OEM Wheel Database FAQ/FSS (Freq Said Statements)
Why are you doing this?
My Jetta wagon came with the 15" fuglies wheels and I wanted better looking wheels on the car. I want to keep the car "OEM" looking, so no lame bling wheels. I searched around for a little while looking for pictures of the different OEM wheels, most info was scattered around at best, pics tended to be on the small side as well. I figured I wasn't the only one who wanted/needed to see the different OEM wheels at one location, thus was born the idea to do the database.
How much is a set of [those wheels]?
I'm not selling any wheels. If you email me asking about buying some wheels, I will laugh at you and call you names.
Hey, that one wheel is called [nick name of wheel].
Some wheels can have a more common known nick name. For example, the Silverstone wheel is often refered to as the "Teardrop", but trust me, it was offically named Silverstone by VW. I don't put wheel names down from when people email me stating some wheel is called this-that-or-the-other. I've had different people telling me the same wheel has different names. If you have an old catalog showing a photo of the wheel along with it's name/partnumber, then send me a copy of that info. That is how wheels get named. Also note that it seems that some wheels have different names in the North America market than in the Euro market.
Nope, they are labeled correctly as per the last few versions of ETKA (digital VW parts catalog). I have been checking this out every so often and ETKA shows the part numbers I have listed with the names of the wheels I have listed. There are other places that list them incorrectly, I am standing my info since that is how ETKA shows it. Even VW has mislabled wheels in the past in print with the Aristo and Arietta wheels not to long ago.
You misspelled [some word].
Nope, you just found an "Easter Egg", one of many I hid on my webste.
You don't have [this/that/the other] wheel. No love for the [this/that/the other] wheels?
I carry my little camera with me everywhere I go daily, when I stumble across a "new" wheel I take said pic and add it to the database. If I don't have it, I've not seen it first hand.
You don't have [some wheel] that I've got, want a photo?
Yes, if you have OEM wheels that I don't have listed and would like to submit a photo, please follow guide lines:
- Photo needs to be at least 800 X 600.
- Be off to one side of the wheel a little, looking down a little so the shape of the wheel shows.
- Not a photo of your whole car or your cat in front of the wheel.
- Frame it so the top and bottom of the tire sidewall just fills the frame.
- Clean wheels better than dirty wheels.
- Dirty wheels better than no wheels.
- If possible, include the wheel's part number.
- Bonus points if you can put the bare wheel on a shipping scale.
Take a look at how most of the wheels are photographed on the site. The Sarasota photo is about as perfect of a pic as you can get. The tire sidewall just reaches the top and bottom of the frame, and by being off to the side a little and looking down a little, you can clearly see the shape of the spokes. If you photograph the wheel dead on (centered), then it can look flat.
If you've got a better example of a wheel that I already have up (cleaner or better photo), then those are welcome as well.
Where do you get your info?
Old VW catalogs and ETKA are my main sources now. Every so often someone will have an old VW catalog sitting around and send me a scan of the wheel page (very useful).
You use ETKA... can you get me a copy of that?
Nope.
Why not Audi wheels or hubcaps?
Not of personal interest to me. However, if someone created a good database of Audi wheels or hubcaps, I think a link exchange would be useful to the public at large.