maximum wheels

[Hudster]

sorry if that has been posted before but I couldn't find it in search:

What's the biggest set of alloys & tyres you could fit to a standard Mark IV 1.8T GTI without rubbing? I've seen some people with 18" but never 19s

Would a 225/40/18 fit ok?

Thanks muchly!

[Mook]

You could run 19" wheels, but the tyre profile would be so low as to make them like rubber bands and you'd get a very hard ride.

It's not to do with the diameter of the wheels, it's to do with the width and the offset. You could sensibly run 225 width tyres on 19" wheels, but, depending on the offset of the wheels, you'd possibly have to get spacers - or buy the wheels with the correct offset to start with.

What size are the tyres on the GTI now (e.g. 195/50/16)? I can then tell you the max size you can go up to, without rubbing or affecting the rolling radius.

[R32North]

[ QUOTE ]

You could run 19" wheels, but the tyre profile would be so low as to make them like rubber bands and you'd get a very hard ride.

It's not to do with the diameter of the wheels, it's to do with the width and the offset. You could sensibly run 225 width tyres on 19" wheels, but, depending on the offset of the wheels, you'd possibly have to get spacers - or buy the wheels with the correct offset to start with.

What size are the tyres on the GTI now (e.g. 195/50/16)? I can then tell you the max size you can go up to, without rubbing or affecting the rolling radius.

[/ QUOTE ]

MK IV would be

205/55/16"

If its the same as my 1.8T A3, which it should be.

[Mook]

Based on 205/55/16, you would need 205/40/18s if you want to retain the same width and rolling circ.

If you want to go to 19" wheels, you would need 205/35/19s. Any step up to 225s would give you a speedo reading too slow (bigger rolling circ) of 1.3% (225/35/19) or too fast (smaller rolling circ) of 2.3% (225/30/19).

Check out http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html to do some calcs yourself to get the right measurements.

Not sure what the offset on the MK4 GTI is, so as long as you get replacement wheels with the same offset and 205 tyres, you'll be fine.

HTH

[shao_khan]

I ran 19's on my Golf - using 225x35x19 tyres.

Picture:

http://www.woofdoggy.com/images/Cars/Golf/Golfwheel2003.jpg

[Hudster]

there seems to be about £400 difference between alloys & tyres for 19" and 18" so I think I might go for 18"s and get a TomTom!

19s do look slick though

[s4_sat]

i know of a couple of golfs running 20" alloys, major arch work needed for them though, one was fitted with air suspension as well.