Spacers sense check

[Craiglm68]

Caymanites,

After much research, looking at Fuch style reproductions, US and German dealers, and general faffing, I'll finally chosen some new wheels for the CS, 18" Fuch, 8" wide fronts and 10" rears. I realise the offset has much to do with my question (the theory of how to calculate this seems to be black magic to me), but the crowd that are selling and fitting the wheels (JZM) are recommending no spacers at the front , but 18mm items at the rear.  A little wider than I was expecting, does this sounds roughly right to those of you in the know?

Cheers

 

[Bushman]

it entirely depends on the offset of the new wheels compared with the offset on the original rims. the front behaves very differently with minor changes to the effective centre of tyre load point and the distance to the wheel bearing, castor and trail angles,( coffin arm settings, strut mounting adjustments), toe-in or toe-out angles. A wider track on the front is supposed to increase understeer if the rear track is left standard.  I wouldn't worry too much about the rears, too narrow in the track and the tyres will be close to the rear suspension uprights and make the rear less stable, too wide and you risk the tyres scraping on the arches and will make the car turn in sharper if the front track is left as standard. there are many web pages where this has been analysed to death. I think this is a good place to start gathering info. hope this helps.

[987Monkey]

I thought a wider front track reduced understeer?? ?

 

 

Edited November 1, 2018 by 987Monkey

[Bushman]

sorry you are right, a wider front track decreases understeer, too tired to think about what I was typing

 

[Mavrik]

On 01/11/2018 at 07:34, 987Monkey said:

I thought a wider front track reduced understeer?? ?

 

 

Agree... The opposite is generally the case on the rear however.

 

Wider front track=less understeer vs wider rear track=more understeer iirc...

[Mavrik]

I know Ben Rushworth (Vtec Challenge Cup) runs a wider front track for balance albeit his DC2 is front drive