I scored a set of old school mesh wheels for my Se. They are 15"x7", 114.3mmx4 , and +21 offset. They are made in Japan by Auto Strada, and the screw in center caps say "Super Auto Strada". Has anyone ever seen/heard of these before? I can't find any information about them anywhere. The wheels are nice, but it looks like the center caps have been chiseled off for decades...Where on earth can I find new (or nicer) center caps? ALso, what tire size should I look for? Something overall close to the stock 14's as far as height? What about width? Any help is appeciated. Thanks

 

Here are pics of the center caps.

 

Very nice score! Good luck finding center caps. I've never heard of the autostradas. Keep an eye open on ebay and craigslist. Maybe you could possibly have a shop make you new ones or have them redone. I'm still trying to find center caps for my autobahns that i've had for over 2 years...

 

Thanks. Also, I forgot to mention they are 3 piece wheels and I'd like to take the bolts out to clean the back hub, so when I put all the bolts back in, is there a specific torque I should use for them all? Also, is thread lock recommended, and if so, what specific kind? ALso Also Also, is it ok to remove groups of three bolts at a time to do this? (I don't want to break the silicone bead where the two parts of the wheel meets.)

 

Anyone???

 

You cleaning the back Hub or some wheel place? If someone other than you is working on them, I'd have them do it all, so if anything went wrong they would be responisble. I don't think there is a specific torque for them. Make them snug, and then some more. Wouldn't hurt to use threadlock. Any parts store will have it. I wouldn't use permanent thread lock holder. Three bolts at a time should be fine Just break all the bolts loose and then take out 3 at a time.

 

If you can't find a specified torque, you can get an good idea by the fasteners diameter. Torque is a product of the fasteners size. The idea is to strech or preload the fastener without exceeding the tensile strength (breaking it ). Their are lots of SAE torque charts out there listing recommended torque according to what size fastener. What you probablly won't know it the grade of the fastener which affects the torque value too. You can also break a few loose with a torque wrench noting how much force is required before movement. compare this with the recommended value off the chart.

I'd perfer to do it myself, that way I know its done right and to my own satisifaction. But I'm also pickier than most and have a hard time finding people who are as detail oriented. Besides, its not work to me, its my own stuff.

 

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I'm doing them myself. It's been about five weekends in the making so far...I just couldn't leave all the little nooks and crannies inbetween the washers/nuts on the back all filthy. Plus, some nuts were loose. Some bolts were very difficult to remove because of the thick, white threadlock previously used possibly decades ago. So far I've just completely gotten one wheel done, and I used blue medium threadlock and a ratchet on the backside, and an allen wrench with a rubber tube over it for protection on the front. Basically made them tight to the point of the allen wrench flexing with a smooth motion(no jerking). Hope this will be sufficient.

 

Holy Hell!!! Looks amazing! What did you use to clean the inside of the wheel??

 

I learned how to determine torque when you don't know the specs during one of my Mechanical Engineering internships. The project was to benchmark rack and pinion steering gears from competitors. The tech who was disassembling the gears told me this:

Use a digital or old-fashioned torque wrench that will give you a readout of the maximum torque attained. Slowly increase torque (while tightening) until the instant that the bolt starts to tighten more. That is roughly the torque that the bolts/whatever was originally torqued to. Then remove the bolts and go about your buisness.

Also, use blue threadlock. It's semi-permanent. Red threadlock requires ~500* F to release.

 

Well, to clean the backsides, I used SOS pads and garden hose to get all the old baked/caked on brake dust and whatnot off, then used polyester lint free wipes and "Blue Magic" Metal Polish Cream to polish. All done by painfull hands. The polish I got from AdvancedAuto and says it's good for all: chrome, aluminum, magnesium, brass, gold, coppper, silver, stainless steel, AND fiberglass! It also suppposedly leaves behing a protective film of silicone. I was very happy with the results.
That's a good idea of increasing torque/tightening to determine what the old were, but I don't have any that I haven't allready removed at least once, AND the old threadlock was really hard to break sometimes. I did use the blue medium strength Permatex threadlocker...But it's been over 20 hours and I just checked and all the extra that oozed out when tightened, is still liquid!!!wtf?

 

Your finished product looks great. Nothing like polishing coumpound and elbow grease. The lock tight should be set up by now. Not famillar with permatex brand. Did it require some setting agent or could it be beyond its shelf life? You can always use the German spec torque, "Guttentight".

 

Well, the package recommended their activator agent be applied pre-threadlocker if a shorter cure time is desired. It supposedly cures it in 5 minutes instead of 24 hrs. I didn't see the activator available for purchase where I bought the threadlocker.
The threadlock I used says it will be set in 20 minutes, and fully cured in 24 hrs...It's been >40 hrs, and all the excess that squeezed out upon assembly is still liquid.

 

sexy!