ime looking into new wheel options for my volvo 121 at the moment. and i've come up with a few ideas, but i need oppinions to see which would be a better option....
as the pcd is annoyingly different to any other car (almost) and i feel like having a one off set of wheels ive decided to make my own (ime an engineering student, with quite alot of lathe/milling experience)
in the past ive had 2 piece split rims for my mini (infact i still do! must fit them!) where a donor set of rims had the outside part cut off, and then a spun aluminium outer bolted in its place. a simple job really:
ive thought of a few ways of making my own rims, banding my current volvo ones. but so far my best idea is re-rimming them...of sorts.
using a wide steel wheel, cut out the centre on a lathe where it is welded onto the rim, giving just a tube...of sorts.
and then welding a 4mm ish thick ring into the rim (giving the desired offset......which will be quite alot!) and then making up a solid centre out of 8mm-ish aluminium which i can then bolt onto the steel ring which is welded to the rim.
to help with my explaination here is a very crude drawing!
with the Red being the donor's rim.
blue being the steel ring welded to the rim
black being the aluminium centre.
ive run the idea past a few of my coursemates and most think it will be strong enough, but any more oppinions are welcome!
the ring will be welded on by a qualified welder so no problems should arise from welding quality.
my one question is about donor rims, so far i am looking to have about 16" rim with 7.5 - 8" width. which are a little tricky to find, except in the off road fraternity. my question being will normal road tyres fit on off-road rims??
i may have a crack at this in the next few days if i can find a donor rim to suit!
edd
as the pcd is annoyingly different to any other car (almost) and i feel like having a one off set of wheels ive decided to make my own (ime an engineering student, with quite alot of lathe/milling experience)
in the past ive had 2 piece split rims for my mini (infact i still do! must fit them!) where a donor set of rims had the outside part cut off, and then a spun aluminium outer bolted in its place. a simple job really:
ive thought of a few ways of making my own rims, banding my current volvo ones. but so far my best idea is re-rimming them...of sorts.
using a wide steel wheel, cut out the centre on a lathe where it is welded onto the rim, giving just a tube...of sorts.
and then welding a 4mm ish thick ring into the rim (giving the desired offset......which will be quite alot!) and then making up a solid centre out of 8mm-ish aluminium which i can then bolt onto the steel ring which is welded to the rim.
to help with my explaination here is a very crude drawing!
with the Red being the donor's rim.
blue being the steel ring welded to the rim
black being the aluminium centre.
ive run the idea past a few of my coursemates and most think it will be strong enough, but any more oppinions are welcome!
the ring will be welded on by a qualified welder so no problems should arise from welding quality.
my one question is about donor rims, so far i am looking to have about 16" rim with 7.5 - 8" width. which are a little tricky to find, except in the off road fraternity. my question being will normal road tyres fit on off-road rims??
i may have a crack at this in the next few days if i can find a donor rim to suit!
edd