# r32 wheel offset and width help :)



## ATM08 (May 17, 2010)

Hey all! 
So. I was wondering what size wheel, with how much of an offset will sit flush,front and rear, on an 04 r32? I don't want to use spacers. I know they will be staggered, I'm fine with that. 

Thanks!


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## ATM08 (May 17, 2010)

someone has to have figured this put lol


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## ATM08 (May 17, 2010)

Please? Or any mk4 really...


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## 87vr6 (Jan 17, 2002)

you have a lot to learn. 


No, they don't have to be staggered. 

They can be 7.5 wide, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10. Or more. 

Your idea of "flush" is different than my idea of flush. Our two ideas of flush are different then a lot of people's idea of flush. 


So. Saying that, give us something a little more specific about what you are looking for. Check out the MK4 forum and R32 forum respective stance threads for more help and ideas...


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## ATM08 (May 17, 2010)

how bout this then, what offset will put a tire/wheel right at the the rear wheel well. kinda like this R


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## eazysophresh (Nov 8, 2011)

I need some help with this. Ive looked around for similar setups but cant find anything. 
Wheels are 19x8.5 48 offset all around, 5x112 lug pattern. They would be going on a R32. Will 20mm adapters work? Ive done some research and calculating but I dont know if its accurate. I dont want too much poke or the wheels to stick in too far. Mild stretch is ok. 
Help me out people, thanks


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

ATM08 said:


> how bout this then, what offset will put a tire/wheel right at the the rear wheel well. kinda like this R





eazysophresh said:


> I need some help with this. Ive looked around for similar setups but cant find anything.
> Wheels are 19x8.5 48 offset all around, 5x112 lug pattern. They would be going on a R32. Will 20mm adapters work? Ive done some research and calculating but I dont know if its accurate. I dont want too much poke or the wheels to stick in too far. Mild stretch is ok.
> Help me out people, thanks


 I'm at work right now and can't get to my pics, I might try when I'm home in the next couple days. 

For the OP, the pic in reply #5 above is *not* what I would refer to as "right at the fender". The angle is a bit deceiving but I believe those wheels were quite wide and had what I consider to be a fair amount of poke. Iirc the fronts were at least 9" wide and the rears maybe 10"+. No recollection of what the offsets were. But there is also quite a bit of tire stretch, imo, to pull them off. 

I had 19x8.5 wheels that I saw as perfectly flush (rim was exactly even with the fender lip) with front offset of 32 and rear offset of 23. That was with -1 camber in back and -2 in front. I also ran 245/35/19 tires which obviously had no stretch at all, quite chunky actually, and never even rolled the fender lips. 

There are numerous variables to achieve the look you want and for what purpose, so for both of you, it's tough to give a specific answer that will be "right" without all the other factors. I suggest browsing on here in the different forums until you find a setup that looks the way you want, PM the owner if necessary to get the specs, then use a calculator such as http://www.1010tires.com/WheelOffsetCalculator.asp to adjust it to the wheel you want to run.


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

Here's a pic taken by a photographer at WITW in April of last year. He posted on his blog about the event and it just happened to be a close-up side shot of my car. Probably the best shot I've seen when it comes to how the wheels actually sat in relation to the fenders. And I was wrong about the offsets (couldn't recall what spacers I ran at the time) but they were 32 front/23 rear. I edited the previous post for this. 

Sorry, the pic is huge. Just inserted it from the other thread and it shows up differently. Not smart enough to resize it properly. At least you can see the detail. 










Here's a link to a FS thread where I have several shots of the wheel fitment at the same event. Wheels are still available btw. http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...tion-TE-7-19x8.5-quot&p=72274367#post72274367


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## ATM08 (May 17, 2010)

Hey thanks! That's what I'm really looking for, and thanks for actually helping and not just givin me a dick answer. But anyway, I like the 19s, but i d prefer to run 18s. If I used the same offsets as your 19 x 8.5 do you think that wouldproduce similar results?


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

If you mean 18x8.5 with the same offsets, yes the result would be identical. I may be stating the obvious but, if the wheel width differs then the offset will need to change also. Changing ride height would potentially change it a hair as it typically changes the camber. My setup has a little less rear camber and more front camber than stock specs which brings the top edge of the wheel further in on the front and further out in back. I had my alignment done to my preferences first (adj.rear control arms and front camber plates) before deciding on final wheel offsets and tire sizes.


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## ATM08 (May 17, 2010)

I felt like it was better to ask anyway, but like you said about the final tire size. Did you go tghrough a few tires before one actually worked? I don't really have tons of money to but 4 different sets of tires to play around with ya know.


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

ATM08 said:


> I felt like it was better to ask anyway, but like you said about the final tire size. Did you go tghrough a few tires before one actually worked? I don't really have tons of money to but 4 different sets of tires to play around with ya know.


For me it was a process of different wheels/tires over time. Started with stock setup from new, lowered on coilovers, rear control arms, spacers added, new coilovers and camber plates added, ride height and alignment changing each time. The wheels you see pictured above were the first aftermarket set I had, and I did lots of research as well as measuring myself before having them made to my specs. Since then I got a set of winter wheels and tires with different specs. When time came to replace the summer tires, I made more adjustments, measured cautiously again and decided to try the larger tires since I wanted as much tread width as possible without less sidewall (not a fan of stretch). I had never seen anyone run tires that big on one of these cars but I was convinced it would work. 

I do a lot of comparison/research on Tire Rack since they have pretty good specs for almost all the tires they sell. They say the size I wanted wouldn't fit. They are very conservative about fitments though. If they have any doubt that what you try to order may not fit, they will not ship it without having a conversation with you about whether you are willing to accept responsibility if there is a fitment problem. I also talked with them about their return policy and was informed that they would allow me to test fit a tire by mounting it on the wheel and then putting it on the car. As long as I didn't actually drive on it, they would allow me to return it for a refund (less shipping of course). So I ordered one tire and had it mounted at a local tire store (pretty cheap and quick since it did not need balancing) and put it on the front just long enough to put the car on the ground and turn the wheel to full lock both ways. It fit just fine. 

Every other size I've run has been more conservative so there was never a doubt about how/if it would work. I've been on here long enough to see numerous others try anything else I've done before I do. I'm certain those are the biggest (overall dimensions) tires that can be run on these cars, at least in front, without fender modification. You can go a hair wider but only if shorter also. So pretty much any tire with smaller dimensions can be made to work with proper offsets and/or camber adjustment.


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## ATM08 (May 17, 2010)

Oh ok, i mean i know i want to stick with 18s. If i were to stagger the front and rears say 8.5 out front and maybe 9.5 or 10 out back, how would i go about finding the right tire to fit the rims so its flush like yours. i don't like the stretch look either lol


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## Airy32 (Nov 15, 2007)

Do you know what tires you want? http://www.tirerack.com/tires/SearchTires.jsp

Go there and click where it says "different size for rear tires?", then you can enter the two sizes you think you want and it will show you what tires have those sizes available. For 8.5 front/9.5-10 rear I'd recommend 225/40 fronts and 255/35 rears, or 235/40 fronts and 265/35 rears. With Haldex you'll need to keep overall diameter as close as possible and either of those will work. 

Not sure how long you've had this car, or how much knowledge you have of the front biased Haldex awd system so I'll just throw in this bit of opinion. If you're doing this just for looks, do whatever you like. If you plan on driving aggressively, don't do staggered. These cars have an understeering problem already, and the last thing you want to do is add rear grip by running wider rear tires. Obviously many have done it and are happy with it because it can look great but, the guys that really like to get the best handling/performance to drive the crap out of their cars would never do it. Running the same size on all four and just widening the rear track with staggered offsets like me has a similar effect in appearance but a smaller negative effect on handling, most of which I have dialed out by means of other suspension mods. Plus I can rotate tires front to back if I desire.

But in the end, it's your car, do what you want.


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## ATM08 (May 17, 2010)

hmm if you put it like that maybe I will just run 8.5s all around, I do like to actually drive my car haha. I really appreciate all the help to, instead of just giving me a dick answer.


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