I am trying to info some useful info on determining how to choose the correct offset for my application. What I am trying to do and avoid is having to wait to purchase my bling bling wheels until after I finish the cosmetic side of the car. I need to upgrade my brakes and suspension, but in order to do so, apparently I need to upgrade my wheels as well(for the brake side at least). Now, I plan on adding 20mm front and 50mm wide rear fenders somewhere down this cash sucking rode I am on and I originally wanted to pick the correct wheel sizing for that particular setup which would compliment the car. BUT since I feel like I might need to purchase the wheels first, IF I was to choose a 18x8f /18x9r setup or something to that affect on stock s14 body what offset is recommended to have the wheel sit about 1/2 inch inside the fenders or flush with the fenders.

I like the way Johns S14 used to work with his Volks, so thats similar to what I am shooting for, but I've also come to like the apperence of a slightly tucked wheel/offset(?)
NOW, since I plan on going wide fenders and are going to purchase the wheels first, is it possible to achieve the look I want using a setup now for the stock body and adding H&R spacers after the body work to acheive this or even longer/stronger studs?

Any info on sizing and such would be highly appreciated. Im not too familar with camber/offset/toe etc but I will be reading and learning in the meantime. The coilover system I plan to use is the Tein Basics, but I dont think you can adjust camber with them without a set of camber plates?

 

Honestly, to make it look flush with both now and later, think about it.

Buy a 20mm spacer for the front, and a 50mm spacer for the rear. Then you'll have the perfect wheels for right now, and the perfect wheels for later.

you only want 18x8 and 18x9 with over fenders??? Why bother?

Overfenders of your size will let you run 18x10 front 18x12 even 13 rear...

18x9.5 -8 front
18x10.5 -9 rear

 

Really...didnt realize I could run that wide of a wheel I've seen 18x10 on someones car from Orlando and I couldnt imagine what a bigger wheel would look like. When going up to that big of a wheel, is there any other precautions when doing the suspension?

 

well think about it 50mm is 2 inches more of room! so of course if you can fit an 18x10 on a stock rear fender of a s14 without doing anything, hell you can fit practically a 18x11 on the back of an s14 with stock fenders with doing a little bit of perfect offset and tire choosing.

so that would mean that with the 50mm wider fenders you can do an 18x13 in the rear.

You should read up on these topics on freshalloy, it's been covered a million times.

 

Im a bit confussed on this but I think your saying buy the spacers for later on and run

as of now

OR with the offset you gave me, run the spacers AND the wheels then take off the spacers off later?

 

Got it. Thanks.

 

no completely wrong.

here's a good idea for you though.

do the math yourself! find out where the hub is in relation to the edge of the fender, then you have the magic number as to what your offset etc needs to be depending on how wide the wheel is.

honestly , you wont be able to have the same set of wheels for both ugly overfenders and stock fender beauty, and still have them look proper on both accounts.

 

My advice on this topic.....and albeit simple, it'll work better than what you apln to do....

Find the wheels you want...whatever the offset, size, ect....buy them, test fit them on the car, and the do whatever the hell you have to do to make them fit.....

Which could be all kinds of different things......pull/rolling fenders, getting wide fenders, rear upper arms for dialing in camber, toe control arms for the rear, coilovers...list goes on, but you get the diea...


Have a good day...

-Bill

 

HAHA i watched it happen, looks so nice...

Cliff