
void any warranty assuming TSW could figure out they had
been machined.

The Mercedes Wheels use the same 112mm bolt pattern as the
Audi wheels but use a different hub centric ring and
different bolt hole diameters. They list wheels in the
16X7.5 with offsets between 15-40mm.

I realize that machining wheels is a process that can't be
reversed but it may be the only way to get these nice
wheels fitted on the early cars without doing any fender
bending. You might check locally for any wheel specialty
shops that can do this work.

Any comments from other list members regarding the merits
of doing some machining on these wheels?

HTH
Scott M.

----------
> From: brv@chrysler.com
> To: quattro@coimbra.ans.net
> Subject: FS:Hockenheim R's
> Date: Wednesday, November 26, 1997 9:03 AM
> 
> Brand new, never driven on set of 16x7.5 TSW Hockenheim
R's w/ 35mm
> offset and red anodized center nut.  Wheels have brand
new set of
> P205/55R16 Dunlop D60 A2's mounted on them.  Wheels do
not fit my 86
> 5Kcstq.  According to TSW, they fit the following
vehicles:
> V8 Quattro (90-94), 100 V6 (92-94), 5000CSTurbo(84-88 NON
Quattro), 200
> Quattro (89-91).