Aircooled VW South Africa

Correct me if I'm wrong, but did Rostyles come in three flavours from the factory?

1. The standard 15 inch
2. The standard 14 inch
3. The wide 14 inch, as fitted to the SP Beetle only?

I think that in the '80s, Smiths wheels used to make them in epoxy white, with a red/blue stripe along the lip, in a variety of widths...

Let's keep these rather interesting wheels here in ZA, they are a part of our Vw heritage...

Rostyles were made by Gustro wheels in PE.
I dont think the Smiths you are thinking about were Rostyles were they? Those were used on Beach Buggies.

I wasn't aware that there two different sizes of 14".

I have a set of the Smiths Rostyles.

For sale. They need recon, so I'm very neg'.

N.

eben wrote:Rostyles were made by Gustro wheels in PE.
I dont think the Smiths you are thinking about were Rostyles were they? Those were used on Beach Buggies.

If I can dig up the old CAR magazine advert, I'll scan and post the ad of the Smiths Rostyles

Can someone give definite information on the 14 inchers?

i have a set of 14" 5 J Gestro rossies?????????????????????????????????????????B.A.B

AFAIK, the stock VW Rostyles, made by Guestro wheels, were 15x4.5 and 14x5.

Smiths definitely also made a 14x5 Rostyle replica, as well as wider versions for buggies. I have also seen Rostyles that were custom widened, but those were not manufactured that way.

I agree with the sentiment that we should be keeping them here, but I think it's a bit late. Like most of our split buses, most Rostyles are now in the UK.

They sell for 400gbp over there

The scalpers are getting them for like R500-00 a set

Well F*ck knows where they get them for that price. No dealer in Jo'burg I phoned has anything decent left.

I struggled to get a decent set and they sure as Hell cost more than R 500.

N.

I would love to know what happened to the original tooling for these Rostyle wheels. Imagine if we could get our hands on the tooling and start making Rostyles again

Blitzkrieg_Beetle wrote:I would love to know what happened to the original tooling for these Rostyle wheels. Imagine if we could get our hands on the tooling and start making Rostyles again

Two years ago at a Piston Ring swap meet I saw a guy with a brand new Rostyle in a box for sale. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't get to speak to him, as it looked like it was newly made, not NOS. I haven't been able to track him down since.

I have a set of 5 and a 1/2 J Rostyles 14 inch dia. I had them re-sprayed orig black and silver and clear coated - real beauts!
Tucked up under the duvet with a few other delights in the spares room.
I also have a few of centre caps, mostly the original painted ones.
I have a sept 76 beetles (all) handbook which shows that the 14 inch rostyles were 51/2 J
This book also shows that the tyre size was 185/70/14 for both the road wheels and spare(printed on a sticker that came loose), but under the sticker it shows the spare size to be 165-14.
Thats probably because its so difficult to get a spare any bigger than 165 into the spare wheel well

Both of our bugs have skinny spares for that very reason.


I have had a few 15inch rossies that were 5 J

Now--- where were they fetching 500GBP a set-----?



Cheers
Bill

fig wrote:

Blitzkrieg_Beetle wrote:I would love to know what happened to the original tooling for these Rostyle wheels. Imagine if we could get our hands on the tooling and start making Rostyles again

Two years ago at a Piston Ring swap meet I saw a guy with a brand new Rostyle in a box for sale. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't get to speak to him, as it looked like it was newly made, not NOS. I haven't been able to track him down since.

That's a real shame

I saw a new 15 inch Rostyle in an obscure parts place in PMB, the name escapes me now

I also wonder at times as to what happened to the tooling for the Smiths Empi 8 wheels. That would be interesting to track down and buy it would nice to start making nice copies of the 8 spoke for here and export...

forcecooled wrote:I have a set of 5 and a 1/2 J Rostyles 14 inch dia. I had them re-sprayed orig black and silver and clear coated - real beauts!
Tucked up under the duvet with a few other delights in the spares room.
I also have a few of centre caps, mostly the original painted ones.
I have a sept 76 beetles (all) handbook which shows that the 14 inch rostyles were 51/2 J
This book also shows that the tyre size was 185/70/14 for both the road wheels and spare(printed on a sticker that came loose), but under the sticker it shows the spare size to be 165-14.
Thats probably because its so difficult to get a spare any bigger than 165 into the spare wheel well

Both of our bugs have skinny spares for that very reason.


I have had a few 15inch rossies that were 5 J

Now--- where were they fetching 500GBP a set-----?



Cheers
Bill

According to the CAR magazine road test of the 1977 Beetle SP which came with the 14 inch Rostyles (They describe them as wide Kombi size wheels), the spare-wheel well on the Beetle SP was opened up so that the full size spare wheel could fit.

After all is said and done, I'm keeping the Rostyles that I'm getting and going to have them detailed as Forcecooled described