New wheels

[Petrina Polo]

my tyres appear to have less grip than the stock dunlops despite being one size wider. Maybe tyre compound.

[noone]

Didn't you get Nexen's or something basic Petrina?

I'm not surprised you have less grip, the Conti's are a reasonably good tyre, to replace them with something cheap is likely to reduce traction.

[mozzzy_2000]

Yeah I still on the fence with these Marangoni's. I must admit though they do seem to getting a bit better the more I drive on them but geez any sign of a wet road, look out! They are very much a 'summer' tyre. Infact I don't know how some of you guys over east, where its usually wetter than Perth, like them so much cuz they seem to be really dreadful in the wet.

What gets me is that I have actually increased the width of the footprint by 3 inches yet there is not as much traction as the sportmaxx on much smaller rims. Hmmm..maybe more time is needed as suggested. I bloody hope so!

[Gti Dave]

Yeah cheers Dave. I'd go as far and say cornering and therefore sideways grip is superior to the Sportmaxx so you can corner super fast but in a straight line & in the rain yesterday left me spinning the wheels into 2nd gear and that just did not happen with the sportmaxx. You could drive probably upto about 75-80% of the cars potentional without ever breaking traction in the rain so I am just hoping these maragoni's get better with some Kms on them.

By the way the stretch dooesn't look too bad does it? Those 205s should actually be on 7.5" rim but they do say an 8" is maximum fittment so thats why they don't look too stretched. At least I don't think they do.

Nah mate they look awesome. Definately gives it the complete euro styling look.

[pixl]

What gets me is that I have actually increased the width of the footprint by 3 inches yet there is not as much traction as the sportmaxx on much smaller rims.

http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible_pg2.html

Because it's a long page, Find text with "fat or thin" -- such a great site, learnt so much from it.

[Y2008]

Oh I should add if anyone is wondering but I bought these from TireRack.com in the USA and they cost just under $1600 landed for the 4 wheels. So that worked out to be less than $400 a wheel which is expensive but no where near the cost they are in Perth. Get this; there is only one PZ distributer in Perth, Barbagallo's and they quoted me approx $800 A WHEEL!!! Yikes!

How did you go about the shipping and tax? Do they ship to Australia?

[PA77ON]

are you selling the std gti wheels??

[mozzzy_2000]

Sorry guys been a busy week. Well all up at the time of exchange rate, the total landed price worked out to be about $1595. What we did to avoid any chance of getting slugged import duties for being over $1000AUS was to split the packages into 2 wheels each and I sent one pack to a mates house & one to me. Easy as pie! But to break it down the wheels themselves were about $1100 and so the postage was about $500. Now that seems like heaps for shipping but you should see how large the 2 packages were! Massive.

No I don't have any plans to sell the stock rims as yet. Not sure what I will do with those but I have flirted with the idea of putting them back on whilst its still raining here. Those Marangonis actually make me feel unsafe in the wet and I really think they should not be used in winter to be honest. But ESP keeps everything in check I guess but geez if it wasn't for the ESP I may not be talking to you at this moment in time. You live & learn as they say! lol

[Y2008]

was the ordering process easy...did u need to go through any special processes to be able to have them split it into two packages and get them to ship to australia and so on?

[mozzzy_2000]

No the only issue I had with them was that for some strange reason Tirerack don't accept mastercard or visa from Australian customers. They only accept Amex or a bank/wire transfer. They said they are unable to verfiy personal details with mc & visa and since they have had heaps of fraudulent purchases in the past they will only do Amex or bank transfers. So if you can do that its no problem. Just tell them you wanna split the packages if the total value of the wheels themselves are over $1000. Don't include the postage in that value remember, its solely the value of goods. And besides there are a tonne of other wheels that are cheaper than what I got and so you wouldn't have to worry about import duties in the first place. But with OZ they are generally pretty pricey and mine where on the bottom scale of price. There are some cheaper still but most are more than what mine cost especially the spoked ones that are very popular.
Just remember though that if you split them up you do pay a bit extra for the 2 packages but its less than what you would get slugged if you were charged import duties on one package of 4 wheels.

[Alcip]

Mozzy,
Congratulations on the new wheels.Your new wheels are 17"x8,right?Do you have any problems fitting the new wheels at the rear side since you have the Whiteline Rear Sway Bar,such as scrubbing against the RSB?
I'm planning to get a 17"x8 wheels too and I also have the Whiteline RSB.I'm afraid that they might scrub against each other.
Thanks.

[Whubbsie]

Mozzy,
Congratulations on the new wheels.Your new wheels are 17"x8,right?Do you have any problems fitting the new wheels at the rear side since you have the Whiteline Rear Sway Bar,such as scrubbing against the RSB?
I'm planning to get a 17"x8 wheels too and I also have the Whiteline RSB.I'm afraid that they might scrub against each other.
Thanks.

It won't I was running the same with RSB no issues at all highest offset I ran was +35

[Alcip]

Thanks for the reply Whubbsie,
What if the offset is 38?Would it be a problem?
Thanks

[mozzzy_2000]

yeah they are 17x8" ET35 and no they don't scrub on anything at all. Actually there seems to be tonnes of room in the rear wheels and the only thing stopping you going wider still is the wheel arches. Having seen the results with a 205/40 tyre I'd say that with these wheels you would just be able to get a 215/40 on without any scrubbing but I'd say it would be only mms from that occuring. Its really the front wheels that are of concern as there is not as much room as in the rear.

[Whubbsie]

Thanks for the reply Whubbsie,
What if the offset is 38?Would it be a problem?
Thanks

Untested by me but I think someone else on here had 8s at +38 but yeah can't say for certian if they will be fine.

If they don't work you can always strap on some 5mm spacers they are cheap and you can probably get away with using the original bolts.
I was running +19 at the rear and only scrubbing on really tight corners 5mm spacers wil bring you down +33 which you won't have any problems with.