Are 15s to big ?

[Etches]

I am running 14s atm, with standard breaks, but with the wishbone conversion. With my ride height lowerd 60/60 i usually scrape on most objects on the "sheffield roads" , i want better traction, bigger ground clearance  and bigger breaks. Obviously getting 15s would help towards these feats although i dont really like the way mk3s sit on 15s. This is how my G looks atm.



What are your thoughts on 15s?

[Alex]

Depends on the 15s really.

Generally speaking if you're going up to 15s you need to find a set which have a lip, this makes the spokes look smaller and stops the car looking so over-wheeled.

But the issue is it either looks awesome or completely awful, there's no middle ground. I think my old 15s looked great, but almost every other Mk3 on the same sized wheels looks a bit wrong on them.

285mm brakes are overkill on a Mk3 as well, unless you've got silly power. The Audi or Vauxhall 256mm items are more than up to the job, and they both fit under 14s. And 15s won't give you much, if any, more traction. But they do give a much wider choice of tyres, including my personal favourite the Goodyear Eagle F1.

TBH though, your existing wheels look huge for 14s (spokes that go right out to the lip tend to do that).

[Weeman]

With the right tyres 15" wheels fit great.

Mine on 15" wheels tyres are 165/50/15 Bridgestones, traction was good on the road, but never really gave it any beans on a strip or track. Would have refitted my 14" wheel if i was going to do that sort of thing.

[Puncharado]

I've run with 7x15 BBS, and thought it looked a bit like a roller skate from certain angles. Lowered a little with Eibach/Spax and 195/45/15 tyres, and one rear arch would catch all the time, possibly as I had to space the stub axles by 10mm to clear the spring platforms. And I thought handling and acceleration suffered. 6x15 with 165/50/15 would be more suitable, it's only a slightly larger circumference than the standard 13" wheels and tyres although a bit wider.

[Alex]

Good God Weeman, is that a Porka.net sticker?

[Weeman]

Oh yes that is a true collectors item there!

[hayesey]

haha I've got one of them too, unused! 

My car has 15s on it.  It's not really going to give you any more ground clearance as you'll have to choose tyres which give basically the same rolling radius as 14" wheels or they'll scrub horribly. 

[dub-disaster]

Yea mines on 15's I like the way it looks but i might change to 14's so I can have a larger profile tyre that gives more comfort on unevan road surface

[tdh-syorks]

MY old G had 15s on from the polo gti with 195 45 15 tyres on, I did have to use spacers tho and use coil stops on the rear suspension, other than that they ran sweet.

[mark_crox]

For the people who ran 15x7's any idea what ofsets they were..?

The reason I ask is that I've always been in the 13/14 inch camp myself  but I've seen some really nice 15x7 wheels with a 36 offset and 195/45's or 165/50's tyres that I think would suit the car down to the ground. There would purely be for road use as I don't think I will ever get track tyres to fit as they are normally of a higher profile.

[dub-disaster]

Mine are 15x7 with Et 38 ish I think

[Puncharado]

Mine are 7x15 ET35 I believe. 165/50/15 tyres may be a bit of a stretch on a 7" rim, but I'm not sure.

[SamG40]

Surely if better traction is part of the thing in going for 15's putting 165's on defeats the purpose somewhat.

Anyway I ran 15's for a few years and the best thing about getting rid of them and going back to 13's or 14's was weight. It felt much lighter on its feet with the 14's on. Have that in mind when choosing a 15".

[mark_crox]

15's for me would be for no other reason apart from looks! Which is something I rarely do, as I'm normally about function over form. I'll continue to use the 13's for track work as I can get a wider range of workable tyres in that size. These wheels are just over 5kg each so I don't think I would notice them much.