me and my mk3

[anthony--t]

Ok so I bought another set of simmons to refurb the barrels and drop my centres in. I know the centres have been taken out before as they've been resprayed blue and the nuts on the backs aren't the original simmons type just a standard 13mm. I've been at one with a spanner, silicone spray and rubber mallet for nearly 4 hours trying to get the bolts out. Have threaded some. They're very stubborn and look to have been thread locked as expected. Is there any easy way to do this? I'll try get a better socket / torque wrench tomorrow but is there any little tricks I should know about? My knuckles have taken a pounding and I figure there's an easier way.

[anthony--t]

I know it's a Saturday night and I should be out on the piss at the nightclub but for some reason I'm at home refurbishing my wheels, probably because I want to get them done if I'm going to GAF or GAD or whatever it's called. Anyway the measurements are doing my head in! Heres the situation. I have two sets of wheels to make what I want from:

15x6.5 5x100 et36 (roughly)
&
16x7 et25 16x9 et23 5x130

Obviously I want to run the staggered 16's but was planning on swapping the centres.
The first set I haven't touched yet and figured if I have to run spacers to clear front caliper I may as well just run 5x130 with adapters.
BUT then I'll need adapters on the rear and with 16x9 with smallest adapter at 15mm for pcd change I fear lots of poke.
My question is I'm probably going to run 25mm adapter up front to clear caliper bringing me to et0
Will I need spacers on the rear to clear coils / even out the et with the front? Wheels are in pieces so don't really want to bother with test fitting and I don't have any adapters or spacers to muck around with.

Hope all of that made sense and if anyone has suggestions or options that'd be sweet!

[anthony--t]

Here's some pics of the simmons I've been working on.

16x9 and 16x7 5x130 when I got them



My three different sizes and two different centres


When I finally managed to get the centres out. Previous owner rocking 3 blue and 1 silver/blue


working on polishing the lips


staggered?


Painted 5x130 centres gloss black and threw one in to see what they'd look like

[HaydEn]

Chyeah. This will look so fresh!

From my rough calculations, your going to have a set left over? *wink wink*

[anthony--t]

Chyeah. This will look so fresh!

From my rough calculations, your going to have a set left over? *wink wink*

Haha yeah mate. I'm thinking of going with the 5x100 centres that way with 9" out back i should be able to just run a small spacer if I need it instead of an adapter. So that will leave a set in 15x6.5 5x130 which I'm sure someone would want as heaps of people run the porsche adapters like yourself or might sell the bits individually if no one wants them as some good condition lips can go for good money. Either way will be looking to offload them once I get the 5x100 centres out of the barrels. If your keen let me know.

[anthony--t]

Got some mothers mag and aluminium polish onto the lips and that stuff is amazing! They're so much nicer. Also bought a guard roller after being quoted $75 per corner and a torque wrench to get cracking on reassembly. Going to pull the trigger on spacers soon just want to do a few more measure ups. Not sure if I want to paint my centres before they go in though... Like the idea of keeping them silver because I think the finish won't chip as easily as painted but think maybe white could be cool. If anyone has any advice on cleaning up the bolts I'd appreciate it. Tried coke, brake cleaner, vinegar etc. Been hand sanding them but that's annoying and not getting great results.

[HaydEn]

If anyone has any advice on cleaning up the bolts I'd appreciate it. Tried coke, brake cleaner, vinegar etc. Been hand sanding them but that's annoying and not getting great results.

Perhaps drop them off at a chrome/nickel dippers? I've been thinking about doing my wheel bolts.

Let me know how the guard roller goes, I want some wider adapters and more lows:p

Chuck the wheels on as they are, I think they would look pretty good like that.

[anthony--t]

Perhaps drop them off at a chrome/nickel dippers? I've been thinking about doing my wheel bolts.

Let me know how the guard roller goes, I want some wider adapters and more lows:p

Chuck the wheels on as they are, I think they would look pretty good like that.

Yeah I've thought about that but have heard it's very expensive nearly the same price as to just buy new bolts

It seems the backs will roll fine but the fronts can be an issue, your more than welcome to borrow it once I've used it.

[anthony--t]

Weird start up issue has returned. Turn on ignition revs raise then drop and engine cuts out will start first nicely after that. Doesn't happen every start up but usually after it hasn't been started for a few hours or a day or two etc. So cold starts I guess. Thinking it's fuel pressure related or something. Hopefully a scan will raise some fault codes.

3 out of 4 wheels reassembled. 25mm spacers for the front ordered to bring fronts 16x7 et0 and rears 16x9 et23. Thinking I'm going to need to shave a little off the front calipers for clearance still so will get my hand on an angle grinder soon.

Rolled right rear fender, not happy with the amount of paint cracking although I'll take the blame for working fast on a cold day and only using a hairdryer instead of a heatgun. Lesson learnt won't do the others until I have a heat gun.

[HaydEn]

I heard it was like $5/kg.

Those fitments will be sick. Can't wait to see it.

What brand adapters did you end up getting?