Advice please on getting wheels to fit

[Hofmiester 10]

Hi guys,

I bought a set of RH cups in a 16" ET35, I thought they should fit no problem and so went ahead getting them refurbished before trying in the car.

 

Turned out that they won't clear my 288mm brakes without a spacer. I went for an 8mm spacer which is about as close as I feel happy with to the calliper

 

 

So with the spacer I have enough room...but now I am concerned I have too much poke and the tyre will foul the arch. I don't really want to mess about rolling arches etc

 

 

 

Any ideas guys?

[Dox 23]

You wouldn't be the first to grind the calliper for clearance purposes.

Edited October 1, 2013 by Dox

[Hofmiester 10]

I'm not into fancy wheels that much, if they don't fit then i'll likely sell them and stick with my Monty IIs

They would have fit fine if it wasn't for the 288s :(

[VAG-hag 0]

Welcome to the world of aftermarket! is there a way of fitting narrower tyres? im not talking mega stretch

[lilfuzzer 1]

Can't off much more than what's been aaid

 

But paint looks good

[borachris 0]

Adjustable top plates to give some camber? Other than that as above, stretched tyres or grind the caliper to allow a thinner spacer. Not great options really :/

[borachris 0]

Or if you really want them, go narrow track......

[lilfuzzer 1]

Oh good shout chris never thought of narrow track

[sexybourbon 0]

If he went narrow track though wouldnt that mean 4x100 hubs thus small brakes ? And its supercharged so really needs big stoppers , i could be wrong though

[Hofmiester 10]

All good replies chaps, thanks.

 

So after some more investigation, I've found a new problem that is related. I fitted all the wheels and drove the car today to see where it rubs. After fitting the other front one, I realised that one sits into the arch about 5mm more at the top!

 

At first I thought "****, I've fitted an early wing!" but after looking closely, I am sure they are the same both sides, so no worries there.

I can only assume that my camber is soooooo far out that the wheels sit at differnt angles?

 

If I could get this wheel sitting like the other, then I'll be fine as I dont get any rubbing so far. It just pokes out a few mm more than I'm happy with.

 

Can I adjust the camber myslef to test? I seem to remember you just undo the top bolts to the body and push the strut in/out depending on what you want?

[sexybourbon 0]

Yep you can adjust it your self mate , two bolts at the bottom of the suspension strut and just push or pull depending on what camber you want , just remember when you lower the car back down more camber will show as the weight of the car sits back down on the suspension

[Dox 23]

You can use a spirit level to roughly check side to side, measure the distance from vertical top of the wheel (not the tyre) and bottom of the wheel and subtract one from the other, then do the other side. Camber is adjusted with the 2 bolts holding the strut to the hub, fine tuning can be done with the 3 bolts holding the hub bottom ball joint to the wishbone.

[borachris 0]

I didn't know they had that much adjustment as standard, good to know!

 

You can go narrow track and keep 5x100 hubs though just in case you get desperate lol

[beastie4126 0]

I know someone with a lovely set of camber plates for sale :)

 

Get either a bevel box tool from amazon or one of the cheaper magnetic camber tools available from the likes of machine mart. It will make your life much easier tbh

[Hofmiester 10]

Thanks for the tips folks, I'll have a go at this tonight.

I was totally stumped to begin with as the old wheels looked spot on, its only as these are right on the edge that I noticed it.

 

Do which way does moving the strut effect the camber?

 

Thanks

[Jon_vr6 1]

Fingers crossed getting them fitted im still interested in the monties

[Hofmiester 10]

Ok just been out in the car park in the rain with a ruler. Measured the wing as best I can and I'm positive they are the same, they look the same visually and also the flare to the arch is the same....so I can rule that out.

 

There are some odd looking things about the wheel angles. With the steering wheel dead centre, the drivers side wheel looks straight and is leaning in a bit at the top.

 

The passenger one is poking out a bit more at the front edge by the bumper (toe?) and doesn't look straight like the drivers side. It also seems to be standing up straight rather than leaning in a bit at the top.

 

Looks like I need to go get my suspension geometry checked :(

 

Wheels looks nice though!

 

[Hofmiester 10]

5 mins on google and it looks that others have had a similar issue with Corrados and MK2s, seems to be a "feature" although some of these guys have over 1cm....mine is only about 5mm

 

http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?t=34729

http://direct.the-corrado.net/showthread.php?t=15676

http://forums.subdriven.com/showthread.php?2506818-VR6-Swap...-Right-wheel-sticks-out

 

Last thread suggests that the subframe mounts have some lateral adjustment in them and can be nudged Left/Right?

[VAG-hag 0]

Getting geometry checked is cheap enough and worth knowing its right.

[fonzooorooo 10]

For what it costs, buy yourself a camber gauge - a lot of garages don't even have them,(most modern cars don't have the adjustment) so they'll do tracking and leave the camber alone... It's practically impossible to reliably change struts, top mounts, bottom ball joints, wishbone bushes etc on these cars without altering the camber. They're a bit of a wangle to use as a DIY-er on the driveway, (lots of jacking the car up/taking wheels off - maintaining the ride height and hub height with the wheel off is tricky!) but at least you can set it up how you want it if you've got one!

[Hofmiester 10]

Anyone know a good suspension set up place in the North East.....I can't be arsed to set this up myself :)

[Dox 23]

I was totally stumped to begin with as the old wheels looked spot on, its only as these are right on the edge that I noticed it.

 

 

 

Thanks

 

Check the ET of all the wheels are the same

[Hofmiester 10]

Good call but I already checked, rotated rear to front and it was the same plus stamp says ET35.

I also checked the spacers and they are fine.

 

I talked to Revolution motorsport this afternoon and then can do a full set up on a Hunter machine for £99+vat and they said that on the MK2 golf the subframe can be moved around, he said it's likely the camber is out a bit and maybe the subframe needs a budge by a few mm

 

He did not seem surprised at all that one wheel pokes out, he said old cars often have "variations" like this.

[Hofmiester 10]

Had an hour to spare tonight so I decided to have a bit of a play around based on the info you guys gave me. Crudely measured the camber and it was massively out. With a spirit level the driver side was -7mm inwards at the top. The passenger one (the one sticking out) was slightly sticking out at the top by a couple of mm......so overall about 10mm difference.

 

I undid the strut bolts and shifted the strut about. Now got them both at -7mm at the top and now they both look the same.

Big relief as the fear at the back of my mind was that maybe the car was bent in some way, usual Corrado paranoia ;)

 

I've got it booked in for alignment on Friday morning but at least I know there is nothing wrong. Thanks chaps!

[lilfuzzer 1]

Good news mate

 

The wheels ewally look smart with the shine of the paintwork