Stretching tyres/Alloy question.

[MowatGTI]

Howdy.

Right.  Yesterday I changed my 205/40/17's.  They were buckled and not holding pressure.

Got a set of Audi 215/45/17s.

Fitted them yesterday and the drivers side rear is scrubbing when I go over speed bumps/bumps in the road.  Its the outer wall thats getting scrubbed by the most forward part of the arch.  It bends the metal out, which is digging in.  Managed to bend the metal in again, but it just gets bent again when driving.

In your experience, do 215/45/17s scrub?  The old wheels didn't scrub at all.  Is it just that extra 10mm width, and 10mm profile thats causing it? 

Another thing that puzzled me was that its only happening at one side.  Not sure if there is something wrong with the suspension mabye, or the weight of me on that side is doing it.  Its not been lowered or anything.

Final part:  The tyres on the wheels I removed were only a few months old.  Toyo T1-R's that I spent a lot of cash on.  The Toyo's that are on the new wheels don't have long to go before they'll need changed.  Can I stretch the 205 tyres onto the 215 rims?  10mm doesn't seem that much to me, but I have no experience in doing it.

Cheers

[Dec]

Bend the metal outwards and that should stop it scrubbing?

[Wayne]

Simple, 215/45/17's are the wrong size tyres, 205/40/17 is the correct size.

Mine also only catched one side and I never got to the bottom of it.

[Wayne]

Yes you can fit the 205's in place of the 215, just for info 215 is the width of the tyre and not the width of the wheel.

[MowatGTI]

Coolio.

Cheers guys.

I'll be keeping my original tyres then to change over.

Going to have a look at suspension later when its a dit drier to see if its ok.

They shouldn't scrub on a standard suspension set up should they?

[Wayne]

Coolio.

Cheers guys.

I'll be keeping my original tyres then to change over.

Going to have a look at suspension later when its a dit drier to see if its ok.

They shouldn't scrub on a standard suspension set up should they?

No but 215/45's are too big so they will catch on the arch.

[0191joe123]

they will be catching on the right side because of the weight of the petrol tank 

[boneybradley]

vw did make the mk3 shell slightly offset making 1 wheel sit further out than the other..its a common issue and very noticable on some!! (mine touches on the passenger side rear too even on 195's!)

[shepgti]

vw did make the mk3 shell slightly offset making 1 wheel sit further out than the other..its a common issue and very noticable on some!! (mine touches on the passenger side rear too even on 195's!)

... with spacers added?

[boneybradley]

yes I have spacers but the passenger side wheel does sit further out than the other!! and my last golf was the same! (i know people who have fitted a 3mm spacer to one side to even the wheels out  )