New wheels or keep the standard wheels and drop it?

Bong Water

Bong Water

In two minds
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Hey guys me again

I have a major dillema, its all I can think about at the mo and its annoying me!

I was thinking about changing my wheels for some Porsche cup/turbo reps, these ones

993_cup3_silver-l.jpg


I would want them in an 18"

Here is my dillema though

I will not lower the car and fit new wheels, I just dont intend on spending that kind of money on the car, its either

1: Refurb original wheels and lower the car

Pros: Cheaper, looks good, handling improvment, sticking with 17's means cheaper tyres, could put the change into other mods

Cons: Ride is already harsh and will be made worse, possibilty of problems such as uneven tyre wear

2: Replace wheels for 18" Porsche reps and leave the ride height standard

Pros: Nicer ride

Cons: could look pants, more expensive, tyres are more expensive

Before anyone says it, I will not do both!!! Its one or the other, I have to draw the line somewhere!

What do you guys think? Any recomendations or comments on suspension or wheels etc? I live 10 mins from Awesome GTI, lowering worries me because I have had all sorts of problems after lowering my Honda Civics in the passed, totally different cars but you get the idea.

Here is a pic of my car and its standard wheels

sideqo0.jpg


wheelbc2.jpg


Thanks! :icon_thumright:
 
I just made a few calls and those wheels I was very very surprised to find are quite expensive at £1075 for an 18"

I spoke to awesome and the Koni Sport kit is £740 fitted inc alignment which is again, expensive. Especially when you add £50 per wheel on the refurb

Not sure what to do now, I was assuming lowering the car would cost no more than £500
 
I would lower it, I changed both wheels and suspension but went back to the standard wheels.

It should not cost that uch to get a refurb. Should be nearer £140 for the lot. Just wait until you need new tyres so then instead of just removing the old tyres to fit them back on you will be getting new ones fitted too.

I would get coilovers, contact venom motorsport and you can get some FK ones for about the same price as the Koni's. Then you can decide how low you wish to go.

Can post some pics of my car with the same wheels lowered if you wish.
 
Hi mate

Is yours a Quattro? What is the ride like after lowering?

I am not sure I fancy coilovers but please post pics and let me know how much it is dropped by?

Thanks
 
Yeah is a quattro. The ride is pretty harsh since I lowered it bit more. The more you lower it the stiffer it gets.

You may not wish to go quite as low so it would not be such a harsh ride.

Plus I added a set of spacers to mine as when the car was lowered the wheels sat pretty far in the arches. The front ones are 15mm and the rears 20mm.

Here are pics with the siver boleros.

DSC00385-1.jpg


DSC00384-1.jpg


DSC00381-1.jpg



I also have an anthracite set.

DSC00460.jpg


DSC00409.jpg
 
Thats a great stance, a little to low for me though I think

In an ideal world I would just whack a set of 18" reps on there and it would fill the arches a bit more but it also raises the car when you put bigger wheels on so thats not going to happen!

Thanks for the pics and the info, who lowered the car for you? Do you have any uneven tyre wear? camber and/or toe out of spec?
 
I have a mate who has a workshop so we both just fitted them there.

Then I just adjusted the height a couple of weeks later after they had settled. I would not want to fit bigger wheels without lowering either.

The tyre wear is fine.
 
Thanks for the info, I guess thats about 60mm? It does look well. God I hate modding! I bought this car to stop me from doing it!!!!
 
I would guess more than 60mm. If you want measure the gap between the centre of your wheel and the arch and I can then do mine. Then will know roughly what it is.
 
Thats great mate but think I will have to get to grips with the fact that I want to stick with shocks and springs for comfort and its not going to be as low as that which is a shame but comprimise is needed I guess

Thanks again for the info :)
 
i think eibach do a 40mm drop on shocks and springs for about 300+ and they are a nice set. Then just get the wheels re done.
 
I cant find any suppliers of Eibach shocks, just the springs and Koni shocks
 
£50 a wheel for a refurb? what are they doing ...goldplating!?
I had 5, 17" sport wheels from my 1.8tQS that I just sold with brand new epoxy enamel refurb for £350. refurb cost me just under £200 for the five.

skips teh porkers copies, just drop it and get some tyres
 
I dunno, so indecisive!

The more I look at my standard wheels, the more I dislike them
 
I had standard under my coilovers for 8 months, looked much better.
changed mine for OEM Rs6 18"s which was always the plan. looks the nuts now, if I can stop clipping kerbs!!

18"s on standard suspension will make you look like an Allroad!
 
What car do you have and what was the ride like?

Been looking at Weitec shocks and springs package for £370 plus fitting

Or Koni £370 plus fitting
 
1.8tqs avant running KW v3's.
ride is fairly hard around town but blinding at speed, grips harder, turns in sharper, loads up quicker into corners giving more confidence and speed through corners. not great slow speed rebound control (undulations and subsidence in roads) but higher speed rebound (over 40mph on speed bumps, bridge expansion joints etc) are great.
I reckon they add 10mph+ to fast corners (and yes I am anal enough to be remembering how fast I can take particular corners without slippage or brown stains!).

completely changed the handling of the car. well worth the money.
just make sure you either waxoil the cr@p out of them or get stainless items. rusted coilovers are no longer coilovers

you will need to account for a full 4 way geometry check and adjustment.
Even if you think they will be dead on, my toe in changed just with the springs settling in after a few months driving. I have a friendly rally driving mechanic who loves doing geometry though.
will be another £50-100 depending on where you go
 
Cool thanks for all the info guys, plenty to go on, still unsure of what to do so ill but lots to consider

Thanks again
 
jcb said:
you will need to account for a full 4 way geometry check and adjustment.
Even if you think they will be dead on, my toe in changed just with the springs settling in after a few months driving. I have a friendly rally driving mechanic who loves doing geometry though.
will be another £50-100 depending on where you go
Click to expand...

Do you think your mechanic would be able to do mine if he likes doing it so much?

How much does he charge?

Cheers.
 
There is not much of a difference in price between 17 and 18" tyres.
Only around a extra £5 a tyre.
You get get the big price leap when you go to 19".
As for lowering Eibach springs are good and bilstien shocks go well with them.
 
Soupie69uk said:
Do you think your mechanic would be able to do mine if he likes doing it so much?

How much does he charge?

Cheers.
Click to expand...

well the last one was free as he used my car as the guinea pig for a new laser system he was having demonstrated! lucky on my part.
just moved to a new place in Loanhead, not sure he has his stuff set up to do it himself yet. will check and PM his details
 
Decided I cant be ***** lowering it, comes with to many problems afterwards, just going to put some nice wheel on there, a plain grill, debadge it and a nice stereo and speaker upgrade and get saving for other things, bit tired of spending all my cash on car modding

Thanks for all the help with helping me decide
 
What problems are those if you call nice ride better and looking a problem?
 
Uneven tyre wear which causes pulling to one side, I live in Stockport, land of the speed bump. The harsh ride of a lowered car gets right on my tits
 
you should try edinburgh!! may as well not have roads!
 
I fitted Bilsteins intended for the Audi RS4 to my '96 A4 quattro sport, were actually ordered through Ipswich Audi. I fitted these in conjunction with Eibach lowering springs, the ride's fine, not crashy and hard.

My car, being a Sport, was lower than a regular A4 quattro to begin with, but like you, I'm fitting bigger wheels, 8.5"x18" BBS wheels, with 255/35ZR 18 tyres, and wasn't sure how the car would sit.

My original wheels were 7"x16" though, with 205/55VR16 tyres.
 
Thanks Siena, like you say the car sits lower as standard so I want to try the wheels first and see how it looks.

How much were the OEM Bilsteins out of interest?

Thanks
 
Siena said:
I fitted Bilsteins intended for the Audi RS4 to my '96 A4 quattro sport, were actually ordered through Ipswich Audi. I fitted these in conjunction with Eibach lowering springs, the ride's fine, not crashy and hard.

My car, being a Sport, was lower than a regular A4 quattro to begin with, but like you, I'm fitting bigger wheels, 8.5"x18" BBS wheels, with 255/35ZR 18 tyres, and wasn't sure how the car would sit.

My original wheels were 7"x16" though, with 205/55VR16 tyres.
Click to expand...


thought RS4's had a different track (lower arms IIRC), do those shocks fit striaght on?
 
Bong Water said:
Thanks for the info, I guess thats about 60mm? It does look well. God I hate modding! I bought this car to stop me from doing it!!!!
Click to expand...

Ha ha bad choice on your part then so much that can be done to our cars woohoo.
 
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