# Wheels SLOWING down car



## DubzterChris (Feb 28, 2013)

Jetta 1.8t: not lowered stock suspension.. 

So I got these Style 5's on my ride that were redrilled and am running 6/12 mm spacers on them with 215/45 rubber.. 
The front clear the calipers about just right wt the 6mm and the rears well i did em jus to compensate for the front poke but watevers... my problem is that it bucks the car down really bad! REALLY BAD--- heres a list of things that happen: 

acceleration goes to sh.. flooring the pedal wont kik you bak in the seat.. 
steering wheel gets stiffer 
Shifting gears get soo much harder 
braking gets much harder 
and i really have to "push" the gas so the car actually "moves" 
not to mention that releasing and engaging the clutch shakes the car more and once its engaged and I just let the car go by itself wtout accelerating it barely stays at 5mph slowly 
SERIOUSLY WATTA DEUCE!! :banghead: 

BUT! as soon as I put the stockers back on (15').. Well look at that! all problems go away and car drives like nothing ever happened.. 

Tried all day today and didnt find squat.. need fresh opinions


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## 87vr6 (Jan 17, 2002)

That doesn't sound right at all. You got something else going on, unless you have lead inside the tires or something.


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## DubzterChris (Feb 28, 2013)

87vr6 said:


> That doesn't sound right at all. You got something else going on, unless you have lead inside the tires or something.


 Wat do u mean by lead".. inside the tires.. 
So far no luck today either.. is pissing me off badly now. by the way i did a weight comparison between my stocker nd the 17s.. 15 weight 38-40 pounds and the 17s weight in at 40-42 pounds 
So i can tell its not the weight the issue..


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## 87vr6 (Jan 17, 2002)

DubzterChris said:


> Wat do u mean by lead".. inside the tires..


 Lead, as in the poisonous metal, pb on the elemental chart. That's "wat"


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## DubzterChris (Feb 28, 2013)

Oh ok.. yea i know wat u meant by lead.. it was more of a why question like why would i get lead there inside the tires. And would it do what? Make it heavy?


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## JettaGT8V80 (Jun 12, 2003)

jesus text speak is a disaster use real friggin words i got a friggin headache reading that 

there has to be something else going on


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## DubzterChris (Feb 28, 2013)

*UPDATE wt PICS*

Here's some pics since they make the story more interesting lol.. 
On the car: 









The spacers (fronts) 6mm hubcentered and all. Rears are 12mm and the bolts to go with them. 
(polished bolts go on the rears) 









You can see the spacers sit on the wheels centered and also on the hub on the car 









And to prove how much they bothering me since i took them off, how it looks now  









It's bothering me to know they had to come off for a while or until I figure this out, not to mention the fact I had just gone and spent money on some used tires for them to get stored now. 
But then again I jump on my car and once am driving... It's a whole other story. Am enjoying driving it now and it flies now.. feels like a different ride now.. sadly :facepalm: 
*and did I mention the stockies have bald tires*....damn..


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## DubzterChris (Feb 28, 2013)

Now all am thinking that could be the problem is maybe the offset? the wheel poking out too much is straining the axles or something. We gotta keep in mind we are FWD not rear therefore all the stress and so on will be ALL on the Front.. I wouldn't mind it so much but since this is my everyday wheel setup, so ill rather the car be driving normal then stressing it out that bad all the time.. 

Now I feel like racing my buddy again and see how much more of a difference it is haha..


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## afawal2012 (Jan 9, 2013)

DubzterChris said:


> Now all am thinking that could be the problem is maybe the offset? the wheel poking out too much is straining the axles or something. We gotta keep in mind we are FWD not rear therefore all the stress and so on will be ALL on the Front.. I wouldn't mind it so much but since this is my everyday wheel setup, so ill rather the car be driving normal then stressing it out that bad all the time..
> 
> Now I feel like racing my buddy again and see how much more of a difference it is haha..


 Just out of curiosity, what is the difference in weight between stock and the setup you have? This is what my 87vr6 friend was eluding to. Maybe the new setup is much heavier than stock in which case you will experience slower acceleration, worst brake performance, and even worst fuel economy. The shifting is the only thing that sounds off.


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## DubzterChris (Feb 28, 2013)

DubzterChris said:


> Wat do u mean by lead".. inside the tires..
> So far no luck today either.. is pissing me off badly now. by the way i did a weight comparison between my stocker nd the 17s.. 15 weight 38-40 pounds and the 17s weight in at 40-42 pounds
> So i can tell its not the weight the issue..


 This.. ^^^^ there's the weight.. 
As far as the harder shifting goes, I think that's due to the fact of the added stress from the wheels. 
I can still feel a little bit of a struggle here and there with the stockers but it's not as bad as with the 17s.. it's definitely A LOT smother now


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## DubzterChris (Feb 28, 2013)

Another update, here we go:

Well my fun lasted for only 2 days maybe  The 2nd day after swapping my wheels out it went back to felling heavy-ish.. one day it rode fine, next day we were at a local meet and i felt the car heavy thru the day, when leaving from the meet i remembered flooring it and it rode fine" again.. AND next day back to heavy..

Heres what ive done so far:
Changed Spark Plugs
Changed bald tires on the stockies
And.. replaced front rotors and pads..
no luck so far..

I was at the junkyard picking up some parts and i commented to the dude there my problem and he said sound like your brakes could be the problem, didn't doubt it since they were pretty wasted already (sounded pretty decent). So changed them last night but i DON'T feel any difference AT ALL :banghead:

What now, like i told the dude at the junkyard, It DOESN'T feel like an engine problem seems more like a driveline problem i dont know maybe axles, bearings, tranny?? 

So now i know that 1. Wheels are a-ok, not heavy or whatevers and 2. I replaced the rotors an pads. yeah they were bad, no i didn't want to replace them YET.. trying to save the money for our Wuste Vegas Trip.. 

What now?


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

DubzterChris said:


> Changed Spark Plugs
> Changed bald tires on the stockies
> And.. replaced front rotors and pads..


Not sure why you think it is the wheels or any of those things.

I'd start by scanning the engine for codes... and post in an appropriate forum.


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## DubzterChris (Feb 28, 2013)

dennisgli said:


> Not sure why you think it is the wheels or any of those things.
> 
> I'd start by scanning the engine for codes... and post in an appropriate forum.


*I thought it was regarding the wheels like i stated at the beginning of my thread.. *
--the tires changed well i had to either way to be able to roll on the stockies.
--spark plugs since its engine related and they were pretty bad either way so win situation either way.
--rotors/pads well the junkyard gay said it could be that since they are so wasted they can be rubbing or getting stuck of some sort.. They were in need of replacement either way so all good i guess.. also when replacing them I could see like if the rotors were rubbing inside of the calipers, they were soo wasted that the piston was pushing them out soo much and it looked like it was doing some rubbing, nothing too bad tough, so thought that could'a fixed the prob..
BUT IT DIDN'T..

I'll get the ride scan later see what comes up... 
--So how can I move this thread to the engine forums since its now turning into an engine problem--


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## DubzterChris (Feb 28, 2013)

*Update: Code P0501*

I remembered that 2 weeks ago my buddy scanned my car and this is one code it had:
*P0501 - Vehicle Speed Sensor circuit, range or performance problem *
As stated by my Chilton Manual..


















^^ Thats the sensor on mine ^^
The manual says that to test it to probe the connections (there's 3 wires) 1 ground and 1 for each wheel I assume. Turn ignition key on and probe the wires and spin the left front tire and it should punctuate between 0-5 volts.. 

That doesn't work!! 
What it does is it actually reads the voltage.. but here's the thing:
One wire reads 12 volts
Second wire reads only 9 volts ??????? 
IS THIS RIGHT???


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## DubzterChris (Feb 28, 2013)

On a side note:
would over torquing the bolts on the wheels cause any issues? I remember when I had the 17s on, once I tried on my shorter (stock length) spline bolts on and it magically rode a lot lighter as well.. They were too sketchy tough since they would only turn like 4 times so didn't bother risking it.. 

Just a thought that came to me.. ?maybe?


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## Philemon (May 17, 2013)

Some time when we use extra wide tyres, it also increase the fraction level. More rubber on road mean more fraction. We should use tyres according to car specification and requirement.


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## vdubnhead (Dec 30, 2010)

DubzterChris said:


> So I got these Style 5's on my ride that were *redrilled* and am running 6/12 mm spacers on them with 215/45 rubber.


i propose the theory, and it is just a guess, that your new holes are not perfectly in the center of the wheel's diameter.

if off even a couple of tenths of a millimeter, instead of trying to rotate a perfect circle, your vehicle is trying to turn/rotate an oval/egg shape. your wheels are behaving more like a cam. probably feels worse than having wheels out of balance.

and if more than one are out of center, it would be like a wobbly ole mess, like one of those toy cars that were purposely bouncy with oval shaped wheels.

also, if those are a true three-piece wheel...take them to a 3-piece wheel specialist to insure everything is torqued/tweaked to manufacturers specs.


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## arlenok (Sep 23, 2011)

You said you thought it might be a problem with the brakes - changing the pads shouldn't make a difference though, sounds like maybe your caliper(s) hung up and causing drag. Then again, that's not a cheap fix so that should be a last resort option.
Also, the speed sensor shouldn't be causing any mechanical problems.


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

Poor acceleration COULD be the brakes; COULD be the wheel holes; COULD be the "fraction"; COULD be the lug bolts; COULD be somebody filled your tires with lead.

Or it COULD be the *engine*.


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## Bora070 (Aug 5, 2008)

Make sure your extended lugs are the right length. If they are too long they will go through the hub and bottom out against the spindle body and keep your wheels from turning properly.


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## vwflat4driver (Nov 18, 2008)

I'm still trying to figure out if this is for real. Car works fin with old wheels but doesn't with new wheels? Makes no sense. Have you trued the basics. Jack car up spin wheels to see if they spin freely. Jack both front wheels in the air take it out if gear. Spin wheels. Do they spin freely? Did you grab the shells while jacked up from the 12 ocklock and 6 o'clock and check for excessive bearing play on all 4 wheels? As far as shifting. Really. The wheels effect the gear sliders in the transmission with the only connection between the 2 is an axle? Did you back up your feel with another opinion from somebody else that was able to verify that it is actually different? Good luck finding the problem


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