17"s Or 18"s And What Offset?

[nick_edwards]

Hi All.

Well I am not a new Scooby owner as I have owned my 1994 WRX since 2000- but this is my first post on the IOM forum so hello to all you fellow manxy scoob owners !

My car hasnt seen much action over the past 5 years as its been garaged and not used. Anyway I have now decided its time to splash some cash and bring her back to former glory!

I have ordered a Weitech Coilover kit and Compbrake big brake kit for the front (4 pots) and I want to order some new wheels- just wondering if I should go for 17's or 18's- I have been told that I wont b able to lower the car as much on 18's so I am leaning towards 17's - but I want to make sure I get the correct offset- can anyone offer any advice regarding 17's , so I make sure I get wheels which wont rub or catch the new callipers + what the correct tyre size would be?

My car presently has a paddle clutch which I am swapping for a standard one so if anyone is looking for an uprated clutch for their classic then let me know.

I will post some pics of the car as i presently looks so you can see my work in progress!

Cheers

Nick

[cupradave]

Hi Nick and welcome, glad you decided to join us

In the past Prodrive did a lot of back to back tests with 17s and 18s and in their opinion 17s give the best compromise of performance and ride comfort

I have coilovers and 17s on my classic, I run 215/40 tyres. My car is quite low and as a result I have had to have my rear arches rolled.

When ordering your wheels, if you ask for the fitment for your specific car then generally they will come with the right offset, the only thing you will need to weatch is that the wheel clears the caliper. I had this issue with mine, I swapped my gold 16" wheels the car came with for a set of 17" Speedline Chronos. I then upgraded the front brakes to 4 pots from a 2005 WRX and the Speedlines would not clear the caliper but by this time I had sold the standard gold 16s which would have cleared, so I had to run with 5mm spacers on for a few weeks while I got the money together and found a set of wheels that would clear. I eventually bought a set of black 17" Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2s from Revolution , Keith there knows his stuff and the serive is second to none

Looking forward to seeing your pics

Edited April 24, 2009 by CupraDave

[madmanx]

Would say ask the brake kit provider what offset is required.

An offset of 52 - 55mm is the norm on a classic.

[cupradave]

52-55 seems way high to me John

My wheels are only a 45mm offset

[madmanx]

P1 wheels are 52.5mm Standard

Says 52 - 55mm offset recommended

But it also says 45 - 55mm offset is OK

does seam a large ballpark

That's just the info I have to hand, so guess we are both right

[nick_edwards]

Yeah offsets seems like a bit of a minefield. Anyway I spoke to Innovation on the back of Cupra Dave's recommendation and the guy who I spoke to said 48 offset will work and fit my car even when I get the new brakes fitted so hey ho I ordered a set of 17" gold GRA rota's:

Rota GRA link

Will post some pics when I get them fitted.

Cheers

Nick

[cupradave]

whats the time frame for getting them? you gonna have them on for the meet on the 10th?

looking forward to seeing the pics

[nick_edwards]

whats the time frame for getting them? you gonna have them on for the meet on the 10th?

looking forward to seeing the pics

I should have the wheels this week so they can go straight on (and I will post some pics) but then I have a list of new bits which are ordered and should be here anytime, this will mean the car is at the garage for a while, new clutch, air con unit, cam belt, coilovers, brakes front and rear- the list is endless but as the car hasn't been used much for the past few years so its in need of a refresh! If I can get it back in time then I will get too the meet and say hello!