15x5x205mm Steel Wheel

[Speedingjake]

Has anyone used this wheel for racing?
U.S. Wheel 940 Series VW Baja Modular Black Wheels 940-5554P

 

[Speedingjake]

I have been away from racing for a long time, but over 10 years ago there was talk of allowing aluminum 15 by 5 wheel. ..........Why are we still restricted to steel wheels?

 

[Bro_Gill]

Don't think that wheel meets the stock backspacing rule. As to other wheels, I know folks who said go aluminum back in the early 1990s because when the rule said stock backspacing, the reverse back space wheels price almost tripled over night. I'd would love to see aluminum in 15 and 16" wheels with a max width of 5"s and remove the stock backspace rule. Opens up lots of cheap alternatives to now.

 

[Speedingjake]

I'm I reading this wrong?

SCR12 Wheels and Tires

Must use a 15" steel rim, 5" wide maximum with any standard offset. Any pneumatic tire and size allowed up to a 33" tall and 10" wide as mounted on 5" x 15" rim with 18lbs of air .

I was wondering if they were too light duty (rated at 1100lbs) for racing. I need to get two or three extra wheels and I can pick up good used aluminum wheels cheaper than new steel wheels.

 

[tapeworm]

Any wheel you run on the car at the starting line must be a standard offset wheel as offered from Volkswagen. Typically the fronts are the standard 2 inch offset found on most standard beetle rims, the tears are a reverse 1 inch offset that is a loophole in the rule to get the tires to sit out further and gain more wheel travel.

Aluminum wheels aren’t legal in class 9. I’ve heard centerline has gone out of business and their rims were twice the price of a steel wheel but much lighter and would put less stress on suspension and drivetrain components than the steel wheels.

It would be nice to see the wheel rules opened up now that cast wheels are only $20 more a wheel, but what will inevitably happen is one company will develop a new rim with a better offset for the back and charge more for it because it’s a specialty wheel that you’ll end up having to run to keep up with the front runners and it’ll drive the price of the car up.

The rear rims seem to last for a good amount of time. The fronts are the ones that seem to take the beating and are harder to find used. They aren’t extremely expensive new though either.

I don’t think enough people will agree on trying to open up the wheel rule to allow aluminum rims.


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[Speedingjake]

Thanks for the explanation. I need two rear wheels (new) can you tell me or post a link on the correct (best) wheel to buy at the lowest price?
On a side note, I was looking at running a few races with SNORE but from what I can see it looks like the car count is way down since I was last racing.....?Any suggestions why? Thanks again for the help.

 

[tapeworm]

Custom and commercial. You can get them from any of the off road stores. Kartek, mckenzies, race ready all have them. Just call the store for the newest prices.

Race Ready > Custom Commercial Class 9 Wheels

As for SNORE entries, I think that it’s because everyone is running MORE right now. It seems as though most of the swingers live in the Southern California area so driving to the high desert is more economical than up to Vegas area or further. BAP and RATR are still pulling good numbers but MORE seems to be keeping the courses shorter requiring less pit support and right now it seems like that’s what the racers in this class enjoy more. Unfortunately all those races are spread out about a month apart from one another but you could setup a 4 month 4 race Formula 9 battle for a hefty chunk of change through the winter months for those that are interested. It would be a lot of work in the garage and prep to come out on top though and it would be good close racing at every race. But that’s a discussion for another thread if people are interested.


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[mrmatt]

I have been running the same front wheels for about 6 seasons. They look pretty hammerd but no cracks and still true. I see rears get abused alot more than the fronts. That being said, if you unless ubhave to drive on a flat for a long time they usually will last awhile. May have to pound oud the lips with a hammer occasionally tho!

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[ACME]

As a professional chaser for a top tier class 9 competitor : Both Ft & RR get hammered equally if you smack rocks! Trust me on this as I've changed more flats in the last year... (PS it's the same in any class and we raced a lot of them)

You want to add cost to class 9, allow aluminum wheels. Trust me on this, as I started and sold a wheel company and learned a ton of the ins/outs. Cast wheels crack and spun wheels bend, it's a fact of life. Centerlines were only designed as an 1100lb load wheel and without higher tire pressures they will not hold up and same with a cast wheel. Steel wheels bend and repairing or making them roundish a lot easier and cheaper... We ran 17-20 in the rear and 14-17PSI front in class 9 for years and unless we made an error or ran out of talent, it wasn't the tire or wheels fault it went flat. To us higher tire pressures in class 9 were like over inflated basketballs.

Those Summit wheels look like the old wheels Bio and Richardson as well as a few others used to run back in the day.

 

[Speedingjake]

As a professional chaser for a top tier class 9 competitor : Both Ft & RR get hammered equally if you smack rocks! Trust me on this as I've changed more flats in the last year... (PS it's the same in any class and we raced a lot of them)

You want to add cost to class 9, allow aluminum wheels. Trust me on this, as I started and sold a wheel company and learned a ton of the ins/outs. Cast wheels crack and spun wheels bend, it's a fact of life. Centerlines were only designed as an 1100lb load wheel and without higher tire pressures they will not hold up and same with a cast wheel. Steel wheels bend and repairing or making them roundish a lot easier and cheaper... We ran 17-20 in the rear and 14-17PSI front in class 9 for years and unless we made an error or ran out of talent, it wasn't the tire or wheels fault it went flat. To us higher tire pressures in class 9 were like over inflated basketballs.

Those Summit wheels look like the old wheels Bio and Richardson as well as a few others used to run back in the day.

The tires on the car and the spares all have 18 psi on the fronts and 28 on the rears (liquid paint) , what are most cars running as far as PSI pressures for the fronts and rears.
Yes I found those on summit for 66 bucks, but the offsets are wrong.

 

[Thorpedosurf]

I was just out at custom and commercial yesterday. They said they are no longer stocking any wide 5, 4 or 4.5 width steel wheels. Can we fit a 5 in wide wheel in front? If not, there is no one making the wheels we’re required to use.

 

[OscarD29]

I was at custom & commercial 2 weeks ago picking up a set of wheels for a new class 9 am building and got the same info about there not being anymore 4.5 rims made. The class 9 rules from M.O.R.E are as followed

Wheels and Tires
Must use a 15” steel rim, 5” wide maximum with any standard offset. Any pneumatic tire and size allowed up to a 33” tall and 10” wide as mounted on 5” x 15” rim with 18lbs of air.

It does not say anything about using any set combination for fronts or rear. So using the 15x5” up front should be ok just like it was ok to use them on the rear. If you have trouble fitting the wheels due to backspacing Ray at custom and commercial said he could weld the face on backwards to give the wheel some more backspacing.

 

[Thorpedosurf]

I was at custom & commercial 2 weeks ago picking up a set of wheels for a new class 9 am building and got the same info about there not being anymore 4.5 rims made. The class 9 rules from M.O.R.E are as followed

Wheels and Tires
Must use a 15” steel rim, 5” wide maximum with any standard offset. Any pneumatic tire and size allowed up to a 33” tall and 10” wide as mounted on 5” x 15” rim with 18lbs of air.

It does not say anything about using any set combination for fronts or rear. So using the 15x5” up front should be ok just like it was ok to use them on the rear. If you have trouble fitting the wheels due to backspacing Ray at custom and commercial said he could weld the face on backwards to give the wheel some more backspacing.

Glad that there is a way to make the 5 in wheels work. We could all hit up carlisle wheels as well. If they got pictures of all our cars with their wheels they may reconsider.

 

[Kzirk52]

@Speedingjake Did you end up running those wheels? I'm curious how they did.

Im thinking of running these - U.S. Wheel Black 940 Series VW Baja Mod Steel Wheels Size: 15" x 7"

 

[elmariachi]

Isn't 5" the max width that can be run all around?

 

[Kzirk52]

Yea it is. They have a 15x5 wheel. I must have linked the wrong ones. Here are the correct ones

U.S. Wheel 940 Series Black VW Baja Mod Steel Wheels

 

[elmariachi]

Yea it is. They have a 15x5 wheel. I must have linked the wrong ones. Here are the correct ones

U.S. Wheel 940 Series Black VW Baja Mod Steel Wheels

Cool wheels. Just need to see if they will work with rear ends needing the wide offset?