golf gti wheels on a 1.8 clipper cabriolet

Hi, guys, im new to posting but been a fan of this site for years.

i recently bought some 13inch gti wheels to put on my 1988 clipper cabriolet but they seem to not fit right, affecting the handbrake and making a load noise when i drive the car. I've since taken them off, but desperate for then to fit as they suit the car really well. the tyres read 185/60 whereas the old ones read 185/55 if this is of any use.. any help would be massively appreciated. thanks, Patrick

Sounds like the wheel bolts are going too far into the drum at the rear. Are your original wheels steel or alloy? They need different bolts...

really? the original are alloy also, they were 14 Borbet wheels already on the car.

thanks for the advice, if that's the case, where would i get bolts from?

The way to find out is to jack up the rear of the car and try spinning the wheel. Then remove the wheel, or just loosen off the wheel bolts and try it again.

The ones you need would be standard Mk1 Golf wheel bolts for alloy wheels, so secondhand loads of places (ebay, wanted ad here, breakers etc) and I bet there's many other VW models that would share the same fitment but I don't know exactly which ones so I won't try to list them.

Hi,

I carry a spart set of wheel bolts in the boot with the spare, as it's a 13 inch steel whereas the others are 15 inch alloys and need longer bolts. The longer bolts are from an E30 BMW and the shorter ones are the original Golf bolts which clear the rear brakes.
I can measure them if you like.

Robin

Yeah If you could measure them that would be a huge help and greatly appreciated! Thankyou.

Hi,

this is what I've got. From left to right, 27mm thread for alloys, 19mm thread for steel wheels, 27mm thread with two flats ground down for 17mm spanner to do gearbox oil-change!





Robin

That's really kind of you, got them ordered, fingers crossed that'll do the trick! cheers