Today I put my 15" BMW mini wheel , without any spacers, on the car after having the centre bored out to 57.1 mm and painted black. They look very stock and it looks like I have plenty of clearance except if the suspension travels more than 50mm. If they were going to rub it would be on the spring cup mount. I have a Bridgestone 165 50 R15 tyre at present which makes the total height less than the stock 13" wheels so there may be an issue with the speedo reading. I am buying Spax adjustable shocks for the front and rear. I have some hub covers with a blue VW emblem but they don't fit because the hub inside diameter is too small and sticks out beyond the wheel rim.I was hoping for a simple solution because I want to cover the hub nut. I am putting on the larger brakes but don't know yet if the new discs are thicker. If they are thicker it will space the wheel out. The only other thing I was looking to do was put some good quality chrome wheel bolts on the car. I have lowering springs but I don't remember how much they lower the car. If I could have some comments on potential clearance issues, suspension travel, tyre size, Spax shocks, hub covers, wheel bolts and the larger ventilated brakes I would appreciate the experience that is out there.

Regards

Phil

Would be interested to see that...

Any pics?

It wasn't an uncommon mod a few years ago.

165 50 15 (smart car front tyre) is your best bet, anything else thin enough to get under the arches gets a bit specialist and pricey.

Photo attached of Mini wheel on car.

Mini wheel with badge.

They look very similar to my corsa 15" wheels, which are a lot more common. I painted mine BMW chilli red :)

Have you thought of using the 6n type centre caps? The ones that clip over all 4 bolts and have the VW logo on them. Its difficult to mount an alloy wheel centre cap on a steel wheel, they usually have ones that stick out and are cup shaped similar to the g60 steel wheel centre.

I havn't thought of that but thanks for the tip. I am struggling to think how I will achieve the look I want.

*MINI, not Mini/mini. Sounds like i'm being ultra pedantic but i'm really not - MINIs are the BMW ones and are a completely different car and concept.

Anyway, you can still get MK2 VW centre caps new, and i think they'd look best (aka G60 centres).

Edited 15 February, 201610 yr by MikeyMK

My original post was specific about BMW. But thanks for the tips on the centre caps and do you know where they can be bought.

I meant the title, i was expecting Starmags. Nearly missed a topic about wheels that actually fit!

I like the MK1 MINI Cooper 5-spoke, especially in the metallic white they were once popular in. Haven't seen one wearing them for a while. I think MK1s are getting thin on the ground now but it's hard to tell because they all look the same.. Anyway, I've found said wheels are 16s so that kills that idea.

I got my 'G60' caps from a seller on eBay, the going rate was about seven quid each though I got a set of four for under 25 quid. This would be a few years ago though.

MikeyMK, thanks for this. The look I'm going for is stock but make people guess what has been modified. That is why I have painted them black making them look a little like the original black 13" rims. Yeti mentioned tyre size of 165 50 15 which is exactly the Bridgestone Potenza I have gone for. This ends up being shorter than the 13" combination I have now have which I think is great because it lowers and gears the car down. My car is dented and not pristine but that's the way like it and I don't want to adverstise that the car is modified. I still need comments about adjustable Spax shocks and wheel bolts that are good quality chrome items that are not going to rust in five minutes.

For the bolts you can get chrome covers, either cheaper plastic or more expensive metal. If you go for these then I would recommend cleaning them and giving them a coat or 2 of clear lacquer to protect them a bit more.

I know the look your going for I did it on our old merc with banded steels and chrome bolts, looked standard and poverty spec from a distance but up close looked great.

There are a lot of cars in breakers yards that have standard chrome bolts or even domed nuts expect ally 90's Japanese cars. If you went for nuts which IMO look nicer you would have to somehow change to wheel stud in the hubs. I have always liked the studs because it makes fitting the wheels way easier.

As above the g60 style centre trims are still available and I think will make them look a lot more factory fitted. If not them then you would need some kind of domed cap again a breakers yard would be the best place to find these as can be from any car and just put a VW badge on later. Or even better confuse people with caps from a Mitsubishi or something. :).

The only reason they had black rims from factory was because they had silver wheel trims. No MK2 Polo was sent out with black wheels, so it doesn't have a factory look about it at all.

Paint them silver and they'll have a bit of a Driver/GTI-8v look.