alright, so we all know VW guys have been doing it for years, has anyone ever thought of widening there honda rims? i was thinking of getting steelies and painting them, but of course how thin they are the tractions going to suck, so i was thinking of looking into widening them, anyone know how its done? or if it even would work on honda rims? do you think it would look really bad?

 

do you have access to some really cool tools? This link is for widening steel tractor wheels for pulling tractors, but its the same damn thing. i dont know why it wouldnt work if you are a damn good welder and such. here ya go...copied from brain millers tractor pulling site..How to Widen Steel Wheels -

If you have a set of 5" wide wheels (measured on the inside lip of the rim), then 8" wide of rolled metal will need to be added in the wheels to make them 13" wide. To do this, you will need to...

Place a mark on the wheels where they need to be cut. And importantly, identify the two halves of each wheel so they will be put back together without getting them mixed up. (If this isn't done, one wheel could be wider than the other and/or the offset won't be right when the job is finished.)
To cut the wheels, chuck them in a large metal lathe with a minimum 14" swing. A Cub Cadet axle that's not bent can be used as a spindle to get a true cut. Or chuck the edge of the rim in the lathe's jaw chuck. The wheels can be cut on the inside or outside. Either way, just make sure they won't slip in the chuck when cutting them!
Acquire a minimum 34" length of flat steel, approximately the same thickness as the wheels. Use either 12 gauge (.108" thickness), 13 gauge (.093" thickness) or 3/32" (.094" thickness). Roll the steel of predetermined width in a large slip roller.
Tack weld one half of the wheel with the center in it to a steel top table with the cut part up.
Place the rolled steel on the edge of the cut wheel, tack weld it into place on the wheel, then start working around the wheel, shaping the metal as you go, until all of the metal is tack welded onto the wheel half. Be sure to get the upper part of the rolled metal in a perfect circle. If necessary, use a strap or ban (long length radiator hose clamps works great) to hold the tubing together to make the welding easier.
Place the other half of the matching wheel on top of the rolled metal, align it, then tack weld it to the rolled steel.
Now chuck each wheel in the lathe again, or on the rear of a garden tractor with axles that's not bent, and spin them to make sure they don't wobble (or wobble very little). If they turn true, weld them up solid.
And on welded-together wheels, it's best to use inner tubes. Because air can seep out through the weld bead.

 

I have a set of widened Honda steel wheels (13x5" to 13x8" with 5" backspace), but they were done professionally by a company in Portland, Oregon called Willamette's Custom Wheel Service. They are all true, identical, and free of leaks. The welds are of very high quality.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Targa250R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have a set of widened Honda steel wheels (13x5" to 13x8" with 5" backspace), but they were done professionally by a company in Portland, Oregon called Willamette's Custom Wheel Service. They are all true, identical, and free of leaks. The welds are of very high quality.</TD></TR></TABLE>Oooohh, pictures?

 

you can also just cut the middle out of a honda wheel and weld it to a wider barrel. My buddy did this and used some cheap chrome 8" domestic wheels. He painted the middle black and left the chrome lip. It looks great!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bailhatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you can also just cut the middle out of a honda wheel and weld it to a wider barrel. My buddy did this and used some cheap chrome 8" domestic wheels. He painted the middle black and left the chrome lip. It looks great!</TD></TR></TABLE>
This is what was done with my wheels. They removed the 5" shell and welded an 8" shell onto the OEM wheel center.

Another option for inexpensive, durable wide steel wheels is Diamond Racing Wheels. They are lugcentric though (and must be balanced as such), not hubcentric like a widened OEM wheel. The 13" Diamonds also require a small spacer to clear '90-91 CRX Si 16CL13VN front calipers.

 

There are two ways that it's done.

One way is (most likely) the way that the "tractor link" talks about where the wheel is cut apart on a lath, spaced apart, and then a steel band welded in to fill the gap. You need to do this if you are going to an overly wide rim.

The other way is to "replace" the outer part of the rim with one from another car. I've done this (quite some time ago). The cool thing about it is that you can make any offset you want.

Here is what I did (keep in mind this was about 30 years ago and there were not a lot of options);

I had a 59 Bugeye sprite and the rims were something like 3 1/2" wide. Chevy Vega rims were 5 1/2" wide. So, I went to a junk yard and bought some Vega rims. (they don't bolt on)

I took a set of sprite rims and cut off the outter band, leaving just the center spider. On the Vega rims, I cut out the center spider, leaving just the outter band.

Then you hammer the sprite spiders into the vega bands setting your desired offset. Put the car on jack stands and mount the rim on the front so that it rotates freely. With a block sitting on the floor of the garage, adjacent to the side of the rim, you rotate it and see what the side to side "run-out" is. Use a mallet to tap it true. (it's just like building a bicycle tire)

Once true, carefully remove the rim and weld it up.

(OOPS, I had a memory burp. Those rims were corvair, not vega)

Wes


Modified by Wes V at 7:08 AM 11/12/2006

 

14x7 Diamond Racing Wheels with used BFG R1 tires measuring 205/55R14. 4 Lug with approx. 5 inches of backspace 40 lbs. each with the BFG's mounted

 

Oh nice widened Honda wheels I've never seen that and looking to do that pretty soon on the Z

Awesome thread

 

All the widened "steelies" ive seen are heavy as sin.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by swifty4u &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">All the widened "steelies" ive seen are heavy as sin.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

that's really the down fall of them. My buddy went from rota slips to the steel ones. didn't spin the tires like it used to, but the gt35R should help

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by swifty4u &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">All the widened "steelies" ive seen are heavy as sin.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
Steelies are rather heavy to start on lighter wheels it keeps them in a sane wieght region.

right now my wheels i'm looking into widening are 17x9 and going to 17x11.

They only gain 3lbs from what i've seen.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Capt. Blonde Beard &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Steelies are rather heavy to start on lighter wheels it keeps them in a sane wieght region.

right now my wheels i'm looking into widening are 17x9 and going to 17x11.

They only gain 3lbs from what i've seen.</TD></TR></TABLE>
My custom 13x8s aren't too bad - they're about 12.8 lbs apiece. The 225/45-13 Hoosier DOT radial tire I run is 16.2 lbs, which brings the wheel/tire combo up to 29lbs.

For whoever requested a picture, here they are on the previous owner's (johng) vehicle:

 

those look cool as fu<U></U>ck!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by STDClayton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">those look cool as fu<U></U>ck!</TD></TR></TABLE>
They're not street legal without fender flares, at least in my state.

 

sick




i think it would look good if u got rigth wheel size/suspension height
combo

 

^ thats...........diffrent

 

Old school dubber

 

i was in the vw for a long time, i had a 87 jetta, but had to sell it and buy something reliable for school.
So i ended up with ef sedan

p.s. rabbit was not mine


Modified by misha at 6:16 PM 11/12/2006

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by misha &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">but had to sell it and buy something reliable for school.
So i ended up with ef sedan </TD></TR></TABLE>

Lol...

 

haha yea man jetta was way to much money to keep it runing

 

hmm I might actually do this.

 

looks kinda retarded to me

 

i was thinking it would be something cheap...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stemiched &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i was thinking it would be something cheap...</TD></TR></TABLE>
Diamonds are cheap. $61 each for a 14lb 13x8.