Wheels and offsets

fase2000TDI

Vendor
Joined
Aug 30, 2005
Location
Chesapeake, VA, USA 401-919-0466
TDI
2003 Jettawagon TDI; 2015 GSW 6MT
I found a set of snow tires on these wheels for a Tiguan which are 5x112 with an offset of 33, however the factory MK7 Golf wheels have an offset around 46.. How much of a difference will this make in handling / effect on ESP? If I'm understanding offset correctly, this would place the wheel further towards the edges of the vehicle. Just wanted to see what peoples thoughts are on this.
 

MukGyver

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2020
Location
Sierra Ca
TDI
2004 Jetta PD
There isn't much difference in the offsets. 12 mm or .475" further out only. As long as you have clearance you should be fine. You might see a skosh improvement in handling but cancelled possibly by the snow tread design or rubber compound. It could be further influenced if wall height or tire width changes appreciably.
 

werdna

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2009
Location
An obscure corner of northeastern Massachusetts
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon, 2013 Touareg Sport, 2015 GSW
I was about to post pretty much this exact question. fase2000tdi, if you went ahead with it what did you think?

A bunch of stuff written by people who know more than me goes on and on about increasing load on bearings/spindles/etc, but it's only 13mm and I'm not sure it's enough to worry about.

I was going to try keeping the 215/65/16 rubber from the Tiguan as well; it looks like I'll get another inch off the ground while still having fender clearance. (Currently I have 18" wheels with new rubber (225/40-18) and they're fantastic on smooth pavement but hell over bumps.) There's another thread a while back that makes it sound like it'll work: https://forums.tdiclub.com/index.php?threads/max-tire-diameter-2015-gsw.501429/
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
215-65-16 will work, just be mindful of offsets.
 

Lug_Nut

TDIClub Enthusiast, Pre-Forum Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 20, 1998
Location
Sterling, Massachusetts. USA
TDI
idi: 1988 Bolens DGT1700H, the other oil burner: 1967 Saab Sonett II two stroke
Offset (back space) is important to maintain handling and steering geometry during turning, almost inconsequential on rear non-steering wheels.
On the steering wheels the offset keeps the tire's tread contact patch and the intersection of the road surface to the "king pin" axis line between the lower ball joint and upper (whether ball joint or strut bearing) close. The further apart the center of the tire contact patch and this "king pin" line are the weirder the handling becomes.
That was more critical with narrow wheels and tires. Modern tires have more tread width and more leeway before that wide tire's center moves inward or outward further from that "king pin" pivot axis.
Taller diameter tires (Tiguan) will benefit from rims with less offset than shorter tires (Golf) if the lower arm and upper strut mount are identical on both. I had found that 5 mm offset difference was almost un-noticed on my mark IIIs and IVs when using same sized tires on 'correct' offset rims, but around 10 mm there was definitely something amiss.
 

RIP TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 16, 2000
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
TDI
'15 GSW SE 6MT...... '01 Golf GLS 5MT.... '96 Passat Variant....
Offset (back space) is important to maintain handling and steering geometry during turning, almost inconsequential on rear non-steering wheels.
On the steering wheels the offset keeps the tire's tread contact patch and the intersection of the road surface to the "king pin" axis line between the lower ball joint and upper (whether ball joint or strut bearing) close. The further apart the center of the tire contact patch and this "king pin" line are the weirder the handling becomes.
And the "direction" of the distance between center of tire contact patch and the virtual intersection point of road and king pin axis, often called "scrub radius", is critical as well. VW's have traditionally had negative scrub radius (king pin axis road intersection point is outboard of tire contact patch center). The theory was that if a steering linkage failure occurs and the wheels are free to steer themselves, the wheels will tend to toe-in, a safer emergency condition than with positive scrub radius which would result in the wheels tending to toe-out when left to their own devices.

Scrub radius also has some effect on toe relative to braking and accelerative forces. Negative scrub radius will tend to toe wheels in under braking and toe them out under acceleration. Positive scrub radius is just the opposite. And the greater the length of the scrub radius in either direction, the greater the toe effect.

When changing offsets and/or tire diameters its probably wise to consider scrub radius, particularly keeping it negative if possible, even if its reduced from stock spec.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
When changing offsets and/or tire diameters its probably wise to consider bling and instagram street creed above all else.

fixed for you ;)
 

turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
My MK6 came with Portos in 7"x17" ET 54. I bought some nice 5 spokes in 7.5"x17" ET 45. Didn't notice much difference in handling, though the unsprung/rotational weight was a fair bit less. They looked better sitting nearly flush with the fenders, though.
 

Lug_Nut

TDIClub Enthusiast, Pre-Forum Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 20, 1998
Location
Sterling, Massachusetts. USA
TDI
idi: 1988 Bolens DGT1700H, the other oil burner: 1967 Saab Sonett II two stroke
My B4s had ET38 as the stock offset. I picked up a set of Audi 4000 rims with ET45 and stuck a set of Hoosier A8s on them for autocross. Straight ahead all was OK, but turning almost pulled the wheel out of my hands into a tighter turn. Like no power assist with the ET38 to over assist with the 45s.
That was ideal for auto-X, but I couldn't deal with that tendency when I later put winter tires on those Audi wheels. What worked on the cone courses was un-nerving on public roads.
I didn't try any spacers to move the 45s outward towards where the 38s were positioned, but that was a possibility.
 
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