I talked to Trudesign in Colorado about widening my factory steel wheels today; they're a little cheaper than Stockton Wheel, quoting a price of $125 per wheel with powdercoating.
The wheels I want to get widened are 4.5", from a station wagon.
Looking at the info on the VClassics page, I see a recommendation of 3.5" inboard and 2.5" outboard. The current wheels measure about 3.25" from the back of the mounting surface (the side that touches the face of the brake drum)to the inside edge of the wheel rim, and 1.25" from the back of the mounting surface to the inside edge of the outer rim.
I'm thinking that I would be best off leaving the inboard dimension unaltered, and increasing the width solely from the outboard portion of the wheel.
I see that a 5.5" wheel is listed as suitable for 185/60 tires, which is what I want to install, so I should add 1" to the outboard dimension for 5.5", or perhaps 1.25", just to be safe, which would give me a wheel width of 5.75".

Does it seem like I'm on the right track? Any suggestions?

I don't care to do any prep work (cutting) myself, as I have neither the tools or the experience to attempt such a task.

Incidentally, the 4.5" factory rims (oval holes) weigh 18.7 lbs. with no tires installed; 2.7 lbs. more than the Superlite wheels IPD are selling.

Bill

185-60 is a bit short.
205-60-15 and a 6" rim would handle nicely.
195-65-15 and a 5.5"rim is a good all-around set up.
IMHO
Increasing track and decreasing offset will increase road feel,
and require slightly more toe in.
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71-145-S ; 72-145-E ; 72-1800-ES

I live in Denver and had my wheels widened by Trudesign a couple of years ago. They did a very good job, but the tire shop that mounted the new tires bent the new rims. Of course, the tire shop didn't take any responsibility for bending the new rims. The guys at Trudesign repaired them at no charge.

I would make sure you use a shop that can mount tires on these old rims.

Sidenote: When the guys at Trudesign did the wheels, they had to do something to the lug nut holes to clean them up? Which made the normal lug nuts recede too much. I just purchased some extended conical lugs. I have that information somewhere if anyone wants it?

About the offset, I would get them made with a +1 inch offset. I think that is the factory spec. That is how I had my made, and seems to be right. Here's a link that discussed wheel widening for 122s:

http://volvoadventures.com/amazon.html

Paul

About the 1" positive offset, I'm not sure I correctly understand how this is measured.
Is it the difference between the amount of wheel behind the mounting center and in front of the mounting center? So 2.5" inboard and 3.5" outboard is a 1" positive offset?
I seem to recall 123 GT wheels looking quite a bit deeper than the standard wheels when viewed from the front side.

Thanks

Bill

Bill-

I would say you're backwards. Your statement "So 2.5" inboard and 3.5" outboard is a 1" positive offset.", would be a 1" negative offset.

From vclassics:

"the inboard edge of the rim should extend 3-1/2" from the mounting surface of the wheel (in other terminology, a 6"-wide wheel should protrude 3-1/2" inboard and 2-1/2" outboard, which is a positive offset of 1")."

I hope the guys at Trudesign wheels aren't telling you that a 1" positive offset is wrong? I had to fight with one of them about that with mine until another guy there step in and said it was the correct factory offset for Volvos.

Paul

Offset is the measured difference from mounting surface to center of wheel.
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71-145-S ; 72-145-E ; 72-1800-ES