18" wheels

[dci120matt]

hello all, i have been looking at 18s for ages now and i have finally made my decision, i am opting for TSW Paces but i can only find them with an et of 35, does this mean that i will have to put spacers on as i want them to fit as flush to the outside of the arches as possible.

cheers matt.

[misty2k]

Pictures please!

[TheFinn]

hello all, i have been looking at 18s for ages now and i have finally made my decision, i am opting for TSW Paces but i can only find them with an et of 35, does this mean that i will have to put spacers on as i want them to fit as flush to the outside of the arches as possible.

cheers matt.

Depends on the width of the rim: is it 7½, 8 or 8½ inches?

If 8½" wide and ET35, then the fronts will be completely flush with the outside of the arch, if not already a few millimetres out of the arch. The rears in comparison will sit about 5-10 mm further in in the arches.

If 8" wide and ET35, then the outside edge of the rim will be 6mm (quarter of an inch) further in than the above 8½.

If 7½" wide and ET35, then the outside edge of the rim will be 12mm (half an inch) further in than the above 8½.


To give you a visual clue, here´s mine on 8½" wide rims:



But an important thing to consider is that in that picture my front wheels are ET43 and the rears are ET38.
So if you were to fit the same width 8½" wheels but both your front and rears were ET35, then the wheels would come another 8mm further out at the front, and another 3mm further out at the back, compared to the wheels in the picture.

So I'd say ET35 with 8" or 8½" won't need spacers to sit flush, whereas with 7½" you might want to use e.g. 8mm spacers for the fronts and 15mm for the rears.

Hope this helps.

EDIT:
And to give you more comparisons, here's one on 8x18" ET38 wheels and 225/40R18 tyres. In comparison to this, if your TSWs were 8x18" ET35, then they would sit another 3mm 'flusher' to the arches:

[dci120matt]

thanks for that, very helpful.

[Racebod]

Does this also work for Scenics as I'm looking to put 17's on my scenic and want to know the correct off set and what i need to do.

[luke2g2]

I've got 19" TSW pace wheels on mine.

how can you tell the width of the wheel?

[TheFinn]

how can you tell the width of the wheel?

By looking at the markings on the wheel, e.g. on mine they're like this:



where '8.5' is the width of the wheel in inches and '19' the diameter.

The 'JJ' and 'H2' stand for the type and shape of the wheel inner structure (I can't explain them in detail).

These markings can usually be found on the backsides of the spokes.

[luke2g2]

thanks 'the finn', just found mine and they are 7.5".

How does this effect the car, is it beneficial to get spacers or is it just purely cosmetic?

[TheFinn]

How does this effect the car, is it beneficial to get spacers or is it just purely cosmetic?

I'd say it's 97% cosmetic. Spacers increase the track width, which theoretically should make the car feel more 'planted' when negotiating corners. Probably more of a placebo effect if you can sense it in normal conditions, though. On a downside, increasing the track width also creates more 'leverage' on the wheel bearings, so (again theoretically) their life expectancy should fall. How much, if any, depends on the car.

Talking about spacers, I just received some spacers for mine. I chose 30mm/axle spacers for the rear, and 16mm or 26mm for the front. I'm not quite sure if I can get away with the 26mm at the front, that's why I also ordered a thinner pair for reserve.