Wheel Offset Golf GTi MKII and Passat MKII

Well, they'll fit on i bet, so you could always change them back after the mot, i'd assume the offset was the same, it usually says on the wheels somewhere on the inside.

Cheers Dan. I'll have a look tomorrow. If they are the same, I'm just going to leave them on until I can get a decent set of original alloys from somewhere.

Mike

I'd be _very_ surprised if VW had used a different offset on the Passat and Golf of the same era.

Can't do any harm to stick 'em on for the MOT and worry about it later....

If they're wildly different you'll notice as either:

The wheels will stick out from the arches or they'll rub on the suspension struts.

Like I say, though. You should be fine.

They're probably ET35 - you'll probably find it on them somewhere especially if they're original fit...

If the PCD is different they definitely won't fit ;-)

Justin.

Both almost certain to be 4x100, 35mm offset.

No.

Mk1 and Mk 2 Golf GTi is ET38

Passat is ET45.

But I know a mark 2 Golf rally car that runs ET45 wheels so I think they'll fit OK.

Other non-GTI Golfs are usually ET45 too, by the way.

Lock.

No.

Mk1 and Mk 2 Golf GTi is ET38

Passat is ET45.

But I know a mark 2 Golf rally car that runs ET45 wheels so I think they'll fit OK - they will stick out 7mm more, so if there is room to poke a finger between the tyre and the arch you're fine.

Other non-GTI Golfs are usually ET45 too, by the way.

Lock.

Doesn't matter - the difference between ET35 and ET38 is nothing :)

Again, doesn't matter. The difference between ET38 and ET45 is nothing :)

With most cars, you can have quite a large offset difference (upto about

10mm usually, 20mm is too much) before anything's affected.

I'm sure i read once that with Vauxhalls (older ones i think, dunno if it applies to new ones) that if you change the offset by over 5mm you can bugger the 'handling' ?

Assumadly because old vauxhalls were s**te....

Nope, because Vauxhall have always insisted on using a 49mm offset to effect negative scrub geometry. Supposed to give better handling in the event of a blowout iirc. Whether it's worth it or not tho... I mean, how often does a blowout happen (and don't even bother with the double entendres, ya mucky feckers)...

Altho the cynics amongst us may say "it only needs to happen once" :)

'S funny, when I was at school the difference between 35 and 38 was 3.

The difference between 38 and 45 is 7. And the difference between 35 and 45 is still 10.

On a Mk2 Golf, as it happens, 38 and 45 both work, because all German cars are engineered to allow clearance for snow chains with the production wheels and tyres.

But you can't assume that you'll get away with 10mm difference on any car, especially with bigger than standard wheels and tyres.

You can FEEL the difference between 38 and 49 on a Vauxhall.

38 fits, but the steering is heavier and the car is twitchier. And on the back, it's the difference between clearing and fouling the arches with only 6" wheels.

Lock.

Exactly my point. As I said, you usually have to have a difference of more than 10mm for anything to happen.

All cars have a clearence of more than 7mm, simply because not all tyres are (even nearly) the same size :)

You usually can. If a 10mm offset difference is causing you clearence problems, then the wheels and/or tyres are too wide.

Yep - cos 11mm is more than the 10mm maximum I previously stated :)

That's partly because Vauxhall's are s**te, partly because they use a loonatic offset of ET49, and partly because 11mm is more than 10mm :)

My original point, was that a slight variation in offset doesn't matter, and I stand by that. Apart from a very few select cars, a few mm offset difference won't affect anything.