The Official 356Talk Forum

I own 4 rims with the size of 3.00x16. No production date stamping. Does somebody know when they were produced? To what car do they belong to? I heard about a very very early 356. But I am not sure

Hi Oliver,

The 3.00 x 16 non-slotted wheels were on all early VW beetles up until 9/1952 and i believe they were used on very early 356 as well.

Mine have slots....

Picture? There are some British slotted 16 inch rims that are sometimes confused with 356 rims, maybe that is what you have.

there is a picture of a 1950/1951 cab on page 41 of the conradt book with slotted wheels. Not sure they are 3.25 or 3" wide.

Hi Jules, the cabriolet on page 41 of the Conradt book is from 1952. One can tell from the bumper trim which has the rubber strip in it. That was introduced on the last '52 split-window body bumper cars and was continued on all the bent-window body bumper cars. In fact, that car looks to be a bent-window model. So the Conradt caption is unfortunately wrong. =( Rare for that book.

As for slotted wheels on Porsches, they were in use by mid-1951 (Liège-Rome-Liège and Le Mans). The Porsche wheels were always 3.25x16 as far as I know, slotted or not. VW bug used 3.00x16 non-slotted, and VW bus used 3.50x16 non-slotted.

Don't know anything about slotted 3.00x16. What manufacturer? Post a photo. If they're German, they'll have manufacturer, size and dates stamped all over them. =)

KPZ 3.00x16

Have you looked for a date stamped into the outer rim where the inner tube would be?

This is what Vic is referring to. Also, I suspect since these are KPZ, that the inner and outer wheel are riveted together instead of welded?