tomscott said:
Why are you selling them put them on the coupe!
Good question... I wouldn't say I've had sleepless nights over this, but almost! There are a few reasons.
I'm not keen on the 224s that are currently on the car, but the 18" PSS on them are nearly new and I'd lose a lot of their value if I sold them. So a lighter weight, more modern 18" rim is tempting. I'm also not massively keen on reducing ride quality any further by moving to 19s, although I admit the CSLs just look so damn right on this car that it might just be worth it.
I've got some inner clearance issues to think about with 8.5J fronts because of the KW springs, but I'm less concerned about this now that I've had
a bit of help from the forum to figure things out. CSLs with 12mm spacers should work, but the tolerances will be very small (I would guess they'd clear the spring by about 3mm). In the process of working out all the offsets and clearances I've looked at a lot of 18 rims and the Apex ARC-8s or EC-7s are really appealing, despite not quite looking as good as the CSLs.
What I am currently thinking is that 225/40/19 and 255/35/199 would work on the CSLs and keep a decent sidewall height (1cm more than 235/35/19 and 265/30/19, and 1cm less than stock), but I'd reduce the amount of rim protection a little. It's not essential I go to wider tyres on 19s because this needs to be a setup that works on crap roads and I think I'd only be desperate for a 235/245 front if I tracked the car regularly.
So... lots of thoughts! Tomorrow I'm going to take some measurements of the current setup and maybe that will help with the fannying around. There is so little in it though, that I'd be prepared to let these go for the asking price if someone wants them. If I sold them I could afford to buy the Apex 18s and a decent set of winter rubber for the 224s, so that wouldn't exactly be a sh*t result.
