33 replies to this topic

[LittleStanJunior]

It’s not something I’m planning on doing quite yet, but I’m hopefully planning on doing a road trip next year in the VX and for this I think it’ll be a good idea to fit some 'normal' 5 stud Vauxhall wheels. The reasoning being if I get a puncture I can easily get a replacement tyre without paying through the nose for an obscure size, and a higher profile tyre should be a bit more resilient on bad roads. Would I need spacers or should I be going for a Astra(F)/Omega(R ) combo to maintain something approaching the correct offset. Otherwise would a lack of spacers make too much of a difference (as in dangerous) handling wise (Talking normal roads & driving/not the track) Cheers

[siztenboots]

spacers would move the wheel outwards to the correct position , otherwise you might find you get rubbing on the chassis

[LittleStanJunior]

spacers would move the wheel outwards to the correct position , otherwise you might find you get rubbing on the chassis

Is that for the front or the back? Or are we talking both?

[slindborg]

omegas are ET30 iirc. rear of the vx is 30ish and the front is 20ish but omega wheels are fcuking wide. Astra would be better but you'd need alteast a 10-15mm spacer for the fronts from what I can make out.

[Code Monkey]

Need a chunky spacer I looked at this a while ago and seemed pretty pricey bits of kits would be needed to do it properly

[tim king]

omegas are ET30 iirc.

rear of the vx is 30ish and the front is 20ish


but omega wheels are fcuking wide. Astra would be better but you'd need alteast a 10-15mm spacer for the fronts from what I can make out.

dos anyone no why the front wheels are so fin ? would wider wheels at the front make the handling worse ??

[Code Monkey]

omegas are ET30 iirc.

rear of the vx is 30ish and the front is 20ish


but omega wheels are fcuking wide. Astra would be better but you'd need alteast a 10-15mm spacer for the fronts from what I can make out.

dos anyone no why the front wheels are so fin ? would wider wheels at the front make the handling worse ??

More grip at the front would mean less warning of grip loss meaning more likiehood of lift off oversteer when throttle shut to cure the understeer.

I think the guys at Lotus might know a little more than the average net expert on chassis set up.

[simsy]

Why not just carry a can of foam / slim, and get any old tyre fitted in an emergency. I think your enjoyment will be dampened by the Astra wheels.. You can get some funny repair kits also, that fit into the hole from the outside of the tyre in emergencies. Only a side wall split from curbing should be able to stop you, and thats normally down to the driver..... With a light car, the bad roads should not be a tyre issue, keep plenty of pressure in them and they should be fine ??? Good luck on your trip what ever tyre route you take.....

Edited by simsy, 03 December 2009 - 05:08 PM.

[tim king]

dos anyone no why the front wheels are so fin ? would wider wheels at the front make the handling worse ?? [/quote] More grip at the front would mean less warning of grip loss meaning more likiehood of lift off oversteer when throttle shut to cure the understeer. I think the guys at Lotus might know a little more than the average net expert on chassis set up. [/quote] do's the Lotus elise have the same set up IE finer wheels at the front?

[simsy]

Yep, Elise too and for a good reason. The wide front will not fit, will not handle, and will look shite.... rear has 150 plus hp, 2/3 of the weight...... front just points... shark fin soup for tea

Edited by simsy, 03 December 2009 - 05:44 PM.

[chris_uk]

the reason lotus put thinner wheels on the front was to give the car more understeer. it says it on that lotus program where they show you how the car was designed and made, its on discovery quite abit.

[Nelly Vx]

I6 mm spacers required front and rear to fit vxl standard 17" s

[slindborg]

fin ?

or

[Nelly Vx]

[Anarchy]

As far as I am aware (I went to view 2 for sale) the original Palmersport Vauxhall trackday cars ran on Vectra wheels, for cheaper tyres maybe? But it always seemed odd to train people the handling in cars with different tyres?

[LittleStanJunior]

Why not just carry a can of foam / slim, and get any old tyre fitted in an emergency. I think your enjoyment will be dampened by the Astra wheels.. You can get some funny repair kits also, that fit into the hole from the outside of the tyre in emergencies. Only a side wall split from curbing should be able to stop you, and thats normally down to the driver..... With a light car, the bad roads should not be a tyre issue, keep plenty of pressure in them and they should be fine ???

Good luck on your trip what ever tyre route you take.....

Probably should have given more detail about the trip – a couple of years back me and my mate did drove across eastern and southern Europe (21 countries including the joys of Kosovo & Albania!) in an MX5 with the motive of spending 4 days at the Exit festival in Serbia and filmed it

I ummed an arred about whether to take the spare as the boot is pretty small – I decided yes in the end and lo and behold about 1am and 2 hours from our overnight stay in Mostar I somehow gouged the sidewall of my back tyre. Used the spacesaver to get to mostar and got the tyre replaced – thankfully only a normal 195/50/15. But I would have been screwed if I hadn’t had the spacesaver with me.

The MX is no more and I’d like to do a similar thing in 2010 but in the VX, this time heading North Eastwards – through Germany/Poland to as far as Estonia/Russia and then hooking over through Scandinavia and back into Denmark/Germany. I’m not expecting the roads to be all that great and the last thing I want to be is stranded in somewhere like Latvia waiting for a 175/50/17 tyre to arrive. I was thinking that using 15 or 16 wheels I would have tyres with a higher profile and in the event of needing a replacement I’ll get hold of one much more easily

[peterg]

the reason lotus put thinner wheels on the front was to give the car more understeer.

it says it on that lotus program where they show you how the car was designed and made, its on discovery quite abit.

Lotus went all scaredy cat after a few people said the Elise S1 was too nervous in its handling so they played safe and put narrower wheel/tyres on the front to make it inherently understeer rather than oversteer so people used to front wheel drive tintops wouldn't hurt themselves

However, in addition to that, Vauxhall/Opel decided that the car didn't look right with 16" front wheels on it so demanded the change to 17" wheels to match the rears, hence the difficulty in finding suitable tyres to fit

[slindborg]

just use MK4 astra stuff for the fronts then.... I have 205/50/16's on our astra and the front of my vx (not astra wheels though) so when the astra needs new tyres it gets the VX's old but un worn ones and the vx gets new tyres

[LittleStanJunior]

just use MK4 astra stuff for the fronts then.... I have 205/50/16's on our astra and the front of my vx (not astra wheels though) so when the astra needs new tyres it gets the VX's old but un worn ones and the vx gets new tyres

Oh yeah, should have thought of that - it's the front tyres that were the ones I was worried about more.

[tim king]

Yep, Elise too and for a good reason. The wide front will not fit, will not handle, and will look shite....


rear has 150 plus hp, 2/3 of the weight...... front just points...

shark fin soup for tea

Was your tea nice Simsy ?