A 20+ year love affair with a worthless old modified Vauxhall van

[AltheJazzman]

2020 - Alloy wheels:

My memory is clearly worse than I thought. As if it was just as easy as buying some wheels and tyres, then fitting them and suddenly the van looked great? Here's what the wheels looked like when I bought them. So scabby and dented I was sure I had wasted my money:

They did come back from the wheel specialist looking perfect, but as if that was the end of the story? I had the sticky track tyres fitted, and put the front pair on only to find the clearance to the brake caliper disturbingly tight! It's easy to assume that the Combo B is simply a Corsa at the front, but Vauxhall obviously upgraded the brakes for the van. To this day I have to make sure the wheel weights are not in a certain spot otherwise they hit the caliper!

The rear axle assembly is allegedly unchanged from the Astramax, which explains the slightly wider track, and weirdly deep stub axles. Even the drums are bigger than the Corsa version. Reassuring for braking performance, but not a straight fit for wheels. Here is a lovely picture of someone else's van in much better condition than mine! (I thought I was obsessed!)

The problem with the little alloy wheels was the centre caps - all part of the look. I eventually made them work by buying 3mm wheel spacers, removing the bearing caps, and filing down the clips on the inside of the wheel centre caps. Yet another bodge!