MK4 Bora V6 4Motion Opinion wanted.

[Bora2864]

Gonna need some new tyres soon so thought that as a cheaper alternative to lowering, I could increase the profile by 5 or 10mm to fill the wheel arch a bit more.

I know this will slightly raise the car but do you think it would look better?
Also the speedo currently reads slightly over so that effect is not a problem.

Doing this will keep the centre of the wheel at the centre of the radius of the wheel arch as well which I think is important for it to look right.

any suggestions would be nice and pics too if possible.
Thanks

[Bora2864]

Side profile view

[jayjay]

is that your car? it looks great

with regard to the increase in tyre profile, you'll get a tad bit more sidewall flex, a tad slower acceleration and your speedo would read even more slightly over.

i bought coilovers for my golf, albeit of the cheaper variety, but not for the lowering, but for a sportier suspension set up.

lowering vs. larger tyres will look completely different. *ahem* slam it

[Blitzen]

Drop it...I'm sure Weitech or H&R do springs for the Bora at a good price(Try http://www.inmotive.com.au/). I got my Polo GTI springs for $400 through them, so I don't think you will pay much more. In my opinion, higher profile tyres would look really bad, but dropping it would look awesome, and the handling would take it to the next level.

[gareth_oau]

lowering it will look a lot better and if yr not worried about improving the handling, the a set of lowerred springs is a way cheaper option.

increasing the profile will look worse, and will result in an incorrect speedo and may in fact be illegal, unless you go for narrower tyres to offset the larger profile.

High profile, skinny tyres - welcome to the retro 1970's

[jayjay]

also, if cost is a greater factor, you could quite cheaply get your springs reset rather than getting buying sports springs/shocks/windylows.

is your car on 18s? i think that would looks perfect dropped 2 inches... like still perfectly usuable as a daily driver over shytalicious australian roads, but just the right amount of tuck

[Bora2864]

Thanks for the advice. You guys are really good at persuading me to lower it. I do think it would look better an inch or 2 lower but am still considering the increased profile.

Correct me if I'm wrong but atm when the speedo says 100 im actually doing about 97 so increase of profile would be in the fixing direction. Not that that is important.

I'll keep you posted about what i decide...

[balkanac]

Press "fan down", Blue temp button and "econ" button together, get to the setting 16 and go for a drive on the freeway. it will tell you how fast you are actually going

[Lance B]

What size are the tyres and rims at the moment?

I wouldn't lower it too much as I think it looks great now as I'm not a fan of big amounts of lowering, but this is just my thoughts and other people seem to like the big lowered look. To me, many go waaay too far with lowering and make the car look ridiculous. Maybe an inch lowered at most would be ok.

[99gti]

There is a set of Konis on eBay at the moment for a 4mo. Go searching for them, seek and purchase!

Problem solved!

[Bora2864]

What size are the tyres and rims at the moment?

I wouldn't lower it too much as I think it looks great now as I'm not a fan of big amounts of lowering, but this is just my thoughts and other people seem to like the big lowered look. To me, many go waaay too far with lowering and make the car look ridiculous. Maybe an inch lowered at most would be ok.

They are 18's with a 40 mm wall. I have seen other Bora's with 16's and 55mm walls so I dont think there is any need to increase the profile.

As far as lowering goes, I totally agree. Just want something subtle, thats why im not sure if its worth it for the cost.

About to go and try that air con thing but the only way that i can think it would work is through the wheel speed sensor, unless setting 16 somehow defines the radius. I'll let you know...

Is your passat lowered at all? It sits pretty well.

[Lance B]

They are 18's with a 40 mm wall. I have seen other Bora's with 16's and 55mm walls so I dont think there is any need to increase the profile.

As far as lowering goes, I totally agree. Just want something subtle, thats why im not sure if its worth it for the cost.

About to go and try that air con thing but the only way that i can think it would work is through the wheel speed sensor, unless setting 16 somehow defines the radius. I'll let you know...

Is your passat lowered at all? It sits pretty well.

It's not lowered, yet. I am thinking of getting the genuine lower springs that come with the factory 18"/sport package which drop it 15mm. WHen you order the Passat with the 18" rims from the factory, they also lower the suspension 15mm. I think this is all that it needs and still make it driveable, ie over speed humps and car parks etc. I am also thinking of getting the body kit, which is the side skirts and front spoiler package.

[DavidJ]

Press "fan down", Blue temp button and "econ" button together, get to the setting 16 and go for a drive on the freeway. it will tell you how fast you are actually going

Is there any complete instructions for this someplace ?
How to reset the display to normal once the speed is checked.
What are the other possible settings and readouts, anythings useful ?

TIA's for helping with my first post (after using the newbie place).

[DavidJ]

[solved]

Is there any complete instructions for this someplace ?
How to reset the display to normal once the speed is checked.
What are the other possible settings and readouts, anythings useful ?

TIA's for helping with my first post (after using the newbie place).

This link seems good.

http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/517/Climatronic_Self_Diagnostics.pdf

[McDub]

They are 18's with a 40 mm wall. I have seen other Bora's with 16's and 55mm walls so I dont think there is any need to increase the profile.

40 and 55 profile does not equal 40mm and 55mm tyre wall (unless both wheels are 100mm wide...)

Profile = height of wheel wall/width of tyre *100

so 40 profile means the height of the wall is 40% the height of the tyre width, eg. 0.4x225=90mm
If you still have a 40 profile tyre, but you increase your width to 235, your wall will actually increase.