Frieda - is my 1966 Sea Sand Restoration Project
Frieda - is my 1966 Sea Sand Restoration Project
I have had her for about 5 years, and finally got all the mechanical items all done. So far she had been a daily driver during the spring and summer months. I finally found a reputable body shop to do the small amount of body work required and to respray her the same factory original color. Found your site the other day when looking for ideas for rims. I would like to have custom rims on it, but don't know enough about tires and rims to know what custom rims would fit my stock setup. I have 2" Drop spindles in the front.
Rims are a personal choice as there are so many out there. Do a Google search of classic VW rims and start looking. You will find many.
Your stock wheel size is 15" with a width of 5 x 205mm and back spacing/offset of 4.5/5.5 4.5/3.75. If you find a wheel you like the backspacing and offset is your concern as that set the tire in the wheel well. If you go wider the location of the tire in the wheel well will change. It's really a math exercise to "figure" if it will fit before actually buying.
The easiest way is to look at pictures of cars and then go look for the wheels. Just know that they may have modified the car for them to fit. I know as I bought wheels and had to shorten the front beam 3.75 inches for a stock geometry and fender fit in the front.
Also, if spacers are needed know the wheel will set further out and may change the suspension geometry.
All fun stuff!
Your stock wheel size is 15" with a width of 5 x 205mm and back spacing/offset of 4.5/5.5 4.5/3.75. If you find a wheel you like the backspacing and offset is your concern as that set the tire in the wheel well. If you go wider the location of the tire in the wheel well will change. It's really a math exercise to "figure" if it will fit before actually buying.
The easiest way is to look at pictures of cars and then go look for the wheels. Just know that they may have modified the car for them to fit. I know as I bought wheels and had to shorten the front beam 3.75 inches for a stock geometry and fender fit in the front.
Also, if spacers are needed know the wheel will set further out and may change the suspension geometry.
All fun stuff!
Thank you very much for the information. It is super helpful. I had been able to find RADER rims that seem to be made for VW's and I really like the look. They come in 2 sizes, 15" and 17". I am not sure what the difference with those might be other than look and possibly handling. If you run a wider tire in the back (I do) and thinner ones up front, do people have 17" in the back and 15" in the front? Or is it all of one or all of the other? I am assuming you can run multiple tire configurations on the same type of rim of course. Have I mentioned I don't really know much about this? Thanks again for your help. If I can figure out how to post a picture on this site I will try to post a picture of Frieda before and after. 
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The Radar rims do look nice on the car. As far as smaller rims front to back, again that is a preference. To do so may lower the front of the car which is probably the look you are trying to achieve. You can get the same using same size rim front and back with lower profile tires in front. That is how a lot of manufactures accomplish this. Then you are not changing any of the geometry of the suspension. Many people nowadays want to “slam” their cars. That is accomplished by cutting and lowering the front beam, lowering spindles, offset spring plates and moving the torsion bars a couple of notches. There are so many ways to customize your car that the possibilities are endless. The only one who needs to like it is you. The mods are all part of the fun. Hope this helps.
Since those pictures were taken, I have added drop spindles in the front, hence the need to get smaller tires in the front (currently running 165 r15). I have taken about 3 years to get her all mechanically done, and even though the downloadable picture shows her to be in pretty good condition, she was hit on the passenger side at some point in her life, ( I think I am the 4th owner) and the body work on that side was done pretty haphazardly, requiring sheet metal replacement, bondo removal, etc, to have her looking show room new. I believe she still has the original motor, but I will have to do the birth certificate thing I found here on this site to confirm it. It is a stock 1300 motor, so if its not the original one for the car, I would be surprised. After I get her back, the only non-stock item on her will be the wheels and tires, the pop-out back windows, and my steering wheel I believe. I like going to car shows, but on the custom side everyone drops a boatload of money, and I don't want to put on the original tires to compete. I like showing Frieda off, but now that she is close to being done, I guess I will have to get some kind of security system put on her just in case.
I too lowered the front of mine with spindels and had to narrow the beam for the proper tire fit under the wheel welland ability to turn missing the suspension and pan. I am running the same size wheels and tires all around but have the front lower with the spindels. Mine is in final stages of the rebuild. Again, its all a tradeoff. Have fun and make it yours.
Very strange to see her with no paint or fenders. Apparently the person that owned her before Wally, patched her with marine type fiberglass and did not own a dent puller, or know how to weld. What he did have apparently was a lot of bondo. If you look closely on the pictures of the right rear quarter, he did not pull the dent, so he put on about an inch of bondo on the panel. Rich was just showing it to me today. After I left he was going to take off the wheels and sandblast the flaking undercoating and paint from the wheel wells. He was optimistic that it would take 3-4 more weeks of work if all the parts come in on time and he doesn't hit any snags. I decided to not add any pearl to the paint, as it probably doesn't need it, and it would be easier to repair if it ever gets hit again without it. I am hoping his interior guy can repair the small tear in the back seat easily. 2 of my 4 15" rader rims came in from MA Motorworks. As usual their website said they had all four in stock, shipped me 2 and back-ordered two. I never learn with that company. Well, they said they can probably get me the other 2 in 3-4 weeks. Just in time for Frieda to be finishing up. I can hardly wait to have her back!!
