After market wheels caution

[GTI JOE]

Hi Guys,

I was trawling through some VW forums overseas over the weekend and came across a problem a member experienced in relation to after market wheels and associated bolts.

The guy bought some after market wheels and the bolts were longer than the OEMs. He fitted them and basically stuffed his wheel hub and bearings. That is, the hub came off due to the tightening of the longer wheel bolts (bolts pressing against the hub) which then caused the brake assembly to shift and gauge his discs. So he's up for new hubs and bearings as well as rotors.

This was pretty timely for me as I purchased longer wheel bolts for my after market wheels and they were sitting in the garage waiting installation. When I test fitted them they were indeed going to hit the hub and make the same damage.

So please be aware when choosing bolts. Make sure that they have the correct seat type for the wheels and they have the right thread length. It will save you a lot of hurt.

In the meantime, I will be purchasing shorter wheel bolts

[Hail22]

Either that or use the manufacturers wheel bolts like I have

[ATYPIC]

This is good advice for those who aren't so familiar with the associated pitfalls of changing to aftermarket wheels. Unless you are ordering bespoke custom wheels which may have extra back padding, or you are running spacers, always replace the factory lug bolts – whether conical or spherical or whatever – with the same length bolt – 27 or 28mm.

Oh...and don't ever take advice from the folk at Job Bane tyre shops.

[GTI JOE]

Either that or use the manufacturers wheel bolts like I have

Yeah, that's what I have been using in the interim but the after market wheels I have use conical not ball seat type (like the OEMs). Thanks for the advice Brad (ATYPIC).

[VWplo]

any other tips guys, im about to purchase my first set of aftermarket wheels

[Bflat]

any other tips guys, im about to purchase my first set of aftermarket wheels

Don't buy fakes

[GTI JOE]

any other tips guys, im about to purchase my first set of aftermarket wheels

Other than the bolt caution. See if you need hub rings (also known as sprigot rings) as well. The Polo has a 57.1mm hub size so it will depend on the hub hole of the wheel that you are purchasing. I required 63.3mm - 57.1mm size hub rings for my particular wheels. Easy way to solve all this....make sure the wheel seller provides bolts and hub rings specific to the wheels they are selling....and double check...then re-check.

[LunchboxVRS]

How much longer where the bolts compared to stock?

I just got my OZ racing wheels that come with 57.06 rings. The bolts are conical and about 5-7mm longer then stock but the thread itself is pretty much the same length.

[GTI JOE]

How much longer where the bolts compared to stock?

I just got my OZ racing wheels that come with 57.06 rings. The bolts are conical and about 5-7mm longer then stock but the thread itself is pretty much the same length.

I can't remember but I have a feeling they where about 10mm longer. Sorry, I'm just too damn efficient in cleaning caches and history on my browser, so I can't give a link

All you have to do is put in an OEM bolt and new bolt through the new wheel and compare how much thread sticks out the other side. At least it will give you an idea.

[kevinctr]

Front centre rings is a tad too loose while the rear is a perfect fit. The wheel shop custom machined a pair of tapered cente rings that fitted onto the hub nicely.