|
From YourSITE.com Feature Cars Looking back on our Project TT Coupe, the first modifications we ever made to the black 2-door were a new set of wheels and tires. The Neuspeed RS10’s and Toyo T1R tires have served Project TT well for the past two years or so. The setup lasted through several car shows and a couple Audi Club of North America track days. At the time, they were the perfect match for the car. However, tires eventually wear out and a desire to freshen the look of one’s car will often tempt an enthusiast into rationalizing the purchase of a new set of rims. We were not immune.
We’d been happy with the service from Eric and his team at Supreme Power Parts, so we were quite interested when he’d emailed over a new wheel design they’d just received. What we found was both handsome and also affordable – an offering from Dynamic Performance Engineering (DPE). Dynamic Performance Engineering is a relatively new member of the custom wheel community and is run by Manu Gill. They offer a very large selection of custom built to order multi-piece wheels. Their new multi-piece design is known as the S20, and it had a passing resemblance to the classic BBS LM. It was also available in a multitude of finishes and lip sizes. The classic look combined with the opportunity to do a staggered fitment was just what we were looking for. Finish was an easy choice - brushed aluminum centers with a clear coat finish in order to match the TT’s existing brushed aluminum bits. After discussing the various tire size and wheel size combos, we settled in on a 19-inch wheel with a front width of 8.5 inches and a rears width of 9.5 inches. Tires sizes would be 235/35 front and a rather large 265/30 rear. With this staggered approach and a desire for the perfect wheel placement within the fender, deciding upon offset ultimately prove to be the most difficult aspect of ordering custom wheels. A fellow TT enthusiast had prepared a wheel offset calculator that takes into consideration the OEM wheel width and offset, and can determine the recommended offset of any front and/or rear offset combination based upon selected wheel widths or spacer sizes. It will also tell you how far inside or outside the fender you will be with the specific wheel offset and/or spacer. We decided to give it a try, punching in some numbers and came up with some suggested offsets.
In the end, we decided to go with DPE’s expertise based upon their experience in fitting their wheels for numerous TT’s. Not wanting to run into any problems with tire rubbing, we wanted the wheel slightly inboard of the fender. If we didn’t get it right, it would be much easier moving the wheels out then moving them in. Tire choice was next on the list. We ran Toyo T1R’s on the car for the past two years and were very happy with their overall performance. We put nearly 34,000 miles on the tires before passing the wear bars. This included four track days (two weekend sessions) with the Golden Gate chapter of the Audi Club of North America as well. We don’t think we could have asked any more from a set of tires. The Toyo’s performed well in all conditions and were one of the lightest tires in their segment, so we really had no reason to look elsewhere. Why not use them a second time? Unlike stock wheels and tires that are available in various warehouses around the country or over seas, each DPE wheel is made to order. This results in a wait of about 6-8 weeks while they are built.
As we waited for the order to be delivered, we considered the fact that there would be a performance disadvantage to our new setup. Our initial wheel choice with the RS10 from Neuspeed was based on the inherent light weight of the setup. Our new wheels would weigh considerably more - 23lbs at the front and 24lbs+ at the rear. All of this was true enough, though we must admit we made this modification for the looks, loving the staggered appearance that the DPE wheels would provide. A choice to pick up a second set of track wheels made our decision even easier. Going with a smaller diameter and R compound rubber would be better optimized for the track anyway. If you do enough track time, going for a dedicated setup makes a lot of sense, and that’s precisely why we went with a set of 17-inch Flik FTD wheels shod with Hankook Z-211 225/45 “R” compound tires. Pricing for the setup was competitive, and the Flik’s were much more featherweight at 18 lbs. Once the DPEs arrived, we did run into a fitment issue. Our TT’s KW Variant 3 coilovers have a remote reservoir on the bottom of the rear shock that protrudes down about 2 inches. While there was plenty of clearance on the shock body, due to the angle of the shock and the location of the reservoir, the inner lip of the wheel was almost rubbing on the reservoir. While we’d known of this potential problem with the KW V3’s and 10 inch wheels, we felt the 9.5 inch wheels would give adequate clearance when we ordered the wheels. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
We first tried a 5mm spacer, which seemed to work alright until we loaded the car up with some equipment. Figuring we’d try small changes at a time, we tried some 8mm spacers. Again – we still had the problem, though not as bad. Since the 8mm spacers in the rear moved the wheel out a bit more, we tried the 5mm spacers at the front to even out the look. That’s when we ran into another problem. Because of the thicker rotor hats on our Stasis Rotors, we didn’t have enough hub lip for the wheels to center upoon, causing vibration. Now faced with problems in the front and rear, we called Eric and Manu from DPE and discussed our options. Manu mentioned that they often make custom spacers for their wheels when people want to fine tune their fit. The spacers take the place of the hubcentric inserts and are machined to be hubcentric themselves. So we decided to try a set of 5mm for the front and 10mm for the rear.
Fortunately, this tailored setup solved the problem. The new spacers worked like a charm. The front vibration was gone, as was the rubbing on the shock reservoir in the rear. We were concerned that the rears would poke out from the fenders or cause potential rubbing on the lip due to the 265/30 tires, but neither problem materialized. The wheels are flush on the front and rear and look great. So our final offsets for the wheels with the integrated spacers were 23mm front and 26mm rear. In the end, we couldn’t be happier with our selection. The staggered wheels look great with the large 3-inch lip at the rear. Of course, we have a bit more understeer now, but that will be solved by moving the H&R rear bar to it’s stiffest setting and dialing in a bit more compression rebound on the V3’s.
We mentioned taking the TT to the track and we were fortunate enough to take part in two ACNA weekend track events at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, California and Reno-Fernley Raceway in Fernley NV. We also attended a NASA HDPE event at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma California. Look for our next segment to report back on experiences at these events.
© Copyright 2004 by YourSITE.com |
