Work VS Mesh

[iamshayan]

Hey there,

Came across a rare set of Work VS wheels. They are not rezaks but similar.... to the point where I am pretty confident the center caps might even be interchangeable. From the little research I've done I have learned that they are 'anniversary wheels' only made in one year ('97) and are called VS-Mesh. Please feel free to school me or correct me if you know more, I'm all ears.

(what they looked like when I got them)


They came off a friends supra which was imported from Japan. I have only seen one other set in person, (at h20 on a QC plated MKv VW) and two other sets on the internet, (purple faces on a white lexus) and these

My specs are

Front
17x8 Et 45
1.5" Lip
0.5" Face (sandwich)
6" Barrel

Rear
17x9 Et 45
2" Lip
0.5" Face " "
6.5" Barrel.



I'm on the fence about stepping them to 18's as I dont know if that will be to big, I plan to run them on my B5 Audi A4 Avant. I'm going to break them down and rebuild them, blast them, powder coat them, possibly new bolts (possibly get them plated), definitely new valve stems. Going to keep the Original center cap logo but powder coat the hex cap. We'll see what happens. First I need to man up and test fit them, (its winter and cold) and figure out how I'm going to mount them.

The wheels are multi-lug 4 & 5 x 114 with a m12 hole.

The Audi is 5x112 with a m14 wheel bolt.

I have wobble bolts already, so I was considering honing out the bolt holes and using them but they are awfully close together with the multi-lug. Also, I don't know how well the faces will clear my upgraded S4 Brakes. So adapters might be my best option.




Thinking of rebuilding to the following square specs in either 17 or 18.

F&R

1X x 9.5
2.5" Lip
0.5 Face
6.5" Barrel
Bringing Et to 38
(ideal for 20mm Adapters final ET 18)

or

1X x 9.5
3" Lip
0.5" Face
6" Barrel.
Bringing Et to 25.95
(which would be manageable)

Is it possible to reverse mount work wheels or is it important to sandwich?

Thanks!

[iamshayan]

I had the tires dismounted, and sold them, they were way to big.



Then I got a hold of some aircraft paint stripper


Got them all clean


And found out the center caps glow in the dark


Going to split them soon.

[iamshayan]

Oh yeah,
And here is said wagon with BBS Super RS 18x9 et F18 R 8 6.5" Barrels 2.5" lips reverse mounted.
20140905_162918 by ilovequattro, on Flickr
20140905_163021 by ilovequattro, on Flickr

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

I agree, boring the lug holes to 14mm would make me very nervous on a 4/5 lug multihole. Part of the reason I refuse to run multihole wheels, right there.

I can't think of a reason why you couldn't reverse-mount the faces. You'll lose a half inch of width in the process, of course, and the offset will change as well.

Were it me, I'd step 'em up to 18", but I don't particularly care for flat lips on mesh wheels in general.

[iamshayan]

Decided to leave the lips and barrels for this season and just get adapters. I will probably step them to 18s next year.

Split them to have the faces and barrels powdercoated and lips, hex caps and bolts polished.










I'm still very confused as to what kind of wheels these are, The barrels are stamped WORK and the bolts are all WORK, even the center caps say work. But the faces look identical to Rays Volk Racing Evolution 3's but they seem to be stamped work too.

[DER E30]

Neat, I watch for more progress

[iamshayan]

Had the lips professionally polished with the hex caps.



And ot the faces done back from PC, Really happy with the colour.





Got an engine cover done to match and my doorhandles done in matte black to replicate an RS4.





sourced myself 2 new barrels. so new specs will be

Original 17x9 (2"lip,0.5"face, 6.5" barrel) et 47.
Original 17x8 (1.5" lip, 0.5" face & 6.0" barrel) et 47
Swapping the 6.0" barrel for a 7"

Just waiting on hardware,adapters and tires.
stay tuned.

[iamshayan]

Got them assembled!

They are now 9" wide - square.

17x9 et 60 front and 47 rear

Ordered 30mm adapters from 42DD, have nothing but great things to say about those guys.
Super professional and nice people, got my stuff fab'd and shipped off in one week!



Heres a test fit picture-





In hindsight I maybe could have gone a little more aggressive and ordered a 35mm or 40mm for the front, but this will work for now.

went with a 215-40-17 tire, I do a lot of driving (1000km / week) so a 205-40 or a 215-35 wouldn't have been enough tire.





Girlfriend got me that fancy work plate frame! Shes the best!



The moment we've all been waiting for!







It's not terrible but 17's are too smaallllll. Sitting at 22" & 3/4th front and 23" & 1/4th rear and still not close to being low enough. :/ ST Coilovers are spun all the way down. Going to look into modifying the strut fork.

Hopped up on the alignment rack for now-, 2.5 degrees of camber rear and 1.5 front.



Anyways.
This is how it sits for the summer. Good enough, time to finish my Subaru



I'll get some proper pictures eventually.
Thanks for reading,
cheers guys.


ps the centre caps glow in the dark.