How Low Can I Go ?

[jord294 87]

hello people

 

i have a base model 205, which i am using while i rebuild my gti

 

i have lowered the front on it today with some spare -60mm springs, i had lying around. looks kinda cool now, apart from the rear

 

i'd like to get the car sitting quite low, with a slight street sleeper look.

 

question is, how low can i drop the rear without it looking too much?

 

being a base model, i know rear arches are different to gtis, so if any of you can give me an idea, it would be much appreciated

 

if you have pics, even better.

 

it also has the 14" gti wheels on it, but i may be putting 15" steelies on it

 

thanks

[djinuk 2]

i know i am going to get crucified on here for doing this but here you go, i get no scrapes etc but i have no rear seats so its quite light.

 

 

 

[danpug 1]

If you ever have people in the back of your car don't go that low!! You end up replacing the fuel pipe in the arch very frequently.

[jord294 87]

i know i am going to get crucified on here for doing this but here you go, i get no scrapes etc but i have no rear seats so its quite light.

 

did you have the arches rolled for the 15" wheels to fit?

 

i think that might be a touch too low. but thanks for the picture

 

i never carry back seat passengers, only parts for pug gtis

[TRYNKEEPUP 0]

i once had a 1.1 205 lowered 60mm all round, i had 1.9 wheels with 195/50/15, after much inner arch tickeling with a hammer i could carry 4 people and had minor scrapes on rough roads, but if your running 14s with 185 tyres i think you should be ok with 60ish mm.i once had a 1.1 205 lowered 60mm all round, i had 1.9 wheels with 195/50/15, after much inner arch tickeling with a hammer i could carry 4 people and had minor scrapes on rough roads, but if your running 14s with 185 tyres i think you should be ok with 60ish mm.

[jord294 87]

nice one

 

well at the moment the top of the front tyres are level with the front arch. i'll have to see if i can get the rear looking the same.

 

will post up before and after photos once i get chance.

 

cheers

[paul205mi16 4]

Mine is on 50mm SPAX and it is defo to bouncy (on bump stops!) & uncomfortable around this area, The rear is lowered by 2 splines 30mm ish I think, I'm saving for some new Billies though then Im sure it will be much better

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

On a non GTI, you can go pretty low on 14" wheels, but 15 Speedlines are a real pain.

 

The offset of 14" wheels is much less than the 15" so they sit further in.

 

My previous non GTI had 15's on and caught a lot, even without lowering

[jord294 87]

well i was gonna put some 15" speedlines on the car when it was lowered at the rear

 

but looking at how the front sits now, i think i'll stick with the 14"s and paint them white.

 

cheers

[j_turnell 134 3 Cars]

I had 15's on my XS, if you run decent dampers, had Konis and 45 profile tyres no problem with rubbing at all

[jord294 87]

here's a picture showing the car on std springs and 15" speedlines

 

 

and after fitting the shorter springs

 

 

i didn't know what sort of drop the new springs were. but when i initially measured distance from centre of wheel to edge of wheel arch it was 370mm

after fitting shorter springs, it was 300mm

[tom_m 0]

 

i didn't know what sort of drop the new springs were. but when i initially measured distance from centre of wheel to edge of wheel arch it was 370mm

after fitting shorter springs, it was 300mm

 

too low IMO!

[paul205mi16 4]

Blooming hell, Thats really low evan with 14" wheels.

[jord294 87]

it seems to drive ok. no nasty knocking noises

 

only a 1.1, so not designed for high speed cornering

[bales 1]

I know mine is a gti but this is mine dropped one spline at the back and lowered on coilovers at the front to match. I think it sits very well personally and I havent had any arch issues whatsoever.

 

[DaveW 6]

One spline on a gti beam did have gti shocks too, if you lower yours fit a gti arb and shocks to try stopping the tyre rubbing.

[jord294 87]

will give it a go then.

 

cheers everyone