Fitting Amarok Alloy Wheels on a VW T6 or T6.1: Spacers, Bolts and Fitment Guide

The Problem

You want to fit VW Amarok alloy wheels to a T6 or T6.1 and need to know whether they clear the front brake calipers without modification. The 17-inch Amarok Aldo alloys have been known to foul the front calipers when fitted without spacers on a T6.1 with standard brakes, so caliper clearance is the key question before ordering wheels, bolts or spacers.

Solution

1. Confirm fitment compatibility. The Amarok and T6/Transporter share the same 5x120 PCD, so the wheels will physically bolt on. Both also use a 65.1mm hub bore, meaning the wheels should be hub-centric without adaptor rings — but measure your hub and the wheel bore (verify the 65.1mm figure for your specific wheel variant) before assuming a direct fit.

2. Establish which brake size your van has — standard 308mm front brakes or the larger uprated set. 17-inch wheels are generally the minimum required to clear the bigger brake package.

3. For 17-inch Amarok Aldo alloys on a T6.1 with standard 308mm brakes, expect to fit around 3mm wheel spacers to clear the front calipers, as without them the alloy rubs on the front face of the caliper. This 3mm figure comes from individual owner experience and is not a universal spec — confirm it for your own van: mount the wheel without a spacer, slowly rotate it by hand and check for contact, then use a feeler gauge or measure the gap between the inner wheel face and the caliper. Add a spacer 1–2mm thicker than the smallest measured gap, and note that the Aldo wheels' ET offset (verify ET offset before ordering — it is stamped on the wheel and is needed to generalise spacer thickness to other Amarok variants and brake setups) determines how much clearance you start with.

4. For 18-inch Amarok wheels, a straight fit without spacers is commonly reported using tyre sizes such as 235/55 R18, 235/60 R18 or 255/45 R18.

5. Keep the new tyre rolling diameter within 5 percent of the van's standard tyre diameter to remain road-legal under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, and to keep the speedometer reading within legal tolerance.