Thinking of road rather than competition use.... Stick anthing more than narrow spacers on the front and you'll probably start eating wheel bearings. A wider track is a better bet, because it moves the wheel bearing out a bit too, so the leverage isn't so bad on the bearing. A Mk2 isn't a particularly heavy car (light by modern standards) so unless you're running big power (up towards 200bhp or more) I reckon anything over 7" is probably a waste of time, and it'll give you more problems with tramlining, aquaplaning, etc. It'd be lethal in the snow too! Wider wheels will tend to move the centreline of the wheel further out, which will also give you problems with bump steer. On a FWD car you generally want the same all round, or more rubber on the front if anything. Edited by: mikehorsb
what do you mean by a wider track then? I'm aiming for about 160 bhp and the car has been fully stipped now (even the dash), then next year a nitrous kit with a 50 bhp pulse bringing the total to around 200bhp +/- circa 10 bhp. What set up would you reccomend, bearing in mind i'm not afraid to mess with camber or suspension geometry and it still needs to be road worthy (although it will only be on the road 3 months of the year tops just for track days).
id go with the guys saying 7x15 the reason mine was alright handling wise was,the fronts were grippy enough 8x14's with 195/45's and the rears were stupidly wide 9x14's with 255/35's and actually didnt grip very well. basically there wasnt enough weight on the back to warrant the width,but it turned in well on the front,and the back was light which made for much 4 wheel drifting. seemed to even out the understeer. and in the wet it was mental!
I just quite liked the idea of wider alloys... but if 7x15"is the best track day set up then 7x15" it is!
I like my 7x15's, good levels of grip with my Yoko's but any wider and i don't think I could move the steering wheel in the car park without PAS! Am I right in saying that if you have a wheel too wide, the weight will be distributed more (larger surface area) so therefore the actual pressure exerted on the tyre rubber will be less, therefore grip could be reduced? Just thought of Friction from a physics point of view regarding surface area and pressure
How have you widetracked your mk1? None of the other suspension components fit to just swap stuff in and out, or have you got custom lower arms?
Isn't it more a case of tyre size than wheel width. 15 x 7 with 205/45/15 would be good. T1-R's come in this size Edited by: robinoz
Look at any proper 15" motorsport tyres such as Toyo R888 and the Yokohama A048s I use for track days - They don't make them in these daft sizes. 195/50x15 or 205/50x15 with a very stiff sidewall on a 7x15 - it's all you need on a track day mk2 These Berg cup cars with widetrack and low offset wheels are feck all like our cars, they're purpose built hillclimb cars with one purpose only, to go up a hill as fast as possible on slick tyres. Oh,hang on Iguana has already explained that Edited by: GVK
I'm currently running RS 6.5 front and 7 at the back. 195/50/15 looks too stretched so the logic is to go with a wider treat and lower sidewall to maximise cornering, Wouldn't 45 be better than a 50 sidewall?
The best wheel size for handling is a8 x 17 - I have some on my Mk2 and have never been beaten in a race, much better than these 15's as the tire rolls too much
Answer my question And don't start the insults already. Lennard has asked what works on track days, and that's what I do, and 15" wheels work very well with proper tyres. Edited by: GVK
It was you who started the insults, suggesting I'm some sort of chav / macdonolds racer. I've been on a few tracks and done some racing - have you ? . How many cars in the VW Cup run on 15's then ?
