Can I get all your thoughts on these wheels please?

[cbay]

Ah that's right, I keep forgetting about the red calipers because I've got a 90 personally I'd get the Panther's.

As long as the two reds are close in tone, then it would look alright I guess I'm a stickler for these kinds of small things, eg I don't like white wheels on white cars if the shades of white don't match/complement. Hence why I swapped the black roof rails, they just wouldn't match unless I got black rims.

I do like the shape of those wheels though, I think they would look good while your car is moving.

[Tigger]

A lot of us are.. and without wanting to be sexist I think it's the closest a man will come to understanding why a woman needs a wardrobe full of shoes that to us all seem the same.

I must have spent 10+ hours looking at wheel pics - before determining to just stuck with what I had last month.

I get it! yep...good accurate comparison....

[Martin]

FIN RS wheel...

Hmmm, 18*8.5, they may pose a problem - it's at the limit of what you can stretch a 225 tyre over
If you go ET45 to keep the same inner clearance the wheels will stick out and if the car is lowered they may rub the guards
The Golf GTI boys run ET35 pulling the wheel very close to the strut - this addresses all rubbing issues and helps with the scrub radius

[zei20t]

we don't have hydraulic power steering, its all electric assisted - which contributes to the 'dead' feeling more European cars now have.

[Martin]

Right - our Mazda 3 has both, feels wierd at the transition point between electric and hydraulic

[zei20t]

its both?

sure its not an electric pump pressurising a hydraulic system instead of driving from engine RPM?

[brad]

Hmmm, 18*8.5, they pose a problem
If you go ET35 to keep the same inner steering dynamics the wheels will stick out and if the car is lowered they may rub the guards
The Golf GTI boys run ET35 pulling the wheel very close to the strut - this addresses all rubbing issues but may have an impact on steering feel (not that we have much feel these days with both hydraulink and electric power steering)

You don't necessarily want to maintain the same inner clearance. If you add all the extra width to the outside then The steering will be a bit odd (been there/done that).
My original wheels were 6.5" ET50.

My next wheels were 8" ET35 which were 3.5mm closer to the strut & poked 33.5mm further outward. This was fine on the back but up front it was out past the guards a few mm. I didn't have any clearance issues but I didn't like the look & the amount of crap being thrown up the side of the car. Steering felt "weird". Poor turn-in, etc. This may have been alleviated with some toe adjustment.

I'm currently running 7.5" ET45. These are 7.5mm closer to the strut (still lots of clearance) than set #1; 17.5mm extra poke. They fit nicely within the guards & the steering feels good.

Are the RS 18x8 wheels ET50 or ET45? 18*8 ET50 is the same inner clearance as 18*8.5 ET44; 18x8 ET45 is the same inner clearance as 18*8.5 ET39

[cbay]

You don't necessarily want to maintain the same inner clearance. If you add all the extra width to the outside then The steering will be a bit odd (been there/done that).
My original wheels were 6.5" ET50.

My next wheels were 8" ET35 which were 3.5mm closer to the strut & poked 33.5mm further outward. This was fine on the back but up front it was out past the guards a few mm. I didn't have any clearance issues but I didn't like the look & the amount of crap being thrown up the side of the car. Steering felt "weird". Poor turn-in, etc. This may have been alleviated with some toe adjustment.

I'm currently running 7.5" ET45. These are 7.5mm closer to the strut (still lots of clearance) than set #1; 17.5mm extra poke. They fit nicely within the guards & the steering feels good.

Definitely have to take this into account especially if these weird specs adversely affect safety / handling.

Side note: Whoa.

That is the exact situation I'm in (6.5" ET50)

More or less the same specs I was thinking of getting (8" ET39, 8mm towards strut and 30mm outward (see difference on willtheyfit.com))

And a real-life solution and review (18" or 17" x7.5 ET45). Cheers Brad for sharing your experiences!

[brad]

The 8" were 17" diameter. The 7.5" were back to 16".

I don't think safety was compromised, I just didn't like the dulled turn-in.

I'm thinking of going back to 17" again (with 235/45*17 tyres). It will be either 17x7.5 ET45(+-3) or 17x8 ET40 (maybe 45 - need to get the tape measure out).

I have a really great excell spreadsheet (107kb) for rims & tyres. I'd post it up but this forum doesn't allow attachments.

I'd still like to know what the ET is on the OEM 18" rims

[Martin]

You don't necessarily want to maintain the same inner clearance.
If you add all the extra width to the outside then The steering will be a bit odd (been there/done that).

Yeah - if you're adding more than an inch to the wheel width doing that all on the outside is an issue because it impacts the scrub radius
MacPherson strut equipped vehicles usually have a negative scrub radius.
Negative scrub radius decreases torque steer and improves stability in the event of brake failure.
The greater the scrub radius (positive or negative), the greater the steering effort and the more road shock and pivot binding that takes place.
When the vehicle has been modified with offset wheels, larger tires, height adjustments and side to side camber differences, the scrub radius will be changed and the handling and stability of the vehicle will be affected.
So in fact, pulling a 8.5" wheel closer to the strut is beneficial (I've edited my previous post)

Are the RS 18x8 wheels ET50 or ET45?

The stock RS is 18*7.5 with ET51 or ET52 (can't remember)

18*8 fits perfect on the Octavia, looks great and drives very well
Does not throw crap down the side of the car
8" wide rims put a little stretch into the 225 tires
(8.5" is the maximum wheel width you can put 225 tyres onto)

In my mind the only reason to go with 8.5 rims on the Octavia is to clear after market big brake calipers
(but you can find 8" wide rims that do that also - but you are limited on choice of spoke pattern)