Apex forged wheels installed. Undiluted true feedback

[S3DUDE]

sorry, I think I am still a bit confused with the terms you are using here.
staggered (front and rear tires are different sized) vs square (tires are equal in all four corners)

There is one post where S3Dude mentioned here: https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...1#post15124467
265/265, so assuming 265/35-18 (perfect for front 25.3", but not rear 26.3" + 1.9%)

I am planning on going also with a mild suspension drop like S3Dude, hence why I thought this was a good place to read about it. (EMD or RacingLine, I have had on previous cars and enjoyed the drops and comfort)

If OEM is:
265/30-19
245/35-19

Wouldn't a proper square setup be this, so that you can rotate front and rears?
255/35-18 (front -1.2% on 18x8.5-10", rear +0.8% on 18x8.5-10"....I think 9-9.5" should be pretty square)

Or was the different size recommendations above because they are within the 3% tolerance?

I hope that I can clarify a little bit. My drop on my 8Y Turbo blue on KW V3 and 18" is more of a 1" 1/3", I verified this with my otherwise other RS3 8Y kyalami on bone stock wheels/tires and suspension. Each suspension is going to give you a different feel and what I mean with this is I don't know how much a set of springs will compress compare to coilovers. My intent with this car was to have a true daily and track car and not just a daily and spirited sports car.

I am saying this because on a regular street you can't go nuts on the turns on regular all season tires but at the track you can get serious on tight turns and push the limits on sticky tires and for that I planned on the rear sway bars, the sticky tires and the KW V3 with the top and bottom adjustments. I knew that the tires would have to "tuck in" inside the wheel wheel, I will never built a car that rubs tires on the inner wheel well, is not my style. When I picked this set-up I did a lot of research but also I would say that a lot of people just buy suspension for the looks and a bit for performance and that is perfectly fine but when you are at the road course and you are pushing the limits on the car (3 wheels) heavy turns you don't want any rubbing (ideally).

Another thing that I need to mention and I think Geirsen also mentioned is the characteristics of each tire. Believe it or not some tires are wider than others by a significant margin, look a guy on YouTube named VAG performance, he shows various tires width and compares them and also test them on his RS3. I personally wouldn't go past 255 in the back (rear) next time around, that is my absolute limit but I will try them next time along with 275's in the fronts. I opted for the reverse staggered this time because I was convinced on the 8Y platform that they did it right this time, much wider hardware (fenders, maybe longer axles?, adjusted hubs) and the rear "live" diff that makes the car dance if you push it. The downside of this set-up is obviously the lack of ability to rotate but that is the price to pay.

You could go square set-up and be happy, this car is phenomenal also with the square set-up but I personally think that the wider tire combo(front) and a little bit of rear tail happy with "skinnier" tires (rear) and that rear live rear diff is the right spot. At the end of the day is all about how you are going to use your car, I had to do the rear negative camber because my rear 245 were touching at low speeds without even turning. I also removed the plastic black tabs which were positively rubbing. My car came with a 1.7 degree factory rear camber so I went 2.4 driver rear and 2.5 passenger rear and it solved the issue and you can go 3 degrees if need to. Are you intending on participating on a road course? or autocross? If you ended up dropping the car you will need an alignment regardless.

Look at this picture and look how sank in is the driver side rear tire/wheel. You come from a 28-30 MPH very tight corner. The tire is completely buried. You can't do that without rubbing unless you remove the plastic tabs and mess with the rear camber a bit and remember, I am on the hardest set-up on the neuspeed rear sway bar too. I am attaching the before and after alignment sheet

[Jetdriver]

I hope that I can clarify a little bit. My drop on my 8Y Turbo blue on KW V3 and 18" is more of a 1" 1/3", I verified this with my otherwise other RS3 8Y kyalami on bone stock wheels/tires and suspension. Each suspension is going to give you a different feel and what I mean with this is I don't know how much a set of springs will compress compare to coilovers. My intent with this car waste have a true daily and track car and not just a daily and spirited sports car. I am saying this because on a regular street you can't go nut on the turns on regular all season tires but at the track you can get serious on tight turns and push the limits on sticky tires and for that I planned on the rear sway bars, the sticky tires and the KW V3 with the top and bottom adjustments. I knew that the tires would have to "tuck in" inside the wheel wheel, I will never built a car that rubs tires on the inner wheel well, is not my style. When I picked this set-up I did a lot of research but also I would say that a lot of people just buy suspension for the looks and a bit for performance and that is perfectly fine but when you are at the road course and you are pushing the limits on the car (3 wheels) heavy turns you don't want any rubbing (ideally).

Another thing that I need to mention and I think Geirsen also mentioned is the characteristics of each tire. some tires are believe it or not wider than others by a significant margin, look a guy on YouTube named VAG performance, he shows various tires width and compares them and also test them on his RS3. I personally wouldn't go past 255 in the back (rear) next time around, that is my absolute limit but I will try them next time along with 275's in the fronts. I opted for the reverse staggered this time because I was convinced on the 8Y platform that they did it right this time, much wider hardware (fenders, maybe longer axles?, adjusted hubs) and the rear "live" diff that makes the car dance if you push it. The downside of this set-up is obviously the lack of ability to rotate but that is the price to pay.

You could go square set-up and be happy, this car is phenomenal also with the square set-up but I personally think that the wider tire combo(front) and a little bit of rear tail happy with "skinnier" tires (rear) and that rear live rear diff is the right spot. At the end of the day is all about how you are going to use your car, I had to do the rear negative camber because my rear 245 were touching at low speeds without even turning. I also removed the plastic black tabs which were positively rubbing. My car came with a 1.7 degree factory rear camber so I went 2.4 driver rear and 2.5 passenger rear and it solved the issue and you can go 3 degrees if need to. Are you intending on participating on a road course? or autocross? If you ended up dropping the car you will need an alignment regardless.

Look at this picture and look how sank in is the driver side rear tire/wheel. You come from a 28-30 MPH very tight corner. The tire is completely buried. You can't do that without rubbing unless you remove the plastic tabs and mess with the rear camber a bit and remember, I am on the hardest set-up on the neuspeed rear sway bar too.

1-1/3" is a pretty significant drop. This car is low as it is, or at least it is to me. I don't have any plans on lowering mine. No tracking for me so it'd mostly be for aesthetics and I'm just not willing to deal with the negatives of lowering springs just for looks. We talked about this before, but after getting a bunch of free powder coat swatches sent to be from Prismatic, I don't think any powder coater is going to guarantee me that coating the stockers will come out the way I want them to. Also, I do like the idea of an 18" wheel over a 19" and having a little more rubber between my wheel and these wonderful NJ roads that are full of pot holes. I'm running stockers with a 10mm spacer front and rear. No rubbing. I think 275 up front and 255 would look pretty sweet.

[RudyH]

Thanks everyone, I think S3Dude the info was useful....I had some EMD springs and was transitioning from S4 to Golf R (as mentioned by Geirsen via spacer due to bore), I would rub or have some miserable noises. If there is anything from modifying cars I have learned:

'Tires are the most important part of the car!'

So giving it a bit more attention. Screwing that up, really kills anything else you might do.

Thanks too Giersen for clarifying, the square set-up is mostly for my winter setup where narrow is better, and I am not too worried about pushing the rubber to its limits. The reverse staggered info /w the 18" will be for the summer / track time - so truly appreciate the info in this thread! Unfortunately my current winter wheels are 18x8...so those will likely need to be the first wheels to replace with something I don't mind taking to get repaired from potholes...before the summer / track set-up is bought.

[compprep]

I'm on a Mustang forum and anyone there who has purchased/used Apex wheel really like them too!!