MK2 7'' Rims to wide??

[Royman]

I have a MK2 and am looking at some 13x7'' Hotwires, wondering if im going to get rubbage? I dont have flares and the car is dropped about 2 inches. Just want to know if anyone else has anything similar and if they will sit to far out and rub on guards? Also the tyre size you are running with.

Any help would be great as I dont want to purchase mags that are more hassle than they are worth.

Cheers.

[Regs RS]

G'day Royman Im running 15x7s with king sports low (30mm lower than standard) on the front with 195/50s & 205/50s rear. fronts just touch the mudflaps on full lock, no problems with the guards but they are rolled. I think with the correct offset 7" is not a problem, my rims were bought new to suit an Escort

[T3man]

Most 7" rims will cause a problem - you need to at least roll the guards, and sometimes even that is not enough if the car is lowered. The biggest problem with 7" rims is that they are simply too heavy for the front end - it causes premature wear on all components including wheel bearings. I have used all different sizes over the years and 5.5" or 6" are really the best all-round option. They just don't look as tuff as 7s.

[Regs RS]

Well, while I had the front wheels off the RS today adjusting the bearings I decided to do a bit of weighing. Standard RS factory alloys & tyres (5.5”) 12.5kg,13x6’’chevolet turbos with 205/60s 14.8kg & what I run 15x7” superlites?? :(:(:( With 195/50s 17.6kg so therefore reason dictates we all use standard rims yahoo.

The amount of pleasure I derive from moulding the look & performance characteristics of the RS is immeasurable. : : To think that for the price of a new set of wheel bearing i.e. $34 or any other suspension component all of which are still reasonably priced offset by the amount of km’s done per year in a vehicle which is basically a weekend toy is fully justified, I feel I can live with my front end suspension being destroyed in half its normal life span. After all what are we talking about 5000km’s a year? So if a normal front suspension lasts for 80,000km’s and we are getting 40,000km’s therefore it is 8 years between rebuilds, I can live with that. I’m sorry but I am that vein.

[RSgerry]

Spot on Reg. Similarly, I had some guy try to talk me out of R Spec tyres for my Mini (that he couldn't supply) on the basis that I would only get about 20,000 kms from them. The car does about 2000 km a year, so that means about 10 years from a set of tyres. Thats not bad....

[outback_ute]

RSgerry - same situation for me, although I got mine from Stuckey Tyres so they didn't try to talk me out of them! They did ask if the car was raced or just driven on the road - to determine the speed range necessary for balancing.

Reg - don't forget the extra unsprung weight will affect the handling.

[T3man]

If your car's not being driven and you just want to look tuff then go for the sevens - helll, go for eights if you like.

I do like to drive mine. And I do like to have it handle like an Escort should - that means the less unsprung weight the better - I don't like being shown up on the track or the road by "lesser" vehicles. So I'll just keep running my 5.5s and let the car's handling do the talking rather than have just a show pony.

To each his own ... I admit I do love the look of the show cars slammed and with big wheels on them.

[Regs RS]

Yes I know I am paying a handling penalty with 7'' rims weight wise, & I would hate to run with T3 man after a heavy shower of rain with big puddles everywhere, but as far as driving the car like an "Escort should be" belive me I do. Also Ive only had these on the car for about 4mths & find the turn in over the old 13x6s with 205/60s that where on the car when I bought it nothing short of amazing. So what do you think would happen if we put Simon on 5.5s?

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=d01VBR...eature=related

[Royman]

Cheers guys thanks for the different points of view, ordered some 13x7 modgies, they should look the part, hopefully with a quick guard lip they wont give me to much hassles.