Just shopping around for some tires now - seems that 215 45 R17's offer a good balance of being popular enough to be reasonably priced (starting at £40/tire for budget ones), low profile to look good, and good size for handling etc.
Very pleased with that.
I'm not sure £40 budget tyres will do your car justice with a 328 engine...
ReplyDeleteyes that's a fair point. I imagine getting it on the road isn't really "the end" of the project, and that over the years I'll continue to improve it. For instance, LSD and traction control are things I might want to add at a later date. But in order to keep a lid on the complexity and more importantly the cost, have to make a few compromises at the early stages.
ReplyDeleteI would consider the LSD essential with that engine, worth keeping an eye on Ebay for a cheap one. (Traction control is an entertaining toy but not desperately useful, I think).
ReplyDeleteWould suggest maybe T1Rs if you're keen to keep costs down, I found them perfectly acceptable for £75 a tyre. Or if you want you can have my 16" build wheels which have legal T1Rs on as an interim solution, would not want much for them.
Agree LSD from outset in build, and go for lowest ratio you can get 2.97/3.07 if possible
ReplyDeletePeter recommends 17" wheels or else you need to modify the mk3 golf rear calipers? Good to bear in mind, thanks for the comments, and I'll keep one eye out for an LSD. Apparently an E30 one also fits I've heard?
ReplyDeleteNot true, I have 15" wheels on mine and didn't need to modify the calipers (front or rear). I suppose it might depend on the wheels, but I don't think it's a major mod (he told me I might need to grind back the cooling fins).
ReplyDeleteNot sure about the E30 LSD. When I looked into this I found a few posts that went into huge detail about the LSD variations so a bit of googling should find the answer.
I agree that a low ratio will be best (with a five speed box it's nice not to need to rev the car too much when doing motorway driving) as you won't need to maximise the torque - but I don't think this is critical. Really can't remember what mine is, 3.15 seems to ring a bell but could be wrong.