Alloys

[Blackcupraa]

Hi Kids,

Stupid question I know.

I have been looking at a set of alloys for the S3 however, I am curious to know will 9j wide alloys front and rear still allow me to drive the car normally, will I still get steering lock and will it rub as I am currently on stock dampers and Apex springs but will be upgrading the dampers to Billy B8's in the next month.

Thoughts appreciated.

 

[Alex C]

need to know offset, what tyres will you run on them. And 17 or 18"?

 

[Blackcupraa]

Hi,

18" alloys with an ET35, Falken FK 452 on a 225/40/18 tyre. To be honest I would rather run a 235 profile tyre so I don't have a silly amount of stretch.

 

[Alex C]

you might have to run some spacers to avoid your wheels contacting with your shocks, and running spacers will make them stick out at the front quite a bit. Not sure about needing spacers though, i'll have to check the clearance i have with my shocks

 

[Blackcupraa]

Thanks, if you could see what gap there is and confirm if spacers are indeed required.

 

[Alex C]

OK, my wheels are 8.5" wide ET 25 with no spacers. I am on Billy B8s and HnR 25mm springs, my fronts sit like this,

I forced my self under the car on the drive just now to look at the rim to shock clearance, it wasnt massive, by eye i guessed at a little over 1 cm, the second knuckle on my little pinky wouldn't squeeze by. I got a bit of card and kept on tearing bits off until it fitted nicely in there and measuring that gives me 12mm.

That's not much to play with considering 1° camber change on an 18" rim is 0.8cm change in shock clearance.

So i think you should aim for the same shock to rim offset as me.

As your are looking at 9" wide rims, ET35 you will need use a 16.35mm spacer to exactly match me, so make that 15mm, giving you 1cm shock clearance all things being equal (to mine)

A 15mm spacer would make your rim sit a further 11.35mm further out than mine in the pic, so roughly equivalent to mine if i were to put a 10mm spacer on it...

So, its quite tight to the shock and they will have some poke on them. Thats only for the front, i am guessing that the rears will be fine. People often buy staggered rims for these, so they have say 8.5" wide on the front and 9.5" at the rear... someone may correct me

 

[jojo]

That's not much to play with considering 1° camber change on an 18" rim is 0.8cm change in shock clearance.

Your reply here doesn't make any sense, no matter how much you adjust the camber, the wheel should get any closer or further away from the shock absorber, as it's in a fixed position. The camber on an S3 is adjusted on the lower ball joints, which move the strut and hub as a complete unit, or if you buy strut top adjusters to change the camber, it still wouldn't effect the distance between alloy and the actual shock.

I stand to be corrected on this!

 

[Alex C]

ah yes your right, sorry

 

[Y83OLK]

Lol. How did you make the equation that 1°= 0.8cm
clearance on an 18" wheel?

 

[Alex C]

yeah, forgot to halve 18

 

[Blackcupraa]

Either way, Cookstein you sir are a legend and I will ditch the 9" fronts for an 8-8.5"wide alloy. That way i'll be able to have a car that can have steering lock over speedbumps etc.

Once again many thanks!