« Reply #27 on: 09 March 2016, 22:04 »
Does fitting spacers make the car drive/steer differently at all ?
On some cars it will, for example fitting spacers to the rear will make it turn in a bit sharper and to the front only it'll be the reverse of that.
Just wanted to check, is that right?
I don't believe rear spacers will improve turn in, its not like an anti roll bar at the rear. Front spacers will increase track width and grip at the front. Rear spacers on there own will likely increase understeer on our cars, as you are widening the track at the rear axle = increasing grip, but not the front.
Or have I got that wrong? Either way you probably won't notice it...
I've not studied the science of it all but back in the day when Golf GTI's became under powered tubs of lard and some of us still wanted cheap hot hatch frills we moved on to SEAT Cupras.
Putting a set of 15 or 20mm spacers on the back of a mk2 or mk3 Ibiza had the effect of a) looking much better b ) made the initial turn in a bit sharper and c) made it slightly less stable at very high speeds.
Aside from the looks issue the other effects were minimal.
And those that fitted huge brakes for track use had to use spacers to fit the brakes behind the stock wheels - if they didn't also fit rear spacers to balance it up they generally reported that turn in was less sharp but the car tended to track more straight on fast straight sections.
Maybe that's all scientifically wrong but that's the feeling from the drivers seat and being as these cars had mostly Golf chassis that'll do me!
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‘25 8.5R, ‘23 8R, ‘20 8CS, ‘19 135iX, ‘19 TCR, ‘17 Ed40, ‘17 GTD, ‘15 7R, ‘13 GTI PP, ‘11 GTI, ‘09 GTI, ‘98 Ibiza Cupra, ‘05 GTI, ‘06 Polo GTI, ‘04 GT TDI, ‘05 Fabia vRS, ‘02 GTI T, ‘03 Ibiza TDI 130, ‘01 Leon 180, ‘89 mk2 16v, ‘99 Ibiza TDI, ‘96 VR6, ‘98 Ibiza TDI, ‘92 VR6, ‘88 mk2 8v, ‘92 Polo G40, ‘91 mk2 8v, ‘89 mk2 8v, 205 GTI 1.9, ‘83 mk1 GTI, ‘80 Scirocco GTI, plus some others I’ve forgotten
