RE: 16V rocco "tucked in" rear wheels...

[scirocco.gtx@juno.com (Mark A Peele)]

From: Chris Coracini <Coracin@usdl.com>

i'm finding it hard to visualize why widening the rear track would
adversely affect handling....  who's to say it wouldn't improve
handling?

**who's to say it would not make it worse? The engineers (I assume) had
some purpose in making the rear track narrower than the front. Of course,
the extreme example would be "pimped" hondas/whatever with wheelspacers
such that the inside rim of the wheel is outside of the fender lip. It's
a no brainer that these cars handle like crap and in fact are dangerous. 

  i could see geometry problems if the suspension lever arm was
made longer (like in rear suspensions that pivot on a longitudinal axis,
ala my old X1/9.  it did the saggy rear end thing with the wider track,
and increased negative camber because of that....), but on the twist
beam axle, it won't have that effect.  the stationary ride height will
be the same as will the spring rate.  the only geometry that will change
a little it when the axle twists in turns, at which point the axle will
twist a *little* more (hardly anything, really) for the same given car
"lean".  this acts sorta like a stiffer rear roll bar (not a lot) which
wouldn't hurt i don't think...  but again this is just from visualizing
the movements, i'd like to hear some opinions, as well as from some one
that has done this (either behind the stub axle or behind the wheel...).

**I have not actually done this - no comment.

 i know i've read a few people that have put one behind the wheel....

***I've seen people use the wheel spacers - the purpose being to use a
rim that it not otherwise suitable for our cars (ie. incorrect offset). 

***this should be a source for a lively discussion  :-)

Mark . . .   (THINK VW)
Scirocco 1982, Golf GT 1987
Previous Sciroccos: 1981S (RIP), 1980S, 1975TS, 1975
http://home.t-online.de/home/SCIROCCO2/mark.htm


>----------
>From: 	scirocco.gtx@juno.com[SMTP:scirocco.gtx@juno.com]
>Sent: 	Monday, December 07, 1998 1:56 PM
>To: 	scirocco-l@scirocco.org
>Subject: 	16V rocco "tucked in" rear wheels...
>
>The rear track on all Sciroccos is smaller than the front.
>
>To screw with this by widening the rear track vis a vis the front will
>mess up the chassis geometry that VW engineers designed into the chassis
>and probably adversely affect handling . . . .
>
>$.02
>
>Mark . . .   (THINK VW)
>Scirocco 1982, Golf GT 1987
>Previous Sciroccos: 1981S (RIP), 1980S, 1975TS, 1975
>http://home.t-online.de/home/SCIROCCO2/mark.htm
>--------- Begin forwarded message ----------
>From: Chris Coracini <Coracin@usdl.com>
>To: "'scirocco-l@scirocco.org'" <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
>Subject: 16V rocco "tucked in" rear wheels...
>Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 13:23:25 -0500
>Message-ID:
><c=US%a=_%p=USDLMAIL%l=N-SEUSDHQ-RA-981207182325Z-33842@n-sewpbcbo-exc.usdl.c
>om>
>
>ever notice the rear wheels on 16V sciroccos (and i guess all of
>them...) are more "tucked in" than the front wheels?  it's not that big
>a deal, but i think it would look a lot better if they were flush like
>the front wheels...  i was thinking about putting a spacer on them (10
>to 15mm), but i decided against it because the load on the wheel bearing
>wouldn't be balanced anymore and may wear them out faster (and i don't
>want to ruin anything for purely cosmetic reasons...)  but i am debating
>another more far fetched idea that seemingly should work...  
>
>the stub axles/brakes/hub assembly on the rear wheels are bolted onto
>the axle.  i've seen camber correction plates for VW's and they get
>bolted up between the assembly and the axle face...  so, what about
>putting a spacer BETWEEN the axle face and the wheel carrier assembly
>thingy....  i can't see why this wouldn't work, as long as the spacer
>was toleranced well and was very flat so as not to change the camber
>setting.  well?  why wouldn't this work?  it would keep the bearing load
>the same and would improve the looks of the car too...  anybody ever try
>this, done this?  
>
>chris
>86 16V scirocco
>
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