Budget Mk1 Suspension Set-up & Wheel Q

[Blondie]

Hey folks., a little help if you can:

What is the best suspension set-up to go with but bearing in mind a don't have whole bucket of cash to spend at the moment.

I don't think I'll go beyond 14" on the wheels, and I don't want to have to do any arch work just yet. What will be my best set-up for this?

Cheers

[WABIT]

you can go 15's and be low its all about rim width and tyre size

15x6.5 ET anywhere between 30 and 40 would be good

dom

[Jarred]

what is the goal of the suspension? are you looking to get really low? or make it more sporty, or make it more comfortable? are you lowering it for looks or handling?

and same with the wheels? do you want to achieve a certain 'look' are do you just want to upgrade from the standard wheels?

[Blondie]

I'm going for looks more than anything else, its too high at the moment. I don't want to go too low as I will be using it as a daily driver.

I'm not going for an exact look at the moment but I am being influenced by some of the US stuff hence looking at this style rims:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290394898088&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

I know they are 15" and 7" but I like the look and would probaly suit my car.

Would this size mean I would need to do some arch work?

[Water Boy]

15x7 et25 is sweet in a Mk1

[Jarred]

offset '0' as in the wheels you posted would be too low, and the wheel would poke too far out.

if you get a wheel with a higher offset (ie ET25, perfect as waterboy mentioned) you can always space the wheels out if need be. but you can't space out a low offset wheel.

suspension choice: alot of the US cars are on coilovers, and are reasonably low, but not nessecarily too low for daily driving. my mk 1 is pretty low, and I cope fine driving it daily, although the coils are a little on the stiff side - so I hope comfort isn't too higher priority!

coilovers aren't the only option to get low, you can always run super low springs (ie chopped, shortened etc) which is cheaper, but also more or less illegal, and not entirely safe.

if you want to go for a ride in a coilover'd mk 1, give us a shot i'll be happy to take you for a spin if you're reasonably local & up for it.

As for arch work: that really depends on how low you are, and how wide the tyre you run. you can be reasonably low, have a skinny tyre, & friendly offset (say ET 30) and probably not have to roll the arches. but there are so many combinations out there, I can't really give you a specific yes or no answer.

hope this helps.