Should I - Shouldn't I????

[regress]

Hi Guys
I have recently bought a mercedes vito van which I will be converting to a day van/camper. My first task was to change the awful steel wheels so i bought a set of 17" Audi A3 Sport alloys checking first that they would fit (pcd, offset, etc) but when I tried to fit them I found that the centre-bore is too small (it's turned out that merc wheels have 66.6mm centres whereas audi/vw/skoda/seat etc have 57mm.
Now there is a 10mm ledge on the hub which I assume assists you when you have to change a wheel (see picture) which is stopping the alloys from going on.

I had a number of options:
1, Use 10mm spacers (but that would mean changing all bolts and the wheels would stick out).
2, Have the wheels bored-out by an engineering firm (not sure how that would affect wheel balance).
3, Get my trusty angle grinder and take down the ledge so that it's flush with the hub-face.

I've decided to go with option 3 as I can't see any use for that lip other that resting the wheel on when you change wheels so that you don't have to struggle holding the wheel up whilst trying to find the bolt hole.

Before I do this, does anybody knowe of any reason why I shouldn't grind this lip down?

Thanks in Advance

[Sam_68]

regress said:

Before I do this, does anybody knowe of any reason why I shouldn't grind this lip down?

No, go ahead - you owe it to the gene pool. If there was a heaven, Darwin would be smiling down upon you from it. Good choice of user name; very appropriate.

The finely engineered finish you'll achieve by using an angle-grinder instead of turning the hub in a lathe is a particularly nice touch, by the way.









(The reason other reason for the centre bore and matching 'spigot' on the hub - apart from ease of wheel location - is to prevent excessive shear loads being transmitted to the wheel studs. But don't let that stop you).

[regress]

[quote=Sam_68]

No, go ahead - you owe it to the gene pool. If there was a heaven, Darwin would be smiling down upon you from it. Good choice of user name; very appropriate.


Thankyou for your Obsequious response, it was very....'helpful'. Your number of posts speaks volumes and assists in the explanation to your obvious lack of social skills. I find it quite ironic that someone who, as their number of posts suggests, spends the whole of their spare time locked in their bedroom, sat in front of a computer, should reference 'Darwin'?!?!

Now, can anybody suggest where I can look for for technical advice, ie, where I can ask a question and get a relevent answer?

[Sam_68]

regress said:

am_68

No, go ahead - you owe it to the gene pool. If there was a heaven, Darwin would be smiling down upon you from it. Good choice of user name; very appropriate.


Thankyou for your Obsequious response, it was very....'helpful'. Your number of posts speaks volumes and assists in the explanation to your obvious lack of social skills. I find it quite ironic that someone who, as their number of posts suggests, spends the whole of their spare time locked in their bedroom, sat in front of a computer, should reference 'Darwin'?!?!

Now, can anybody suggest where I can look for for technical advice, ie, where I can ask a question and get a relevent answer?

I've explained the purpose of the centre bore on your wheel and the matching shoulder on your hub.

What further technical advice do you require? How to use the 'quote' function properly, perhaps? I'm assuming you are skilled in the use of your 'trusty' angle grinder?

I wasn't being obsequious, by the way.

[Mr2Mike]

Obviously you have checked that the A3 wheels are suitable for the increased loading of a van? And obviously you are going to fit commercial rated tyres on these wheels. FWIW I've seen an alloy wheel failed from cracking due to being overloaded on a van.

[Globs]

That ledge is what keeps your wheels in the right place: leave it there.
Buy some Merc wheels, plenty about, ideally from a heavy merc so they are strong enough.

[YoungOne]

As mentioned above the weight of the vehicle isn't supposed to be carried by the wheel bolts, the lip is there for a reason

[Nick3point2]

Buy wheels that actually fit your van, not wheels off a hatchback with the same stud pattern and PCD.

[Nick1point9]

Weslake-Monza said:

I'm not certain the lip is there to carry the weight - there are plenty of designs of hubs where it simply is the clamping action of the fastener to the hub that supports the wheel and no lip.

Sincerely doubt it otherwise a *slightly* loose wheel would lead to certain failure. The lip takes the weight, the fasteners make sure the wheel stays on the lip.

[one eyed mick]

My op only , to op just be sensible and buy wheels that fit correctly ok?

[Globs]

Nick1point9 said:

Weslake-Monza said:

I'm not certain the lip is there to carry the weight - there are plenty of designs of hubs where it simply is the clamping action of the fastener to the hub that supports the wheel and no lip.

Sincerely doubt it otherwise a *slightly* loose wheel would lead to certain failure. The lip takes the weight, the fasteners make sure the wheel stays on the lip.

I've never seen a hub without a lip, I suspect Weslake hasn't either.
It's easy to post photos up BTW...

[K87]

For what it's worth I ran a car with wheels that had centre bores bigger than than the hub rims and had no problems over 6 months.

It's not something I'd advocate doing though.

[Globs]

K87 said:

For what it's worth I ran a car with wheels that had centre bores bigger than than the hub rims and had no problems over 6 months.

It's not something I'd advocate doing though.

Did you run it fast?
The lip is also to centre the wheel!

[garagewidow]

ahem,

try a vw splitscreen van 205 X 5stud and no spigot as such to rest the wheel on.

Globs said:

I've never seen a hub without a lip, I suspect Weslake hasn't either.
It's easy to post photos up BTW...

[garagewidow]

plus for the spigot to truely take the weight of the vehicle you would not be able to simply 'pull off' the wheel by hand.it would need to be pressed on/off.i'll bet you can get a feeler gauge between wheel and spigot when fitted on most vehicles.
but to the op take some of the previous advice and fit suitable wheels.

[K87]

Globs said:

Did you run it fast?
The lip is also to centre the wheel!

yep, about 6k mostly motorway miles or hard B road blasting running. Was a light car though. I think it had tapered shoulders on the bolts though so that would have kept it centered and alligned correctly. Flat bolts would be a definite no no as you'd likely have a slight misalignment and it would vibrate to hell.

[Globs]

garagewidow said:

ahem,

try a vw splitscreen van 205 X 5stud and no spigot as such to rest the wheel on.

Probably why they decided to use 5 bolts...