> From: "MarkK" >
> Newsgroups: alt.autos.alfa-romeo
> Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 14:24:11 +0100
> Subject: Alloy Wheels
>
> "Tom Boltwood" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>>
>>> From: Colonel Tupperware >
>>> Newsgroups: alt.autos.alfa-romeo
>>> Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 16:21:10 +0100
>>> Subject: Alloy Wheels
>>>
>>> On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 12:13:08 +0100, Tom Boltwood >
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I've just come into some 164 3.0 Super alloys.
>
> Unfortunate turn of phrase there :-)
>
>>>> However, my TSpark is 4 stud
>>>> and the 3.0 was 5 Stud. Stupidly, I assumed that 164s would all have
> the
>>>> same wheel fixings. I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to wheels, so
> can
>>>> anyone tell me:
>>>>
>>>> a) why they have different stud patterns on these models
>>>
>>> Because they do?
>>> 5 stud wheels are considered better on fast cars?
>>> Or the usual Italian answer; because the Italians prefer form over
>>> function?
>>> I find it odd that the same basic model has a different number of
>>> studs. Well not odd, just silly.
>>>>
>>>> b) if there's anything I can do to get these wheels on my car.
>>>
>>> Fit 5 stud hubs.
>>> Preferably from the same car as the wheels came from.
>>> Are they the same size?
>>>
>> After much searching, new hubs seems to be the answer. It all depends on
>> whether I will need new discs and calipers with the new hubs. A bloke at
> my
>> local garage reckoned it would cost a fortune, but if I can get the hubs
> off
>> a scrap 164 V6 it shouldn't be too hard to swap them over should it?
>> (assuming that the discs and calipers aren't a problem).
>
> You'll need new discs - they each have the right number of bolt holes,
> funnily enough. Is it that hard to pop a wheel off? You'd have got all the
> answers without having to broadcast your buying error all over usenet :-)
>
Well you know what they say about assumption, but surely you can't blame me
for assuming that different variants of the same model from the same
manufacturer would have the same stud pattern?

Getting those bloody wheel trims on and off without snapping them is such a
bloody arse as well. It wasn't till I checked the spare wheel that I
realised.