[anttist]

Can I use 15x7 inch wheels with ET15 offset in standard Lancer Turbo?

I know the offset is little smaller than original wheel meaning that the wheel center will sit about 9 mm outer than standard. I'm planning to use 195/50-15, 195/55-15, 205/50-15 or maybe even 225/50-15 tyres. Any changes that the tyres will hit the wheelarches? I have standard arches at the front and Golf mk II arches are being welded to the rear.

Wheels are extremely hard to find in Finland but I have spotted the above set with correct bolt pattern for sale.

Any experiences? Should I go for it?

 

[anttist]

I have also found new set of 17x7 inch wheels with ET18 offset. How about these? Tyres would be 205/40-17 or 215/40-17 then.

 

[xlr8]

problem with trying to answer your questions is that it's probable no-one here will be using or have 15inch or the 17inch rims with the offsets/ tyres that you've mentioned
- most alloys will probably have been on another LT at some point
or from e.g. a Starion

I know of only one owner in the UK using 17's...and they are big split-rims because he has arches(same as mine) on his LT

think that you'll just have to try them on and see for yourself
& you'll probably need spigot rings if the centre-bore is incorrect

 

[anttist]

I have ordered the 17x7 inch alloys and Kumho Ecsta Supra 712 205/40-17 tyres. I think they should fit ok (I did some measuring). I don't even know how the wheels look. We'll see what happens and if I have to use hammer to fit these under the car...

I would have liked 15-16" Compomotive MO's because they look absolutely great under the Lancer but new are too expensive and I couldn't find any used.

BTW: I can confirm that Lancer rear arches can be made from 5-door Golf MK2 items by a skilled welder. I just saw the left arch ready last weekend and it's very very close in shape to the original.

 

[BILTEL]

Go to the page below.

These are 17's on Jugs car at Cadwell. Looks even better in the flesh.

http://www.lancerregister.com/store_photo.php?id=453&page=1

 

[xlr8]

Go to the page below.
These are 17's on Jugs car at Cadwell. Looks even better in the flesh.
http://www.lancerregister.com/store_photo.php?id=453&page=1

ooh...they look good
I'd assumed they were 16's when I saw the pix from the event

 

[Glancn]

If you do a search in these forums there is a picture of Matt's (ADR_Lancer) EX1800 GSR with 17" Lenso's. I think he had spacers/hub adapters, but they look real good hehe.

I have seen a few EX Lancers with 17" wheels and I am guessing that they all required spacers/adapters.

+25-28mm offset seems the perfect fit for EX Lancers. Anything less would be fine depending on the width of the mag and whether or not if you want the wheel to stick out from the guard. +35-38 are also OK but may require some small 5-8mm wheel spacers which are dead cheap.

Good luck and post some pictures when you have put the wheels on !

 

[anttist]

Wow, this talk about 25-28 mm offset scared me. I received the wheels today and noticed that they are in fact 7.5x17 inch. This is going ot make things more challenging. I tried the empty wheel to the car that was jacked up from all four corners. It looks like there should be no big problems at the back but at the front the wheelarch is going to be very close. On the other hand there's less than 10 mm to the front shock so the offset couldn't be very much bigger (ET18)... We'll see when I receive the tyres. Weight of the wheel is 10.6 kg so they are definately not OZ superleggeras but not the worst possible either.

This is how they look except they have of course four mounting holes and have "Motorsport" engraved instead of "Formularacing":

Does anybody know what tyre size that white Lancer is running? Looks very good but also seems to be very close to the wheelarches.

Spacers are illegal for road use here and what is even worse I have to take the car to a special MOT when I increase the wheel size more than 1" from the original. Spacers would be definately noticed there... :blah:

 

[Glancn]

Oh I see :blah: I have also seen another EX1800 turbo here in NZ that had FWD +42mm offset mags with hub adaptors, as long as they are certified they are legal I believe.

I suppose you'd need some 215/40/17's? They would look nice with those mags !

Good luck

 

[ADR_lancer]

Glancn is refering to my ex1800 which has 38mm offset 17*7 inch wheels utilising a set of 22mm bolt on hub adaptors giving a theoretical offset of 16mm. I'd post a pic but don't have any hosted.

What I want to know is how do you guys get your lancers so low? My rear end is almost on both the diff and bump stops and still doesnt seem all that low.

 

[xlr8]

What I want to know is how do you guys get your lancers so low? My rear end is almost on both the diff and bump stops and still doesnt seem all that low.

we don't.....
super low may be ok for cruising around
but many LT's in the UK are used for trackdays etc & it makes the handling become bad

 

[Glancn]

Get some platforms Matt Hows the car going anyway? Haven't chatted in a while.

 

[ADR_lancer]

The car isn't going still. Waiting on the fabrication of my multipoint mani so we can put it back together and get it tuned. I'll have to get your msn so we can chat.

xlr8: regarding height in the rear. Do you guys find that while cornering the loaded side will lean on the bumpstops? As when lowering the car even only 30mm the rear travel is significantly reduced. Compared with other cars of this vintage the EX has very little rear travel resulting in a drop of 50mm like I have done to mine leaving only 10-20mm of travel to the bumpstops.

In order to get them to handle it must be a real tradeoff between lowering the centre of gravity and stiffening of the springs, unless of course you go to the extent of tunneling the rear end to some extent.

 

[anttist]

I remember seeing description where rear axle support arm mounting point was raised about 10-15 mm towards the car body. Did it have anything to do with lowering or does it also make difference with standard height car?

 

[anttist]

Ok, I finally have a picture of the car with new wheels. There has been no rubbing at all. I put support behind the front guards and managed to get them about 10 mm wider on each side. I had no problems in the special MOT either so all seems to be good.

Took the car to the track today and had fun even with all the engine trouble. Grip was ok and sidewalls seemed to be quite stiff. Huge improvement over the 185/60-14 Yokohama A539:s I have on the original wheels. Car feels much more under control especially under braking and cornering, grips better and is easier and more fun to drive hard!

There's some tramlining on the road but noise is not as bad as I was expecting and comfort is in fact incredibly good. Of course it's stiff over bumps but not much difference to 14" tyres on normal roads.

And finally a picture: