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Anyone know what the widest tyre I could comfortably fit under the rear arch of a mk2 squareback on 14" rims would be (standard VW offset etc.)? It's not lowered or anything, but I want to avoid scrubbage and I've heard that squarebacks can be a bit iffy about wide tyres.

In case anyone was wondering, 185's don't fit if you have anyone in the back - they scrub on the rear arches. Here's hoping the 175's I'm about to buy (hopefully) are small enough to fit properly under the rear arches..

i have 195's under mine?? didnt have too much of a problem.... but i have rolled the rear arches

sorry to hear bout that groovy, are you just changing the tyres over?, because those alloys you picked up before meet looked obviously needed a clean though!
-Ben-

My arches haven't been rolled, that's the thing.. how much does it cost to have them rolled out?
Need to replace one of the rear tyres anyway as it's borderline illegal (got about half a millimeter left..), so I may as well just stick 175's on instead, it only just catches the arch when there's a lot of weight (three bloody great blokes on the back seat..), but it's a constant rub and I wouldn't like to go anywhere like that. If it was just when I went over speed bumps or whatever then I'd just leave it, but I don't want to damage the sidewalls like that.

Love the wheels otherwise though I'll have to get some pics up tomorrow when I've still got some daylight. One thing though, I think I'm going to have to lower it just to get rid of the arch gap - going from 75 to 60 profile on standard springs leaves enough room for a whole troop of cats to live in!

to coin a phrase "you could sleep under those arches"
-Ben-

Yes Forget three fingers, I can get a hand and a half in the front arches, and even the rears are showing a big gap despite the way they're flattened out at the top Think I'll get the old shock absorbers sorted before I think about that though - been trying out the handling on the new tyres, and it feels like it's about to tip over round every corner now! The old ones just used to slide with the car, but these really bring out the mattress in it

To have your arches rolled will cost between £25-40 per arch I believe...

Cheers for that - just bought another set of GTi alloys with a pair of brand new 175/70's on them.. plan is to stick the wheels with new tyres on the back, hope they're thin enough, then sell on my current rear wheels and the rest of the set I'm about to get as a set of 5, should get a bit of money back from them that way Cost me £57, the way I see it that's less than a pair of tyres would have cost me anyway, plus I can make some of that back selling the ones with knackered tyres on. Fingers crossed these ones fit..

GroovyCarrot wrote:Anyone know what the widest tyre I could comfortably fit under the rear arch of a mk2 squareback on 14" rims would be (standard VW offset etc.)? It's not lowered or anything, but I want to avoid scrubbage and I've heard that squarebacks can be a bit iffy about wide tyres.

Groovy - what size are the tyres?

185/60r13

I knew they'd be a push, thought I might get away with it though.. unfortunately they're just slightly too wide at the back. Front's fine though, haven't noticed any scrubbing there at all.

GroovyCarrot wrote:185/60r13

I knew they'd be a push, thought I might get away with it though.. unfortunately they're just slightly too wide at the back. Front's fine though, haven't noticed any scrubbing there at all.

Whats std - ie fitted on your car at the moment ?

145/75r13 on the steelies.. standard sizes originally were 135, 145, 155 and 165 / 70 or 75 r13 iirc.

GroovyCarrot wrote:145/75r13 on the steelies.. standard sizes originally were 135, 145, 155 and 165 / 70 or 75 r13 iirc.

Specification.....Sidewall...Radius...Diameter...Circum'..Revs/Mile..Diff
185/65-13........4.7in........11.2in....22.5in.......70.6in....898...........4.2%
175/65-13........4.5in........11.0in....22.0in.......69.0in....919...........1.8%
145/75-13........4.3in........10.8in....21.6in.......67.7in....935...........0.0%
165/65-13........4.2in........10.7in....21.4in.......67.4in....940...........-0.5%
175/60-13........4.1in........10.6in....21.3in.......66.8in....948...........-1.4%
165/60-13........3.9in........10.4in....20.8in.......65.3in....970...........-3.6%

175/65-13 £30 ea for branded tyres
165/65-13 £25 ea for branded tyres

165/65 gets my vote

Yeah, probably would have gone down that route if I'd bought them new, but I thought I may as well get another set of alloys and make use of the new tyres on them, seeing as it's cheaper in the long run anyway If, god forbid, 175's are still too wide then I'll just have to save up a bit for some 165's on the rear, but I'd rather not have to