17's on nova. what arch work?

[AlanH]

i'm getting ever closer to getting my nova back on the road, c20xe powered on twin 40's with cams, few light internal mods etc. got a gsi kit on already and i've decided i want it sat on 17's. i'm pretty competent with bodywork so will be doing all the work myself (worked in vehicle body repair for a while) but thought i'd get peoples opinions off here as to how to go about it rather than just start chopping the rear arches up. do i cut the lip off the rear arches and weld the inner and outer skin together, tap the lip upward or something different?? im sure a few of you guys will have already done this and could save me a lot of messing about. :thumb:

[DAN-F]

ive had 17s a few years back, i got mine rolled i didnt want to cut them and have them rusting through in 12 months

[Dod]

Depends on the wheels and the offset. Anything in particular in Mind?

[AlanH]

nothing in particular, was gonna see what took my fancy and the closest offset i could get hold of. know of any that are close to 49?

[DAN-F]

48 or 50 lol sorry couldnt resist

[Dod]

Pick a wheel and it'll help describe the work needed. Its hard to say otherwise.

[white2lSR]

get 16's. looks better, handles better and very little arch work if any.
why not be different and get some speedlines lol

[Dod]

TBH with the profile difference in the tyres betwen 16 and 17" tyres there isnt much difference in Mods needed or Handeling.

[AlanH]

pmsl dan. big difference in gettin tyres though, can get cheap 17' ones and reckon it'll eat them pretty quickly. will be at least -60mm front and rear and fancy a set of gunmetal wolfrace pro sprint. et40 offset, 7j width and have 205 40s on when new. am i right in thinking i'll need 195's? and could i get a few mm machined off wheel to change offset to closer to std. vaux? seen a nova in total vaux with a set of wolfrace voodoos that had this done

[Dod]

Cant get 17" in that size very handy. Your offsets far too far out, you NEED et49.

[Mike B GTE]

go for 16s, stick 40 series rubber on them and save yourself the bother. 17s willmake it look like a rollerskate anyway

[AlanH]

have seen novas with 17's on before that werent et49 without wide arch kits. not sure about getting wheels machined out that far, would consider a few mm if i could get it done cheap but 9mm is a lot of metal to shave off

[AlanH]

what sorta arch work would i have to do to fit 16's then?

[Dod]

Again, depends on the offset. People say Speedlines fit with no work needed, others say they do. Depends on how low your car sits as well.

[AlanH]

speedlines not an option, they're like bellybuttons, evry1's got them. be a non standard vaux offset. 15's i had on when i bought the car were wrong offset but only caught on lip of rear arch. looked gash though so scrapped them and bought mk4 astra gsi wheels and painted them the same gloss back as my sideskirts etc. for now until i get a nice set of bigger rims

[Dod]

Keep between et45 and 49 and there shouldnt be too much hassle unless you have a huge Suspension drop.

[AlanH]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/16-TSW-EVO-Alloy-Wheels-with-Tyres-VW-VAUXHALL-HONDA_W0QQitemZ250272930168QQcmdZViewItem?hash=ite m250272930168&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318 <<something like them

[AlanH]

can only find et40's and its -60mm so think i'm gonna have to enquire about machining wheels out 5mm or so

[Dod]

You can roll and flair the arches on the rear but the fronts are trickier to do.

[AlanH]

how would i go about doing that? have a spare pass front wing so will give it a bash on that first

[Dod]

The fronts are difficult, but try and roll flat the arch lip and if possible stretch the part that hides the wheel out the way. You could use your Mother/Missus's Rolling Pin but its not reckoended. They get very angry. lol

[AlanH]

lmao. will give it a go and see how it turns out, cheers for the advice

[Dod]

:thumb:

[markfreeman]

Stick with 16's, they run better and certainly look better on the car. Less work to put on as well.

[large_steve182]

15's ftw

[AlanH]

got 15's, too small. keepin them and fitting toyos for 1/4 mile runs. managed to source a nice set of aftermarket 16's in an et48 offset (close enough?) and have never seen them before so a better option than speedlines