# Mk4 Golf Wheel well space



## Black_falcon (Oct 13, 2010)

Hello all,

I have been looking for days now. But I can't find the answer and I am accross the ocean from where the car is right now. So I am asking for help, does anyone know the wheel well measurements for a mk4 golf front and rear?
The wheels that I am looking at are 17x8 et35 should work. But most people run at most a 2" drop, my car is sitting at a 3" drop in the front and 2.5" in the rear. I know that the stock track width is 1514mm front and 1494mm rear for the mk4 golf. I am just trying to find what will work before I order the wheels. I could adjust my coilovers, but I like the height it's at right now. It preforms well with the sway bars I have installed. 

Thank you for your help in advance,
Matt


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

Not exactly sure what all you want to know but, those wheel specs will work fine. What size tires you might need to achieve your ideal fitment is a different question, which will depend on how much negative camber you have, etc. You would likely want to add a small spacer on the front, definitely on the rear, imo. But I'm not an expert in big drop/stance so I won't go any farther.


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## Black_falcon (Oct 13, 2010)

I was thinking 215/45r17 for the tires. The rubbing is what I am concerned about, I do not want to have to run spacers. I would rather order custom wheels then have to run spacers because of the added failure point, but if you can give me advice on tire sizing to go with this wheel I would appreciate.

Thank you,
Matt


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

Can't think of any reason you should rub with that size tire. I run the same wheel specs with 245/40/17 tires and have no clearance issues anywhere without any spacers. I do run 5mm spacers in front, 16mm in back but just to make them sit more flush with the fenders - just for appearance. I'm only lowered about half as much as you are so I can run a much wider tire without catching the fender lips but, with 215/45 you should have room all over the place.


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## Black_falcon (Oct 13, 2010)

Airy32 said:


> Can't think of any reason you should rub with that size tire. I run the same wheel specs with 245/40/17 tires and have no clearance issues anywhere without any spacers. I do run 5mm spacers in front, 16mm in back but just to make them sit more flush with the fenders - just for appearance. I'm only lowered about half as much as you are so I can run a much wider tire without catching the fender lips but, with 215/45 you should have room all over the place.


Do you have pictures of your car that you can post? I would be interesting in seeing what 245/40r17 look like on mk4 golfs/jettas.


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

I'm at work now so don't have access to a lot of pics but, here's a thread you may want to look through for a lot of info. Mine are pictured in reply #12. Wheel gaps are a bit wacky since my driveway is very broken up and irregular but you get the general idea.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...AT-(aka-quot-small-quot-wheels-with-FAT-tires)


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## MooseGTI (Jul 25, 2012)

Your car looks great. How much drop do you have? I am thinking of the H&R touring cup kit and then adding some meat to my tires. It is a commuter and I don't want to sacrifice too much ride quality. I think the fatter tires will definitely bring back some compared to what I have now (225/45-17). Right now it looks like a 4x4! I just picked it up.


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

MooseGTI said:


> Your car looks great. How much drop do you have? I am thinking of the H&R touring cup kit and then adding some meat to my tires. It is a commuter and I don't want to sacrifice too much ride quality. I think the fatter tires will definitely bring back some compared to what I have now (225/45-17). Right now it looks like a 4x4! I just picked it up.


 If your referring to me, thanks. Hard to say exactly how much drop currently since I've changed up and down so many times with different size wheels and sets of tires. This is my fourth set of wheels and at least five different tire sizes. My best guess is I'm dropped around 2", and if I remember right the R32 already sat about 1/2" lower than the GTI stock. 

I plan on going with either 235/45 or 245/45/17 for my next tires, someday. The Michelin PSS was not available in a 245/45 when I bought those. And I chose to go for extra tread width rather than sidewall. But they are a good bit shorter than stock and looked pretty goofy when I put them on until I got used to them. I really don't want to go lower, in fact I'd prefer to raise it a bit. And since all my suspension bushings are now solid, I wouldn't mind a bit more ride quality from the tires. 

BTW, I think a 235 is about as wide as you can go unless you have camber plates or roll the fender lips flat. I'm running about -2.2 camber up front now to get the tread to clear the fender lips, which have not been rolled.


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## Black_falcon (Oct 13, 2010)

Thank you, for the post's. I will be ordering the OZ soon, btw when you were running those wheels did you like the way they drove? And can you tell the difference between those light weight wheels and heavier wheels?


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

Black_falcon said:


> Thank you, for the post's. I will be ordering the OZ soon, btw when you were running those wheels did you like the way they drove? And can you tell the difference between those light weight wheels and heavier wheels?


 There definitely is an advantage with the lighter package. The stock Aristos/tires were over 50 lbs ea., my first replacement set were 19" forged wheels but with much lighter tires at about 44 ea., and these as well as my winter package are about 40 lbs. ea. Everything is a bit quicker to respond (steering, acceleration, braking) when you drop weight like that. And with no other changes you will see an increase in mpg.


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## Black_falcon (Oct 13, 2010)

Airy32 said:


> There definitely is an advantage with the lighter package. The stock Aristos/tires were over 50 lbs ea., my first replacement set were 19" forged wheels but with much lighter tires at about 44 ea., and these as well as my winter package are about 40 lbs. ea. Everything is a bit quicker to respond (steering, acceleration, braking) when you drop weight like that. And with no other changes you will see an increase in mpg.


 Hehe, right now I am running the stock 15"s that weight in at 16.5lbs.... plus the tires are maybe 25lbs... the new wheel and tire combo will be lighter by maybe 3 to 4 lbs.


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## Black_falcon (Oct 13, 2010)

What are you r thoughts on Vredestein ultras sessanta vs Michelin Pilot Super Sports for tires? Both have good reviews.... I could get the Ultras in 215/40r17 and the PSS come in 215/45r17. Or both are offered in 225/45r17 stock 17 specs...


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

Black_falcon said:


> What are you r thoughts on Vredestein ultras sessanta vs Michelin Pilot Super Sports for tires? Both have good reviews.... I could get the Ultras in 215/40r17 and the PSS come in 215/45r17. Or both are offered in 225/45r17 stock 17 specs...


 The Michelin is pretty much considered the best daily driver street tire available right now, and it has the 30k mile tread life warranty which is unheard of in it's class. They are a bit higher priced than most other choices but it may be worth it in the long run if you don't mind paying more. I have no complaints about them whatsoever, although I do feel my last set of Continental DW were a bit better in very wet/standing water contrary to all the reviews I've read. I actually had to slow down a bit in a downpour a few weeks ago which I never had to do with the DW - they were that incredibly good in the wet. That may be a consideration if you see a lot of wet weather. Other than that, and that the DW is a few pounds lighter, the Michelin is superior in every way. 

I am only familiar with the Vredestein in that I have seen pics of them and they do look interesting. But no first hand knowledge or opinions, nor even any idea of how they compare pricewise.


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## MooseGTI (Jul 25, 2012)

Airy32 said:


> If your referring to me, thanks. Hard to say exactly how much drop currently since I've changed up and down so many times with different size wheels and sets of tires. This is my fourth set of wheels and at least five different tire sizes. My best guess is I'm dropped around 2", and if I remember right the R32 already sat about 1/2" lower than the GTI stock.
> 
> I plan on going with either 235/45 or 245/45/17 for my next tires, someday. The Michelin PSS was not available in a 245/45 when I bought those. And I chose to go for extra tread width rather than sidewall. But they are a good bit shorter than stock and looked pretty goofy when I put them on until I got used to them. I really don't want to go lower, in fact I'd prefer to raise it a bit. And since all my suspension bushings are now solid, I wouldn't mind a bit more ride quality from the tires.
> 
> BTW, I think a 235 is about as wide as you can go unless you have camber plates or roll the fender lips flat. I'm running about -2.2 camber up front now to get the tread to clear the fender lips, which have not been rolled.


 Thanks!


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## Black_falcon (Oct 13, 2010)

Airy32 said:


> The Michelin is pretty much considered the best daily driver street tire available right now, and it has the 30k mile tread life warranty which is unheard of in it's class. They are a bit higher priced than most other choices but it may be worth it in the long run if you don't mind paying more. I have no complaints about them whatsoever, although I do feel my last set of Continental DW were a bit better in very wet/standing water contrary to all the reviews I've read. I actually had to slow down a bit in a downpour a few weeks ago which I never had to do with the DW - they were that incredibly good in the wet. That may be a consideration if you see a lot of wet weather. Other than that, and that the DW is a few pounds lighter, the Michelin is superior in every way.
> 
> I am only familiar with the Vredestein in that I have seen pics of them and they do look interesting. But no first hand knowledge or opinions, nor even any idea of how they compare pricewise.


 Did you use a camber/caster kit to get your -2.2 degrees? And did you notice a benefit?


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

I'm using H2Sport camber plates. I got them used in the classifieds on here. I strongly recommend them or any of the alternatives (Ground Control, KW, K-Mac). Not only do they improve handling (less understeer) due to being able to add negative camber, also much easier to get a perfect alignment, and they replace the stock strut mounts which collapse and need to be replaced frequently.


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## Black_falcon (Oct 13, 2010)

I am trying to set up my car for good daily driving when I get back to it. Do you think the H2 sport spindles would be worth the money? If I want to change the brakes from stock 2.0 slow brakes to ECS/1.8T/VR6 spindles. Just trying to plan... Thanks


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## MooseGTI (Jul 25, 2012)

Airy32 said:


> Can't think of any reason you should rub with that size tire. I run the same wheel specs with 245/40/17 tires and have no clearance issues anywhere without any spacers. I do run 5mm spacers in front, 16mm in back but just to make them sit more flush with the fenders - just for appearance. I'm only lowered about half as much as you are so I can run a much wider tire without catching the fender lips but, with 215/45 you should have room all over the place.


 So since my last post in this thread I have I stalled the touring cup kit which lowered my mk4 about 1.5". I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on wheels/tires and want to get 235/45r17 on 17x8 et 35. Considering your setup, do you foresee any rubbing issues with this? I am going to run spacers in the rear for looks of nothing else. I dont want to be stuck w tires that dont fit since I am ordering from tire rack. I also don't have any way of mounting one to check fitment, unless there is someone in western WA running this that can help me out. Thanks in advance.


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

I can't see why that wouldn't work. My non-summer setup is 18x8 et35 with 235/40/18 tires that I can run at any ride height I choose without issue, and without any extra camber for fender clearance. You should be good.


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## MooseGTI (Jul 25, 2012)

Airy32 said:


> I can't see why that wouldn't work. My non-summer setup is 18x8 et35 with 235/40/18 tires that I can run at any ride height I choose without issue, and without any extra camber for fender clearance. You should be good.


 Cool, thanks!


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## Chris_x (Nov 3, 2016)

Im thinking of getting 17x8 or 17x9 rims, which ones would be a better fitment and what tire size should i get for each, how much would the tire size change if i rolled the fenders? The car is a mk4 golf


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