UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

HI guys,

just a quick question, i want some alloys on my car, 2012 1.4 na, and i just want to know, whats the most you can poke the wheel, out of the arch with out stretching it, im looking at some 8j but not sure if they will b to wide?

im looking at getting 16X8 ET25 5X100, just want to know what i have to change like ET and all that stuff, or even if they would fit at all lol, and going to lower the car to. want to stretch tyre for nice look, want it to have nice flush to arch, any suggestions?

cheers.

The size you've stated will have the wheel face 25mm further out from the car that the stock 2017 GTI wheel. I'm pretty sure you'll have arch issues there.

Against your car, assuming your stock wheels are 6x16 ET38, the size you're looking at will remove 12mm clearance from the inside of the wheel and extend the outside 38mm!

Any reason you want 8" wide wheels? It's your car, so I'm not judging, but they do seem excessively wide

A 7" or 7.5" ET44-46 should fit fine as that's the GTI wheel size but I cannot confirm it

4StringBass wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:50 pm The size you've stated will have the wheel face 25mm further out from the car that the stock 2017 GTI wheel. I'm pretty sure you'll have arch issues there.

Against your car, assuming your stock wheels are 6x16 ET38, the size you're looking at will remove 12mm clearance from the inside of the wheel and extend the outside 38mm!

Any reason you want 8" wide wheels? It's your car, so I'm not judging, but they do seem excessively wide

A 7" or 7.5" ET44-46 should fit fine as that's the GTI wheel size but I cannot confirm it

I'd agree with this 4StringBass; an offset of ET25 on an 8J wheel IMO would be far too aggressive, and there'd almost certainly be rubbing issues, especially if the OP is also going to lower their car. Additionally, to remain legal, no part of the tyre tread must be visible beyond the wheel arch. There may also be insurance implications; some insurers may be unwilling to provide cover on a car where the width and offset of the wheels push the wheels beyond the wheel arch.

To the OP; I'd suggest you have a look at a few current model Polo GTI's so you get an idea of how flush to the arch the standard GTI parabolica wheels are; these wheels are 17x7.5J ET44. I wouldn't want to go with an offset that is much more aggressive than that, especially as you're lowering.

4StringBass wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:50 pm The size you've stated will have the wheel face 25mm further out from the car that the stock 2017 GTI wheel. I'm pretty sure you'll have arch issues there.

Against your car, assuming your stock wheels are 6x16 ET38, the size you're looking at will remove 12mm clearance from the inside of the wheel and extend the outside 38mm!

Any reason you want 8" wide wheels? It's your car, so I'm not judging, but they do seem excessively wide

A 7" or 7.5" ET44-46 should fit fine as that's the GTI wheel size but I cannot confirm it

ok mate cheers, and its just the wheels im looking at, are 16x8 lol but i thought they would b to big, will look at these ones instead see if they got them in different et and size.

SRGTD wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2017 5:51 pm

4StringBass wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:50 pm The size you've stated will have the wheel face 25mm further out from the car that the stock 2017 GTI wheel. I'm pretty sure you'll have arch issues there.

Against your car, assuming your stock wheels are 6x16 ET38, the size you're looking at will remove 12mm clearance from the inside of the wheel and extend the outside 38mm!

Any reason you want 8" wide wheels? It's your car, so I'm not judging, but they do seem excessively wide

A 7" or 7.5" ET44-46 should fit fine as that's the GTI wheel size but I cannot confirm it

I'd agree with this 4StringBass; an offset of ET25 on an 8J wheel IMO would be far too aggressive, and there'd almost certainly be rubbing issues, especially if the OP is also going to lower their car. Additionally, to remain legal, no part of the tyre tread must be visible beyond the wheel arch. There may also be insurance implications; some insurers may be unwilling to provide cover on a car where the width and offset of the wheels push the wheels beyond the wheel arch.

To the OP; I'd suggest you have a look at a few current model Polo GTI's so you get an idea of how flush to the arch the standard GTI parabolica wheels are; these wheels are 17x7.5J ET44. I wouldn't want to go with an offset that is much more aggressive than that, especially as you're lowering.

yes mate, thought it would be to big tbh lool, and i was hoping it would be ok for insurance lol but no worries, think i will look at the gti setup, but dont really want to go as big as a 17'', will have a look at some more wheels i guess. cheers

what do you guys think will be nice and flush to arches? once i have lowered and changed et a bit?

Just as an add on to this convo I was wondering about my blue gt and whether fitting parabolica wheels would line them through with my arches as the current rims are about 20mm ish shy?

PoloBlueGT wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2017 11:01 am Just as an add on to this convo I was wondering about my blue gt and whether fitting parabolica wheels would line them through with my arches as the current rims are about 20mm ish shy?

The Montani alloys on your Blue GT are 17x7J with an offset of ET46. The GTI Parabolica alloys are 17x7.5J, offset ET44, so if you fitted Parabolicas to your car, the inner face of the wheel would be 4mm closer to the suspension strut, and the front face of the wheel would extend a further 8mm compared to your current wheels.

Because of the wider Parabolica wheels and slightly more aggressive offset compared to the Montani's on your car, the Polo GTI has small plastic extenders on the upper trailing edge of the rear wheel arches; presumably to stop the wheel/tyre extending beyond this section of the rear wheel arch, and keep it legal (i.e. to ensure no part of the tyre tread is visible beyond the wheel arch). If you do fit Parabolicas to your car, you might want to consider fitting the plastic extenders.

Wruchamps wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2017 8:44 am what do you guys think will be nice and flush to arches? once i have lowered and changed et a bit?

I think this will depend on how much you're planning on lowering your car.

Hopefully, some of the forum members who have both lowered their cars and fitted wheels with a more aggressive offset (than the standard VW OEM wheels) will contribute to this discussion and advise you what their set-up is. They may also have some pictures so you can see what it looks like.

Dont really want to go down the route of rolling arches or fixing extra wide body plastic parts, and want to liwer it abt 4-6mm ik its quite alot but still want to get over bumps, n not scrape, and want it to look quite flush... anyone for pics of 16x7 with like a 30et on these forums or can show me?

My car is currently getting a new gearbox so pictures are limited apologies. I have 7.5j wheels and purposefully got slightly stretched tyres at 205 because I was worried about rubbing, especially when lowered. If I'm running really low, it will rub fairly bad when turning or over large bumps etc. My wheels are Dare DR-X2 17-inch with 35et. They sit pretty flush with the front arch, but still inside the rear, hence why I have just ordered some 10mm spacers for the rears. I can get some more photos when I have my car back if you would like.

Yes mate would love more pics if thats ok, looks mint im looking at some wheels now 16x7 with et30, so im sure they will be pretty fine, and probs will put a slight strecth incase of scrubbing on arches, not sure if i would need spacers or not.

Here are some more images of the width and arch position with relation to the tyres and wheels. One thing I would say is if you're going to go for stretch tyres make sure you have a alloy refurb budget! The tyres offer absolutely no protection so one small mistake and the whole lip can be ruined as I've found . When I first bought my alloys, I used http://www.willtheyfit.com to check clearance etc which was useful. You can see in the last photo the rubbing on the tyre from the arch when riding too low.

Yes mate these look amazing think im still goin for stretch lol, and i knew there was no protection lol, so not to bad, and i went on willtheyfit, and they did but just wanted to look at some real life pics yano , looks mint cheers. Pretty much then a 16x7 et30 will be completly fine it will fit perfect, and yours ade wider and still fit looks mint.