Goodthread........my modded golfs (incl current mk1) were / are faster round bends in the drythan my old S3's (standard)-the 4wd carsfelt heavy (as they are). Opposite story in the wet however and 4wd will always punish you from standing starts - if you launch correctly. Can anyone say what is the power / torque limit is in getting power down in the dry for a fwd golf in that case (first, second gears & cornering) with a diff?
Scanned through. Quite long like!!! but, no one touched on wheel sizes. I would have thought that if you are going to run alot of power in a fairly light car you'd need 17's. Not just for road contact but to clear brake calipers etc. I know vr's came with smaller wheels but with the weight and stance, grip on that wouldn't be so much of a problem therefore it wouldn't require lots of rubber-to-road contact. I'll prob be corrected by someone running 200+bhp on streched 15in's
surely whats more important is the width and profile of the tyre? My polo runs 13s and my Rallye has 16s, but yet the polo's wheels are bigger!
Looking at supercar wheel sizes, Porsche, topend bm's, mercs, audis all run 19's. BTW I know they are rwd. Some of the front wheel drive cars sold in this country are also fairly big. 17 upwards. Focus I think use 18s. iirc All touring car wheels are 19 also I reckon you are right on the profile issue though. That probably is more important than overall diameter of the wheel
yeah my only point is that two tyres with the same rolling radius but differing wheel sizes wont give any extra grip (if you dont take into account wall wrinkle) 215/40/16s all round on mine
