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Just Ordered Some Girth For My GTi

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 9:09 pm
by Jeff GTi
just been on venom's website and treated my lil dub

i have treated it to some width, i have bought a set of B+ hubcentric spacers, these are the ones which bolt to the hub, using the supplied bolts in the kit, then the wheel bolts on to the spacer using the existing VW bolts

the kit is 30 mm track widening, so 15 mm per wheel, was going to go for 20 mm per wheel kit, but that would of took the wheel to an offset of 18, and would be likely to cause rubbing issues lowered 50/55 mm all round like mine is, so et 23 should sit in there just nice, provide a nicer stance and not rub ... result

cant wait for them to arrive, ill post pics up when they come, but could get to mid week being bank holiday and all

so dan, to answer the discussion we was having by pm, vemon can supply you with a 30 mm per axel spacer kit ;)

iv also just ordered a full set of the gti centre caps for my monzas as the ones i have are getting a bit corroded and naff looking, so thats sorted now too, yet more improvements made, ;)

jeff

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 1:00 am
by david burton
sounds good! fronts and rears? would be keen on knowing if you get rubbing with that track on the fronts (if you've got fronts).

would also be keen to know if it helps the handling at the rear.

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 8:39 am
by Jeff GTi
yeah mate fronts and rears, i was considering staggering them, 15 mm fronts and 20 mm rears, but just stuck to 15 mm all round for ease and likely ness not to get problems whilst still improving the track of the axel's

due to the gti wheels being only 6.5j with a 38 offset, even with the adapterf fitted, they should sit 4 mm further in the arch than the comps do, being 7.5j with a 32 offset according to an offset calculater i have been playing with

thus will give me almost all the width (-4mm per wheel) as i get running the comps but sit in just that fraction more so not to get the rubbing being dropped, all in a much lighter weight and so more agile wheel

will look good i think, been debating this mod for aaaaaaaaaaaages, just needed to find the 15mm per wheel setup, now i have

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 2:08 pm
by Tim_GTi
nice one mate, get pics up soon as they arrive 8)

Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 11:36 am
by KennyPOLO_Gti
Canna wait to see the pics. been thinkin bout gettin a set but not 100% confident i will like them :?

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 1:52 pm
by david burton
yeah I make the GTI wheels 18.7mm further into the arch per wheel without spacers so your calcs are spot on 8)

when I put my TT wheels on I made the mistake of weighing them - I think they were about 5kg per wheel heavier (19kg vs 14/15kg) IIRC.

TT wheels are definitely for looks rather than performance.

with spacers people often say you wear bearings out quicker - do you know the reason why this would be the case compared to fitting a wider wheel?

I can appreciate the turning moment is larger with a spacer so you could put more force on the bearing. But I would think this would only come into play once the centre of the tyre is further out than the mounting point (which it isn't with your spacers) or effectively an offset of zero or less.

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 5:10 pm
by Jeff GTi
i would also be in the same thought as you david, as the comps sit out more and be wider than the monzas will be, even with the spacers, and the comps will also weigh more too, all adding to strain

i would be inclined to think the comps will be less bearing friendly than the setup of monzas with slight spacing outwards like ill be running anyway

another thing is the spacers bolt directly to the hubs using supplied bolts in the kit then the alloys bolt to the spacers using the original vw bolts, they are not just floating spacers with longer bolts, the spacers also like the original hub have a central locater with the same centre bore as the original hub

so i really cant see them posing much of a difference in strain compared to the stock wheels and hub setup if im honest, obviously there will be a bit of difference, but cant see it being too great

only time will tell though i guess

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 8:26 pm
by whitegtipolo
all it will do is change the geometry of ya track etc will need aligning etc, but bearings be fine. someone done this on an Australian site on their polo looked ok.

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:10 pm
by Tim_GTi
whitegtipolo wrote:someone done this on an Australian site on their polo looked ok.
Come to think of it now I've seen that picture actually, looks really good

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:48 pm
by Jeff GTi
tracking or wheel alignment wont need touching, it will only affect the width track if the axel, nothing to do with the geometry,

think about it, if i have the alignment done on my car with the monzas, then i put the comps on, which set out 19 mm further than the monzas, the tracking does not need re doing again does it,

so the monzas spaced out only 15 mm wont need the tracking doing again either, as the setup is still aligned correctly

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:53 pm
by Tim_GTi
It may alter the camber though, my wider wheels have dramatically altered mine.

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:56 pm
by whitegtipolo
true the centre of the wheel to the hub is altered too affects more than you think!! :(

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:17 pm
by KennyPOLO_Gti
A really canna see how 15mm each side is gonna alter anythin apart from the looks!? Its only 15mm, not anythin ridiculous :roll:

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:20 pm
by Tim_GTi
It doesn't something ridiculous to knock the camber out

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:27 pm
by Jeff GTi
but the comps come out even further than the monzas will with spacers, and both sets of wheels have had brand new tyres on and are both wearing evenly, no uneven tyre wear