Urgent - Offset on 18x8.5J Wheels?

M

MrJoshua

'98 A4 2.4 SE
Joined
Apr 1, 2007
Messages
101
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Nr. Sheffield, UK
Website
www.vehicledetailing.co.uk
Hi

I'm about to buy some BBS LM Reps in 18x8.5J and I've had conflicting info regarding offset.

Most people have told me to use ET35, however others have said they might poke too much at the front, and to use ET45 with spacers as necessary.

Also, 225/40/18, or 225/35/18?

Can anyone help please? I need this info asap as I need to place the order today!

P.S. I'm very low on coilovers and currently have 16" Audi Sport wheels with 215/55/16 tyres.

Cheers

Josh
 
you will never fit 8.5" rims on the car at ET45 imo, it will clash with the suspension, especially on the rear if its a quattro.

IMO 8.5J is too wide for a standard bodied A4, The RS4 uses 8.5J wheels with ET20, but obviously has huge arches and lots more room. The problem with a standard bodied car, is that if you keep the offset at stock ET45, the wider wheels will hit the suspension, and if you lower it enough to clear, then the wheels will be sticking out the arches.

If you want to squeeze them on though, then go with ET35 and see how that fairs, you may still need spacers to make it clear the suspension.
 
Some of it depends on FWD or Quattro, i would play safe and do 35 and space accordingly i think, you could get it mm perfect then. Especially with 8.5 inch rims. I have 8inch rims with 225/40 s on @ et35 and they are perfect for my drop etc
 
Damn it... They just offered me a set of 19x8.5 ET45 with 235/35/19 for a very good price and I snapped it up, so it looks like I'm going to have to get some spacers too.

I've seen lots of photos of 8.5" rims on B5's, so I'd like to think they should fit without too much drama.

Mine is FWD by the way.
 
Wicked, it was more a suspension fouling issue you would have had, if you had a quattro, but as you are FWD, you are good to go with maybe a 5mm spacer or similar
 
audi upgrades
yep, there must be more room on the front than i thaught.

Quattros are VERY tight on the rear, but i guess with the FWD you'll have more room.
 
I wouldn't go larger than an 18" wheel on a B5 personally, quattro or FWD.

The ride's going to be as harsh as hell.
 
I don't drive it very often, so I'm not all that bothered about ride quality.

Having had coilovers for as long as I remember, I'm kinda used to it.

And the stereo masks the creaks and knocks well enough ;)

It was a big toss up between 18's and 19's, but when the company I'd ordered through said they opened the box for the 18's and found they were black ones, they offered me the 19's at the same price :)

I couldn't resist!

Thanks guys! I'll post some photos when I've got them fitted.
 
May need a spot of arch rolling on the front, I caught the odd time on the outer edge of the tire when running 8x19 with 235/35/19s. I now run 9x19s, et40 with 5mm spacers so now et35, with a 225/35/19 tires, all be it a little stretched. And I'm pretty damn low but have no issues at all now.
 
I have to say, that looks absolutely spot ******* on! :hubbahubba:
CRW_1699.jpg
 
stapo69 said:
May need a spot of arch rolling on the front, I caught the odd time on the outer edge of the tire when running 8x19 with 235/35/19s. I now run 9x19s, et40 with 5mm spacers so now et35, with a 225/35/19 tires, all be it a little stretched. And I'm pretty damn low but have no issues at all now.
Click to expand...

I was going to get 225/35/19 but they were quite a bit more money for the same standard of tyre, so I stuck with 235's.

Do you think I should get some spacers ready just in case? If so, what size do you recommend front and rear?

This is my car at the moment:

a4-5.jpg


a4-3.jpg


a4-6.jpg
 
Well 10mm would bring you up to et35, but you may not need as much being a fwd. I'd wait and see when the wheels come what the clearance is like 1st and take it from there. Can layer up some cardboard or something as a make shift spacer then measure the width of those.
 
also i ran 235/35/19 with a large drop , front arches needed a quick roll back was no problem at all .
 
MrJoshua said:
I don't drive it very often, so I'm not all that bothered about ride quality.
Click to expand...

Believe me, it'll bother you before long.

With 19" x 8,5" wheels, you'll become a "cautious" driver - any road imperfection (including the ones not really visible) will become a threat. With the ET level, B5 weight and suspension height, the inner wheels are easy to buckle.

Sure they look good, but take a look on www.rs246.com and hear different views. Some of the RS4 boys stick to 8,5 " x 19", but say the ride is awful, there are lots of buckled rims in the classifieds section too. Most reverted to 8,5" or 9" x 18" after severe tramlining issues.

And bear in mind, these cars are widebody, so if they're having issues, imagine what it'll be like on the slim-shouldered, slim-hipped regular B5.
 
That black RS4 looks ****** awesome, although it needs joey modded lights and no red ring to complete the look, imo!

When we finally get round to replacing the car, i want a black avant quattro, and although the RS4 body's likely out of reach, the rest of it should be possible!
 
225/40/18 tires and ET32 to 35 offset would be ideal for your car ....
 
As I said, with my last 3 cars having coilovers very-very low, I know all about being that cautious driver :)

I'll have to see how I get on... I've ordered a set of 5mm and 10mm spacers which will make ET35 on the back and ET40 on the front).

If all else fails, because they're ET45, I should be able to sell them to the MK5 Golf crowd.

Thanks for the advice... I'm going to suck-it-and-see!
 
^^^^^That looks sweet,^^^^^ some skinny stretched tyres on that bad boy, and possibly airride looking at that stance, but v nice.

Good luck getting them on, and get the pics up sharpish! LMs rock.
 
Yeah, there's not much rubber on that one is there!

They're being delivered on Wednesday (I'm working from home!), so assuming the spacers arrive on time, I should have some pics on Wednesday evening! All being well!

Thanks!
 
Nice looking forward to them its going to look sweet :)
 
Looking forward to seeing them on the car Josh. It's looking good in the photos even on the 16's.
 
you can get away with a lot on coilovers.
I had standard 18"x8J ET43, 225/40, then with 10mm spacers all round. both cleared fine with the height wound down to give about 3/4-1" clearnace between tyre and arch when viewed from side (at its lowest, usually a little higher)
.
Now run 18"x8.5J ET24 with 245 Goodyear eagles F1's,
Arches are rolled but not pulled, front clears without any issue at all, even when viewed from above there is a slight overhang.
Front
IMG_17071.jpg


Rears look worse but as the coilovers are pretty hard they have only caught the arch twice in 6 months, once with 5 people on board and once when I forgot about the boot full of tools I was carrying when over a speedbump.

Back
IMG_17061.jpg


IMG_17091.jpg


it is only temporary until my arches are widened about 1/2-3/4"
 
more than there was on the ET43 8J rims to be honest.
They are 19mm further outboard than they were before and the tyres are only 20mm wider.

if I had the choice I would tkae 8" every time.
These are a constant pain as they not only tramline a lot more but I find myself having to play around with suspension set up and tyre pressures all over again to get it where I want it to be.
understeered like a bitch when I first had them done. bit better now but I am running 5psi less up front and a couple of clicks harder on the rear compression settings.
glad I don't have ARB's!
 
I think they would catch the brake calipers. 8"x18" ET24 would be what I would call perfect.

aragorn
By "no ARB's" I meant that I had not altered them, a set of uprated front and rear would just make it worse.
I am playing with tyre pressures and rear damping/rebound to dial it out at the moment.
 
Only 2 days till mine arrive!

Just to clarify, mine are 19x8.5J ET45 with 5mm spacers up front (so ET40) and 10mm spacers up back (so ET35).

235/35/19.

Thanks for the photos... I think mine >SHOULD< be OK... We'll see!
 
Who else has ever attempted to roll their own arches with a claw hammer, in the rain?

They fit like a glove with the spacers I bought. Shame I'm a teeny bit too low! SCRAAAAAAAAAPE

Aragorn was right - The fronts do foul the suspension arms at ET45, but I found this out when fitting the first one, so I just stuck the 5mm spacers on the front and the 10mm's on the back (no clearance issues, just to get the stance right).

So, I need my arches sorting... Probably pulling out a bit at this height.

Know anywhere in Sheffield that's cheap?

Photos when it stops hammering it down with rain!! :)
 
Looking good.

Have you damaged the paint on the nearside front wing? or is it just a reflection?

I think the rear could do with a little less spacing to tuck the wheels in a little more, but thats personal preference, i like the rim to be inside the arch a little.
 
Thanks!

Yep, my DIY arch rolling skills need some improvement.

This is my "beater" car - It cost me a grand almost 2 years ago, so I'm not overly concerned about a bit of paint... I've got a touch-up pen :)

The wheels will go on the B5 S4 I'm thinking about buying next!

I'm happy with the stance... Just need my Dremel to charge so I can cut out some more of the front arch liners.

I really should leave this to people who know what they're doing, but where's the fun/frustration with that?

Edit: Just to clarify so I don't offend: It's not the type of car I'm referring to as being a beater, it's this car that I bought from the back of the paper as a stopgap between cars... It was meant to last 3 months, but I liked it so much I decided to keep it until something catastrophic goes wrong with it!
 
Ye they're certainly not sticking out too much.

Our cars had a dented front wing with a similar amount of cracked paint since we baught it, and surprisingly its not actually rusted bar some brown discoloration in the year we've had it.

I managed to get another wing from a chap on here breaking a car though, so when i get some free time i'll swap that on and it should be good!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

mac1403
wheels and offset
Replies
22
Views
1K
PhilR
PhilR
audinary
Wheels ON!
Replies
17
Views
2K
audinary
audinary
Adam-D
wheels on.
Replies
4
Views
790
Adam-D
Adam-D
J
offset?
Replies
16
Views
1K
brendan
B
Q
Wheel offset
Replies
1
Views
784
myzeneye
M
Top
Back