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NEW STEEL WHEELS FOR THE 409
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The original wheels of my 409 were not very healthy; they looked nice but were warped and there was some rust. Original new spares being unobtainable, I decided to find the way to adapt modern wheels, as the excellent Vredestein 185x80 radials would work better on a 6" wide rim. I looked around for modern replacements to use daily with the Vredestein radials, keeping the original rims for Concours, once restored, with their appropriate Avon Turbospeeds. |
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| The original Dunlop 5Jx16" steel wheels. They will be restored |
I checked out many VW/Audi and Mercedes wheels: they all have the same 5x112 mm bolt pattern of the Bristol, but many have a smaller central hole or they didn't have the right offset or backspacing. At the end I decided to try to adapt this Mercedes-Benz 'B-Klasse' 6Jx16" steel wheel |
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The Mercedes wheel was tested for size on the 409, and it proved dimensionally perfect. I respect Daimler Benz' technical excellence |
This excellent M-B wheel has only one flaw: it doesn't have any provision for holding the Bristol chrome hub cap in place. Officina Bugamelli in Bologna was charged the task to fit the proper studs |
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This is how the Mercedes wheels looked after they had been skillfully adapted by Mr. Bugamelli |
The wheels in the painting booth of Mr. Bedosti's shop in Faenza, being finished in the same Silver M607 used for the the roof of my 409 |
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The weight saving is amazing: the complete Dunlop wheel with the necessary tube and Avon Turbospeed tyre weighs 23 kg, the tubeless M-B wheel and a radial Vredestein only 15,90 kg! Ventilation will also be improved by these 20 large oval holes (Dunlops have 15 smaller circular holes) |
A view from inside shows the ample space allowed by the M-B wide steel
wheel to the brakes and the suspension components |
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Fitting a set of 16" chrome rings supplied by www.autoamenity.com to the M-B steel wheels was very easy |
The visual results of this conversion are quite pleasant |
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The final result (22 June 2011) P.S. The chrome rings, though quite nice, were a little noisy: on potholes they seemed to 'ring' a bit. I am sure that they can be silenced easily, fitting rubber seals around the rim and bending appropriately the metal fixing 'tongues', but this is a job that I'll keep for winter |
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