As per the title, has anyone tried 488 wheels on an FF? FF wheel stats; Front 8.5J X 20 ET 46.5, Rear 10.5J X 20 ET 53.4 488 wheel stats; Front 9J X 20 ET 44.7, Rear 11J X 20 ET38.5 So by my reckoning, the rear wheels will sit 21.25mm further out and the fronts will sit 8.15mm further out. I know that Brian L and Autolove have run stock FF wheels with spacers up to 18-20mm. Is there a conceptual difference between running spacers and simply having a smaller offset (unsprung weight of the spacer and longer bolts etc.)? Although the wheel rim will sit further out from the car, I'm assuming that the tyres will be a bit more stretched given the extra 0.5" width of the rim which will hopefully make the rear 295/35 tyre look less 'fat'. Is this extra width in the stance too much and is the difference between front and rear going to cause chronic understeer? Will the suspension need to be adjusted to avoid fender rub? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
The center of the tyre will only sit 14.9mm further out, and that's the really important bit.. They will fit perfectly fine and look good on it. The slightly less offset in the rear will add a bit of understeer, but not much. The section width of your tyres will change ever so slightly, but less than you might think. Those tyres are approved for 11.5" wheels, so plenty of room to go. What you need to consider is the tyre clearance, and the wider rim, changes that less than one might think. Rule of thumb is 0.2" increase in section width when you increase the rim width by 0.5".
Thanks for the reassurance on the offset and understeer. So if my maths is correct, the 0.2” increase in section width added to the lower offset will result in a rear tyre which sits 17.44mm further out than the stock tyre/rim combo. Brian L ran 18mm spacers at the back and had his suspension adjusted as ride height was dropped. I don’t intend to drop the car so will I need to have any changes made to the suspension in order to avoid fender rub or any other untoward effects of a wider rear track? The front tyre will only be 4.34mm further out so I’m guessing no suspension adjustment will be necessary there. Thanks.
It may not be as simple as I imagined. Did some checking, and there are a bit of a debate on the matter. One guy went with 20 mm spacers all around, and Brian L ended up with 15mm as he thought 18 was too much. I recall seing cars with 20mm spacers and Novitec springs, and the tyres did not poke out, they were flush. Mahbe shoot Exoticar or Alex @ TAG a PM. They should be able to tell you exactly how far out you can go without poke.
