Wheel question...

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Wed May 26, 2004 6:48 pm

How's about 16x5.5 ET10 with 195/50 16's? I think they could work with a little fender lip massaging...

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Wed May 26, 2004 7:26 pm

Yes, but then you have to bend metal....alot. They will also cut your turning radius down severely. Look carefully under the fenders. With 205-60/15's on 5.5" wheels, you are already very close to the inner front fender area that makes up the trunk wall. The 15" wheel, when you lower the front to level with the back...more than fills the wheel well. This car has no problems with that empty wheel well look that the super beetle had. 15's are more than enough IMHO. They also add unsprung weight. Just a opinion. Ray

Jan Peter de geus · Post by **Jan Peter de geus** » Thu May 27, 2004 1:24 am

I am using 7Jx15 ET 16 all around, at the front fitted with 205-50-15 and at the rear with 205-60-15 (previously 225-50-15). At the front there is very little room at the outside under the wings, on my car especially at the right side. Occasionally the wing flange touches the outside of the tyre. I have made the flange a little narrower (bended it a little) which helps.
You can also fit Porsche 17 inch rims, look how well they fit and look at Neals 412 on Tunas type4 corner. I believe they are 7,5Jx17, I do not know which ET. Tyres are 215-40 front and 215-45 rear according to the article in VolksWorld.
Jan Peter

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Thu May 27, 2004 6:37 am

I realize that putting some massive wheels on the car is a little ridiculous, but I feel compelled to. I've been driving around with impractical setups for years, so I know the drawbacks. I had to do serious fender lip modification to fit 17x7.5 ET 30 with 215/40 17 tires on my lowered GTI VR6. It pretty much destroyed the paint around the wheelwells too,

so I will soon be fitting euro GTI flares that have been smoothed and color matched. That being said, Neal's 412 does look excellent. I believe that he said he is running adapters so has probably been able to tune the offset just perfectly. Those Porsche wheels are ET 52 I think, and with an adapter thickness of 25mm, that would give you a minimum ET 27 on a 17x7.5 wheel. So, in conclusion, we know that combo will work as he is running it. I'll tell you what wheels I would like to run-the 17x7.5 forged and polished 5 spoke Audi TT wheels. They are ET 35 I believe, but the problem is that the center bore is only 57.1mm like the rest of the WC VW's. Now, converting to discs in the rear and getting blank discs drilled for the 5x100 bolt pattern wouldn't be difficult, but how would I get them to fit on the front as the center bore on the cars is huge?

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Thu May 27, 2004 4:11 pm

On a 412 whose front end is lowered about 1" (mine) with 205-60-15's, at full lock, the tire edge is 17mm from the fender lip. Sounds like a lot? Not really, when the suspension compresses going over bumps, is passes within 10-12mm of the top inside of the fender flare curve, under the fender. The front and back edges of the tire on the inside of the wheel have a little more room but not much. The rear passed within about 13-15mm of the inner fender firewall.

If you run larger than 15",...yes you could do it....but, you would then not have the vertical rise level to be able to lower the front end level with the back properly. Yes...it will look level because the wheels will be larger, but the castor will still be lousey and with the larger wheels....will handle very crappy. It will tramline like crazy. If you were to use 16's, iwould use nothing over 5.5". Those will hold a large enough/low profile enough tire no problem. Remember though, wherever you have to dish the insid of the fender on the inner front of each tire....and you will...it will shw up in the trunk. Bear this in mind. You had better get started on upgrading the suspension if you plan on putting larger wheels on it. They will increase the need for castor...of which you do not have enough already....they will increase the load of toe-in at speed....further stressing the control arm bushings, radius arm bushings, ball joints and that "doughy" idler arm bushing. If you run the original symmetrical bolt pattern strut bushings, they will be one of the first things to suffer. Just some thoughts. Ray

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Thu May 27, 2004 8:21 pm

Ah yes, you are quite right. How about a compromise?

Porsche 16X6 Fuchs, ET 36 with 205/50 16's?

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Fri May 28, 2004 11:54 am

16 x 6's will just barely fit. It will really come down to the tire you are capable of running on that...and wether your suspension is capable of allowing you not to bottom out too far. Ray