RE: [alfa] Ronal wheels

["Benjamin Woenig" <budweiser@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Many thanks for all the information!

I contacted the owner of this website http://www.alfaman.freeservers.com/
(click on "More Pictures" to see a good shot of the Alfetta with these
wheels), and he told me they are indeed Ronal A1's, and that they are
long out of production. I've not seen these in Australia, the most common
aftermarket wheels for Alfa's I've seen are Simmons wheels
http://www.simmonswheel.com.au/range.html
I have a set of 17" OM's for my Alfetta sedan. However, they are not
cheap, $3000Aus+ for a set, not including rubber.

As for the SZ, I did see a website a long time ago about an owner
who totally upped the spec on his SZ. 24valve 3.5L Alfa V6 installed
with individual throttle bodies, larger Brembo discs and callipers,
and huge custom 18" wheels, in the same style as the original SZ
wheels. I'd be frightened to ask how much it would cost to have
a set of wheels like that made...

So, basically I'm in the market for a set of 15" X 7" Ronal A1's
with a 98mm pitch. I'm not really sure what would be a reasonable
price (I was shown an add by the the owner of the site mentioned
above for a set of 4 wheels that were painted black for 150 Euro,
but they were already sold). I guess my limit would be about $450US
(not including rubber or shipping).

Cheers,
Benjamin W.


Benjamin Woenig asked about a source for the Ronal wheels which he had seen
on "a website where someone had put them on an Alfetta GTV and they looked
great. They were similar in style to the wheels on the SZ." Ray Cordova
replied "I have Ronal wheels on my GTV 6, I got them from the Ronal
distributor here in southern California.  In fact, if you go to their web
site, they provide a gallery of pictures showing what different cars look
like with various styles of wheels.  The GTV 6, in the gallery is mine."

Possible confusion. The Ronal website (ronalusa.com) does show many current
and past Ronal wheels, including the type Ray has and the type on the
Vermont 164 which had prompted Ben's question, but it does not show anything
remotely "similar in style to the wheels on the SZ." The current range of
Ronal wheel designs covers the gamut of variations offered by most of the
less outlandish aftermarket wheel brands, but nothing that stands out. The
"similar to SZ" would have described the Ronal A1, sold here in the late
seventies through late eighties in two sizes and two bolt patterns, a 14" x
6" and 15" x 7" four bolt which fit the Alfetta, Fiat, Alfasud and similar,
and a 15" x 7" five bolt which fits the GTV6, Milano and similar fitments.
Both were extensively used by ARI, the US Alfa distributor, on "Special
Edition" Alfettas and GTV6s, and were also sold by Alfa Ricambi and other
aftermarket wheel dealers; both have been out of production for about
fifteen years. They could be considered a precursor of the "phone dial"
style, but much more architectonic, having twelve round holes (vs. the SZ's
ten) in a flat face with a precisely articulated rim. The bad news, apart
from unavailability, is that there have been reports of the GTV6 version
cracking under competition stresses. The good news, for Ben's interests, is
that the 14 x 6 Alfetta size is common enough, in the USA, to probably be
relatively easy to obtain a good set, and also less likely to have been
pushed to the edge of failure. I would be comfortable enough with a
reasonably vetted set, although there is always some risk with old used
parts.

John H.
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