wheel bore sizes?????

Obviously what you did wrong, was to assume that the figures on the site were correct. I,e that Golf and an Ibiza wheels were interchangeable. But that doesn't help you at all. :-) I'd suggest you remove a wheel and check the actual bore size before you look for some more. Would it be worth you keeping the tyres, and flogging just the wheels? Mike.

might well do that - use the free ads ;-)

Check that the hubs don't have any spigot rings stuck to them.

You simply need to change the spiggot rings in the alloys. Your local alloy supplier will sell you a set for a few quid.

The thing you did wrong, was to assume wheels are interchangeable between cars. There are VERY few modern cars where this is the case ! Even if centre-bore and PCD are a perfect match, different cars often have very different offsets.

thanks - I'm learning... but the new wheels around the spindle/hub are tooo small to fit. I presume that padding via spigot rings only works when the central hole is too big and needs to fit over a smaller hub bit...

His Ibeza is 1/2 golf 1/2 polo so they should go on and be very close on the offset. (Makes it easy for VAG to get lots of dealer fit alloys and share spare wheels across most of the range (hence most VW/Seat/Skoda now all on the same 5 stud) )

Just take them to any machine shop or college and get them macined on a lathe where the offending part is. the job does not need to be accurate just big enough to miss! It will take about 15 mins.

The wheel bolts are tapered and take the loads and centre it due to the taper. Should be dead cheap/easy???

You are so wrong. What is more, is that it's very bad advice. Wheels are designed to locate on a central spigot. The wheel bolts/nuts are not a reliable, or accurate way to locate wheels. Mike.

Mike G ( snipped-for-privacy@lycos.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Some are. Not all.

Some are. Not all.

examples?

I would suggest that no std bolts/nuts, with or without tapers are machined and fitted accurately enough to locate a wheel. If you know otherwise, I'd be interested to hear about it. Mike.

Mike G ( snipped-for-privacy@lycos.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Hub-centric rims are far from universal. Sure, they're very common, especially on more recent cars, but certainly not universal.

As one example, 2cvs don't have hub-centric wheels. I'm sure there's

Have a look at the fitment guide for these pimprims :-

The message from "Mike G" contains these words:

Except of course, those which aren't. You're right in the case of /most/ cars, but when you get to things like LDV Convoy size you'll find the wheel hole may not even be central. Causes mayhem when you try to balance them. Some cars are the same.

Are we talking about std bolts, studs, or are they designed to locate in the wheel holes, as well as hold the wheel. I must say, after owning many different cars over many decades, I've never owned any with other than a central wheel locations.

I cannot see how a std bolt/nut, with clearance in the wheel holes, can accurately locate a wheel using tapered nuts or bolts, unless all the relevant parts, wheel holes, flange holes, studs, and/or tapered nuts or bolts are all very accurately machined.

And I would still argue that to rely on tapered nuts/bolts to hold a wheel central, especially on a hub that was designed for wheels using a central location, is not a good idea. From an engineering POV, it's a most unsatisfactory way of locating a wheel on a hub, or any diameter onto any other diameter come to that. Mike.

VW campercans & early beetles spring to mind as not being hub centric. Ditto most truck wheels I've ever had to deal with

Replace "Some" with "99.9%" in the above post :)

yep - was a spigot ring in their but covered in grease! One lives and - hopefully - learns.