Wheel offset experts....

[sapphireblack]

If the question is stupid i apologise in advance.

Typically, X6 19" wheels have offsets of 48F and 18R. Is it stupid to think the inner hub surface of the rear rims could be reduced to or nearer to 48? I imagine not as bolt holes for example would then be too short?

Or am i completely misunderstanding the parameters?

[X5Sport]

What are you trying to achieve exactly?

Machining the mating surface to make it thinner would impact the bolt length, but you can shorten the thread. I don’t know how much empty space there is inside the hub for the bolts, but it may not matter. Try taking a wheel off and just wind a bolt in to see how far it will go in.

The only other thing that I can think of over machining the wheel and weakening the alloy. Again that might depend upon just how much metal you machine off.

[sapphireblack]

Well my thoughts are bolts for front and rear wheels are the same so reducing the rear wheels hub is not an option.

I've put 4 x 48 offset front wheels on the Touareg I will be exporting, they fit fine. The rears with offsets of 18 would stick out beyond the Touaregs wheel arches too much to be legal/safe as is.

I wondered if metal could be removed from the rear wheels hubs to make use of them. Logically taking 30mm off would likely render them dangerous but are offsets actually measured in millimetres?

[X5Sport]

That makes sense

I believe the offset figure is the number of mm that the mating plate surface is away from the centre of the rim centre when looked at in cross section.

EDIT - just found this too ... https://www.tsw.com/explore-tsw-custom- ... o%20offset.

[sapphireblack]

My understanding is the same as yours. Having watched the video in your link the presenter seemed to suggest the opposite though.

I conclude trying to convert an 18 offset rim into a 48 offset is not viable nor possible

[Leslie]

The 19's seem to be the only wheels offered that use a low offset rear probably to make up for the fact they are no wider than the fronts as 20's and 21's all have wider rears but much the same offset eg 40 front 38 rear ( within 2mm ) but they do stick out more though as offset is only comparable with the same width and 21's the rears are 1.5 inches wider.

You can easily reduce offset by spacers but not increase it and milling large amount of metal off the back is likely to lead to wheel failure on a heavy car or even the bolts splitting the face between the holes wheel tightened up .

[sapphireblack]

It was a desire to make use of the wheels had it been possible. As i feared it seems it is not.