vw but non t25 question

[melmelody]

hi all ,

the wife has a mk5 golf and i will soon have to change her winter tyres back to summer ones.my question is, i have an extra set of steel rims off a passat that are the same size but have a slightly different ET the original steel wheels have an ET of 47 and the passat ones an ET of 37 could i use these wheels to therefore allowing me to have 2 sets of wheels as opposed to having to get them swapped every 6 months? or wouldthey foul the wheel arches or interfere with the steering lock etc? any help much apprieciated .

cheers mel.

[bigherb]

Have you checked the PCD, Passats are 5x112mm, some Golfs are 5x100mm or 5x112mm

[melmelody]

hi herb,

yes checked the pcd and it is 112 . i originally got these wheels for my golf 4 and discovered they didn't fit ( golf4 is pcd 100) but the golf 5 is 112. its the 10 difference that i need to know about. what i can't figure out is 1 will it cause the wheels to rub the struts or 2 will it cause them to rub the wheel arches ? or will the difference of 10 on the ET make very little difference and therfore be okay? any help much apprieciated.

cheers ,mel.

[AdrianC]

what i can't figure out is 1 will it cause the wheels to rub the struts or 2 will it cause them to rub the wheel arches ?

That's more of a question of tyre size/suspension height than rim offset.

or will the difference of 10 on the ET make very little difference and therfore be okay?

It'll put more load onto the wheel bearings - the centre line of the wheel should be around the centreline of the bearing, to keep the loads equal. Changing those wheels will move it 10mm further in. A 10mm spacer will keep it in the same place.

[bigherb]

Like Adrian says, they will (assuming they are the same rim width) move the rim in towards the strut 10mm,wider rims will move in further, ET plus half the extra rim width. And again as Adrian says the centre line of the wheel should be over the main load carrying bearing of the hub. Other effects of changing the offset are less/more self centring of the steering. more torque steer and tram lining. Either fit a spacer or do like me and use Vredestien Quatrac 3 tyres and leave them on all year.