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Wheels for GTI ?


spy
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Hi all,

I am on the verge of buying myself a GTI and I am already thinking about changing the wheels. The car will probably be black and I was thinking that a set of black wheels with chrome/stainless rim would look good on it.

I think I want to stick to 15" wheels so that the ride and handling is unaffected and close to stock.

I would welcome any recommendations that people have tried and know they will fit the Lupo.

In addition, any advice on offsets etc I should be looking at that would fit the Lupo and avoid arch rubbing etc

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Have a flick through the members cars section, you'll find plenty of inspiration there.

16" is about as big as you can usually pull off on a GTI, with the odd set of 17" looking good, as for offsets anything between about 40 and 30 shouldn't rub much.

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I am still trying to get my head around which wheels will work and which don't.

What is the size of the standard Bathurst alloys - 6.5J ET43 ?

I think I will stick to 15" and I understand that the bore size is 57.1 on the Lupo.

I am confused in two primary areas:

1) Width and Offset: I am not sure how the offset interplays with the width of the wheel, for example would a 7J wheel with an ET25 or an 8J wheel with ET20 fit on a slightly lowered (say lowered by 30mm) GTi without rubbing ?

2) Tyre Size: I have seen some wheels that are 15" x7J and have 165/50 or 165/45 tyres fitted. Aren't these tyres too narrow for a 7J wheel given the Bathurst at 6.5J runs 195-205 tyres ??

Thanks for your help

Edited by spy
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The offset of a wheel is measured from it's centre point.

So if you had a 6" (J actually refers to the tyre mounting face shape, not the width of the wheel, but most people use it wrongly. Including me until quite recently :lol:) wheel and an 8" wheel with the same size tyre fitted and the same offset, the tyre would sit in exactly the same place on the road, if that makes sense.

You might get away with those size wheels if you're only slightly lowered. I had 7" et30 with 195/45 and 8" et25 with 205/45 and they both rubbed.

I would say that although you may get away without rubbing, I don't think it would look very good with the wide pokey wheels and lots of arch gap.

Narrower tyres are fitted to prevent rubbing, so it's common to see 7" wheels with 165/50 tyres fitted. It's all a bit of a grey area on legality, but there is a range of recommended fitments for tyres that allow a certain amount of stretch.

So 165/50/15's are permitted for use from 4.5" to 6" wheels, for example. That's just a bit of a guess because I can't find the guides on the Bridgestone website. They're usually hidden on the manufacturers sites somewhere though.

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How would 16" wheels fair on a slightly lowered car ?

For example a 16" x 7J wheel with offset of 38 running 195/45 or 215/40 tyres ?

What is the most common upgraded wheel size on a lupo - 15" or 16" ?

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OK, I think I am getting my head around this but wanted to check my understanding with the experts ;)

Please correct me if I am wrong as it is getting quite technical, so here goes.

ET is how much the wheel is offset from the hub. The lower the ET, the more the wheel sticks out towards the archline i.e standard Bathurst with an ET43 are more recessed within the arch compared to an ET25 which would align with the wheel arch.

Where I get a little confused is the width of the wheel. Wouldn't a 7J also push the wheel more towards the arch compared to a 6J, assuming the offset is the same for both ?

I'm currently running 15x7 BBS RW001. No issues, though the rears could probably be spaced bit.

Silver, I assume these are ET36 so would be nearer the edge of the wheel arch than the Bathurst ?

These did not rub

I had 7" et30 with 195/45 and 8" et25 with 205/45 and they both rubbed.

I would say that although you may get away without rubbing, I don't think it would look very good with the wide pokey wheels and lots of arch gap.

Philplop, your fronts were ET30 and they rubbed.

How is it Silver's ET36 did not rub but the ET30 rubbed ? does the .06 make that much difference ?

Reading other posts on here, it seems that even with Bathursts, some people add spacers to get to an ET25 - I assume this doesn't rub therefore why would ET30 rub ?

Also, if you go for a 16" wheel as opposed to a 15", and use a lower profile tyre say a 40 on the 16" versus the standard 45 on the 15", would the diameter of the wheel be the same (ie it doesn't fill the wheelarch any more than a 15") and therefore we are back to trying getting the right wheel width and offset ?

Edited by spy
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I Have 15x7 ET20 up front with 165/50/15 tyres no rubbing

15x8 ET20 on the rear with 185/45/15 tyres and 15mm spacers creating overall ET of 5 theses so rub the edges of the tyres on harsh bumps but i am pretty low,

rolling the arches would cure this no problem or taking the spacers down to 12mm

6mm is quite abit of space when it comes down to wheel fitment!

Problem with same ET on 16" wheel is it will fill the arch more around the top edge of the arch if you know what i mean so has more arch capable of rubbing, i Know what i mean i think.

hope this helps

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I Have 15x7 ET20 up front with 165/50/15 tyres no rubbing

15x8 ET20 on the rear with 185/45/15 tyres and 15mm spacers creating overall ET of 5 theses so rub the edges of the tyres on harsh bumps but i am pretty low,

rolling the arches would cure this no problem or taking the spacers down to 12mm

6mm is quite abit of space when it comes down to wheel fitment!

Problem with same ET on 16" wheel is it will fill the arch more around the top edge of the arch if you know what i mean so has more arch capable of rubbing, i Know what i mean i think.

hope this helps

Thanks Martyn.

You seem to be running pretty wide on the back goven the 8" wheel width and +20mm offset.

How is it you are running 15" wheels with a 20mm offset and 185/50 tyres with no rubbing but Philplop is rnning ET30 and getting rubbing (I am assuming he is running 195/45 tyres) ??

As regards your last point re 16" wheels with the same offset, if you were running 195/40 (compared to the Bathurst 195/45), would they not be the same diameter and therefore not fill the top edge of the arch i.e. be the same as the 15" with 195/45 tyres in diameter ?

Edited by spy
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Yes, I've worked out that they could run 7mm spacers on the rear before they foul. Fronts are pretty close though.

My ET43 Bathursts with 20mm spacers (ET23) and 195\45 tyres rub when fully laden or over fast hard bumps.

OK generally though.

...and the differnece between ET30 and ET36 is 6mm, so yes it would be a big difference.

Side wall profiles of tyres will also have a bearing on rubbing too. All my tyres seem to be different actual width and profile.

R

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Yes, I've worked out that they could run 7mm spacers on the rear before they foul. Fronts are pretty close though.

What tyres are you running on your 15x7 BBS wheels ?

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195\45\15 Yokohama A539 up front and Toyo Proxes T1-R on the rear. Toyos have a much rounder shoulder than the Yoko's.

Love the Yoko A539s but they don't make them anymore.

My Graphite Bathursts are wearing 195\45 Toyo Proxes T1-R all round

My Silver Bathursts are wearing 195\45 AVON ZV3 (front) and Michelin Pilot Sports (rear)

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Thanks. and how much have you lowered it by ?

I am just trying to work out your setup given they don't rub ;)

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Thanks Martyn.

You seem to be running pretty wide on the back goven the 8" wheel width and +20mm offset.

How is it you are running 15" wheels with a 20mm offset and 185/50 tyres with no rubbing but Philplop is rnning ET30 and getting rubbing (I am assuming he is running 195/45 tyres) ??

As regards your last point re 16" wheels with the same offset, if you were running 195/40 (compared to the Bathurst 195/45), would they not be the same diameter and therefore not fill the top edge of the arch i.e. be the same as the 15" with 195/45 tyres in diameter ?

Mine does rub on the rear on harsh bumps but the tyre stretch does help a great deal although some people are not wild about running stretch.

As for the 16s i cant explain what i mean to make it clearer but i see what youre saying regarding tyre size but the tyre will be wider/fill the arch more giving the whole diameter of he wheel.

it all depends on what size you want to run and if you are wanting any stretch or not, on my old gti the setup was excellent with 7.5x16 ET 25 i think, i ran 195/40/16 toyos and it was great to drive and no rubbing at all

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on my old gti the setup was excellent with 7.5x16 ET 25 i think, i ran 195/40/16 toyos and it was great to drive and no rubbing at all

Thanks Martyn.

To be honest, I am a little more confused now. So the 16" with ET25 did not rub but 15" ET30 do !

Maybe I should be asking a different question, what size wheels (15"/16"), widths (6J/6.5J/7.5J/8J) and tyre sizes fit a Lupo GTI that has been slighty lowered without rubbing on standard arches or suspension components ?

Ultimately, I want wheels that moderately fill the arches (i.e. look good on the car without looking it has been jacked up but not necessarily the ultra low look) but without rubbing

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No Silver they haven't my old GTi was the throttle bodied one that Lincolnshirelupo built that was the one with 16x7.5 ET25 with 195/40/16 that never rubbed and didn't have the arches rolled

My current GTi has the 15" bullet Steels front no problem with rubbing but the rear 15x8 ET5 with 185/45/15 tyres rubs on the inner lip of the arch.

I would upload a pic of both cars so you can see ride heights but i cant get my head round how to do it.

cheers

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If you had a 6" wheel and a 7" wheel, both with the same offset, then there would be half an inch extra towards the outer arch, and half an inch towards the suspension strut.

My car was pretty low, so that's probably why it rubbed compared to others of te same offset.

And as Ray said, tyre brand and model can affect it too, different makes can be totally different widths/shapes, even though they're the same size.

I wouldn't go bigger than a 195/40/16 on a Lupo.

Have you had a look at willtheyfit.com? It's good for getting your head around how it all works.

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Thanks Phil. I have been looking at that website. I think I have my head around it but I guess the question is how many additional millimetres diI have over the original Bathurst before the wheel will exceed the arch lip ?

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OK guys, I appreciate your patience with me.

I have been looking into this a little more. The Does it Fit website is useful but doesn't really give me the specifics for the Lupo.

Can you tell me if wheels with the following dimensions would fit on a GTI without rubbing and roughly by how much would I be able to lower it and still avoid rubbing, assuming 45 profile tyres ?

All 15" wheels. I have included in brackets what the Will They Fit website says for each in case it helps to determine potential for rubbing:

1) 7.5J and ET33 (extends an additional 22.7mm towards the arch compared to standard Bathurst)

2) 7J and ET25 (extends an additional 24.3mm towards the arch compared to standard Bathurst)

I guess the burning question is how many additional mm over the standard Bathurst do I have before the wheel will extend beyond the arch lip and therefore start rubbing on turns or over bumps ?

Thanks

Edited by spy
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