8" 215/45 ET35 vastly different to stock?

[Feemono 7]

Hi all,

Just looking at lightweight rims and I've seen OZ Alleggerita as coming in either +48 or +35 offsets. Interested in 17". I can kind of take or leave the styling on the Alleggerita but what initially drew me to these past the weight and price was that they're TUV certified. Not sure how much to read into that but with enough experiences with potholes I'd like some confidence that they're not going to disintegrate after a tasty slam against some of the more decent ones that feature on some of our roads.

I'm not sure if the stock track on the GT86 is purely specific to the handling they were going for but it would be nice to get a bit more poke and +35 with an 8" rim seems ok from what I read as far as clearance goes. I want to upgrade from the Primacies which I don't get on with in greasy conditions (bit skittery over uneven surfaces too?) but have no problem with them when it's warm and dry. Yokohama V105 seem to get a few fans and 215/45 pops up on a few charts as the bare minimum you'd want to safely put on an 8" rim. 

What I'm curious about is if with that setup of a 215/45 tire on an 8" rim with ET35 is whether the handling would be vastly different than stock or would it still be in keeping with the way the car was designed to handle?

Cheers for any replies and I should say I'm a noob when it comes to aftermarket wheels save for an experience putting MK1 golf GTi alloys on an econo box mk2 Golf 20 years ago so I may not be considering pertinent knowledge! Ta

I should also mention that if I upgraded the wheels I'd go for some adjustable dampers and perhaps a 25mm drop but I guess that'd be another query in the handling equation.

Cheers

[Varelco 211]

I wouldn't go for a 215 on an 8j, go for a 225, they will be cheaper and look better too. You won't lose any of the playfulness of the car it doesn't suddenly become a grip monster. That was my concern too. My setup is 18x7.5j ET33 front and 18x7.5j ET 28 rear with 225/40/18 V105s, overall mechanical grip is up but not as much as you think, and the dynamics of the car is the same, it stays more consistent across various conditions than the Primacys but it will still move around in greasy conditions, just the limit is higher which is reassuring when it comes to braking.

[Church 209]

215 on 8" will be slight stretch. Still "safe". Impact - a bit reduced sidewall flex, i.e. sharper steering feel but a bit harsher ride. If it's ok, depends on preferences/priorities. If one goes for more street oriented tires which in general often are more mushy, slight stretch certainly won't hurt.

P.S. If you are thinking of using some aftermarket alloys of VW, IIRC VAG cars had different lugnut seats, no? So some seat adapters or different lugnuts might be required instead of common conical 60dg seat "tuners" lugnuts twins have stock.

Drawbacks for spacing out wheels would be slight increase in bump radius and slight increase of wheel bearing load/wear. But change of 7mm .. i wouldn't worry about.

If change to more grip will be to your liking .. it's very subjective. Ignore what manufacturer may have "designed", more think what your own priorities are. If you like those tire chirps here and there at slow/legal speeds, don't go for wide tires/grippy tire models. If you think car is too playful/too easy to loose grip, get grippier ones. Very subjective choice. While yes, balance may stay same with grippier tires .. but fact itself that now one needs to push (sometimes past legal speeds/with less time to react) to intentionally brake traction might not be to liking of some .. and might be something some want. My own choice was grippier tires .. but i get my share of fun in track days. If i would only daily drive mine, i'd probably think of less grippy then top UUHP tires :). I certainly wouldn't get another set of primacies HP due how expensive they are. They were usable for "free tires" included with bought car, but too expensive for another set.

[will300 812]

215 on an 8" will be fine, several of us have run that size. I personally didn't notice any perceivable performance difference from running that size. 

Here's a couple of photo's of mine when I was running the exact combo you mention. I'm on coilovers in these photo's but you get the idea. 

 

[Feemono 7]

wow they look like 18s Will. I don't think Alleggeritas will look anywhere near as impressive due the spoke > rim design but it's nice to know I'll at least be heading that way in terms of offset.

Cheers for the replies fellas, I have a habit of kind of writing things backwards (🙄) so it comes across as a bit more of a tire question rather than the track/offset which I'm trying to get a handle on. Obvs I mentioned the V105s which I'm thinking about upgrading to but just for theories sake imagine I was using the original 215/45 Primacies. In that case I'd get somewhat 'sharper' handling due to less sidewall flex (no bad thing I'd wager based on my experience with the stock car), I get royally confused when it comes to contact patches and the like but I'm interested in what the half an inch extra track would do combined with the extra inch of rim. I guess you can never fully divorce these things from each other though.

My thinking in staying with 215/45 tires was that as I was keen on seeing the effect of lightweight rims 215/45 wouldn't be any heavier compared to the 225/45 and then also I'd have a stretched tire vs a lesser stretch. I certainly don't want to over tire the car or compromise the already nimble steering.  

[Feemono 7]

3 hours ago, Church said:

If you like those tire chirps here and there at slow/legal speeds, don't go for wide tires/grippy tire models.

This is me (:

Apart from being slightly shocked at how the Primacy HP performs in the damp I do like the original thinking in designing a car's handling to not be reliant on a specialist tyre with a high level of grip.

 

 

[Adi 40]

I've got the Alleggerita 7.5x17, with 215 x 45 x 17  PS4 tyres.  The only difference from stock is faster acceleration because of light wheels. .  I also beat on them silly on the track and off, hitting curbs and stuff and they never missed a beat. 

Also don't get too much camber, unless you're chasing 10ths on the track. I did Brands Hatch recently with 1.5' camber all around and it was a lot of fun, got a bit more squealing than with 2.5, but who cares :).  Really great on the road too.  I'm thinking PS4s may have too much grip if you like to go sideways at every roundabout, but they are amazingly safe in the wet. Also quite progressive and confidence inspiring when going fast.