Noobie help: 18" Alloys on a 1.6SE

[Penn0r]

Hi guys, I came across your forum earlier today and have spent quite a while reading through all the posts. I'm new at cars and therefore suck :p I need help with something. I'm thinking of buying 18" alloys with wheels for my soon-to-be 1.6SE. My question is, will I have to make any adjustments to the suspension? or get it lowered or have to do absolutely anything else to it?

The wheels will be fitted on to the alloys from the shop - another question is, will I be able to install these onto the car myself, or will I have to drag them and my car down to a garage?

Many thanks,

PS* If I dont have to lower it, will it look okay? I've been told the car might look like a tractor, way off the ground.

[topher]

you dont have to lower it, but it will look like a 4x4 if you dont

[richy]

Hello Penn0r. ?Welcome to the site.

You can stick 18s straight on your golf with no adjustment required. ?Make sure your new alloys have got the right bolt arrangement and offset ... 5 x 100mm bolt arrangement, -30i to 40 ish offset, I think. ?(I'm sure someone will correct me here if I'm wrong).

For your new alloys, in order for your speedo to stay accurate you will need to make sure that the overall radius of your wheel is still the same. ?For 18"ers you'll need 225/40/18 tyres, and for 17"ers you'll need 225/45/17 (this is what I've got on mine - see pic below).

I assume you mean that the tyres will be fitted on the alloys in the shop? ?You can easily fit your wheels yourself - just swop em over, like your putting the spare wheel on!

As for suspension, you don't NEED to do anything - the arches on your golf will accomodate the new wheels fine if you stick to the tyre sizes I mentioned above. ?However, with big wheels it will emphasize the fact that your golf is a bit jacked up ( as Kniterider on this forum once wisely said, "it will look like an oil-rig" ). ?Therefore, I recommend lowering your car by 30 or 40 mm. ?Mine's dropped 35mm from the original GTI spec (already lower than yours will start off) and still doesn't look that low.

Hope this helps ?

[Penn0r]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply guys. Ok, so it looks like I'll have to get the car lowered. How much does it cost to get that done approximately? about 30-40mm

[richy]

Price depends on what equipment you go for.  Cheapest option is some cheap and cheerful lowering springs - i.e. just shorter stiffer suspension springs ( I think euro parts do some for ?60 for a set).  Most expensive option is adjustable coilovers (new shocks and springs with adjustable ride-height/stiffness).  These go up to about ?600.

I went for some good quality springs ( Eibach) for about ?120.

It'll cost you about ?150 quid labour for a garage to fit them, if you're not doing it yourself.

Have a look here: http://www.awesome-gti.com/

[Mr Blue]

Ive got some R32 18's with tyres lying about.
if your interested ring me on 079577 31434 i

Blue

[R32_T]

Ive got some R32 18's with tyres lying about.
if your interested ring me on 079577 31434 i

Blue

How much you want for em??