Hi,

I have just bought some Kahn RSR 7 x 17" alloys fitted with tyres 205/40/17. Two wheels are offset ET30 and two are ET35.

They fit straight onto the rear hubs of my fabia vrs but neither offsets fit correctly on the front hubs and rub/grind against the brake calipers once in position.

Am i correct in asuming i need a pair of spacers for the front hubs to allow enough caliper clearance?

I don't suppose anyone would know what size spacer i'd need and where i could purchase some along with longer bolts to suit?

Also, which alloys (ET30 or ET35) should i fit to the front and rear?

Sorry to appear like a noob but i keep reading conflicting information and wondered if anyone had any clear and helpful information on this. Or has anyone experienced this problem before with Kahn RSR's or similar?

Thanks in advance.

I wouldnt have thought these would foul your brakes, i ran 17'' wheels on mine with an ET35 and they didnt rub anything. I then fitted spacers, 20mm on the back making it ET15 and 15mm at the front which would make it in theory an ET of 20 with only slight rubbing on arches. Im not sure why that would rub. If anything i would run the ET35 at the front, and the Et 30 on the back to give it a staggered wider look at the back. Can get h and r spacers from quite a few places, try a google search of on ebay theres quite a few sets that come with bolts etc.

Do they fit snugly on to the hub ok?

You might need the ET35 wheels on the front to clear the brakes. My current wheels are ET35 I believe, and they had no issues clearing 312mm Audi TT brakes.

Both the ET30 and ET35 fit snuggly to the front hub but niether, once in situe and rotated whilst up on the jack allow enough clearance for the brake calipers.

The rear of the new RSR alloy which attaches to the hub is a fair bit wider/thicker and more substantial than the standard alloys and it's this rear 'girth' that grazes the caliper when the wheel is turned.

The ET30 alloy seems to graze the front caliper slightly less than the ET35. I thought it would be the other way round as like you say you would both put the ET35 at the front?!

I tried fitting a 5mm (non-hubcentric) spacer today and using the ET30 alloy it allowed just enough clearance for the caliper but the standard bolts weren't long enough! (Wheelmania said the standard length bolts would be fine!!!)

The guys at Wheelmania said if the 5mm didn't work then they could order a pair of 10mm hubcentric spacers and longer bolts to suit for about £60.

Do you think 10mm would be the best option and is that a reasonable price to pay?

The lower the ET number the 'More' the wheel will stick out from the hub that is why the ET30 fits slightly better.

Are they a deep dish design as that would explain them catching the brakes,as most et 30/35 wheels should be fine.

I would order some 15mm hubcentrics from Eibach. AwesomeGTI do them.

Are they "just rubbing" or is it clear they need to come out loads to clear the brakes?

I am surprised, having found a pic on google images, that they do rub. Must be quite different to oem wheels behind the spokes? Are they rubbing on those angled bits where the end of the spoke merges into the inside of the rim?

Compared to my current oem VW wheels which cleared 312mm with no spacers, but did need 15mm ones to clear brembos adequately.

Just a thought....

If the standard front brakes were upgraded to 312mm oct/tt brakes, wouldn't the new larger caliper be positioned further away from the centre hub and fixing points allowing much better clearance at the rear of the alloy? Therefore negating the need for a spacer?!:confused:

Perhaps a way round the problem in the long term supposing i keep these damm alloys:rolleyes:

Well, as 312mm TT brakes fit under the fabia vRS stock rims without spacers, I imagine they are not any/much bigger in any direction than the 288s. Generally though, bigger brakes mean more comprimised space behind the alloys meaning you need to push them further out and get some with bigger offsets.

I would order some 15mm hubcentrics from Eibach. AwesomeGTI do them.

Are they "just rubbing" or is it clear they need to come out loads to clear the brakes?

When i rotate the jacked up wheel the angleded bits you mention below 'just' scrape the caliper.

I am surprised, having found a pic on google images, that they do rub. Must be quite different to oem wheels behind the spokes? Yeah, the area behind is much 'wider' than the standard oem wheels. Are they rubbing on those angled bits where the end of the spoke merges into the inside of the rim? Yeah

Compared to my current oem VW wheels which cleared 312mm with no spacers, but did need 15mm ones to clear brembos adequately.

Thanks, i'll get in touch with awesomeGTI.

The guy i bought them from had them fitted to a vw beettle so you'd have thought they'd have fitted straight on.

Sounds like it's just a poor choice of design of wheel to be honest then. I like the style, but if it still catches those spokey bits after spacing out 15mm, I would find another wheel....

I think you're right, i'll give it a go with some 15mm's and hope for the best, otherwise i guess they'll be back on ebay.

Cheers for the help:thumbup:

Its odd as i sold a set of 17" RSR's to Colin for his vRS many moons ago and they fitted just fine.

That's very strange, even makes me question my ability to change a wheel:P.

But i'm pretty certain i'm not doing anything wrong. Maybe his RSR's were a totally different offset? I don't know!

Anyway, i've ordered a pair of 10mm hubcentric spacers as i think that'll give me enough caliper clearance. They come with 40mm wheel bolts so that should give me enough thread for a good fixing on the front hubs. The standard bolts have about 27/28mm of thread.

Let's hope they solve the problem, i'll let you know how i get on....

Well I managed to get hold of some hub centric spacers from Wheelmania. I ordered a pair of 10mm but they delivered some 15mm with some 50mm long bolts. The alloys now fit on but now extend past the edge of the wheel arches by about 10mm!!

Also i have a slight but constant steering wheel judder and after a trip to my local tyre centre for balancing it still judders leading me to believe it's down to the spacers.

I plan on getting some slightly shorter bolts (approx 35mm) and replace the 15mm hubcentric spacers with some 5mm non-hubcentrics. (standard bolts are too short and new 50mm bolts are to long for the 5mm spacers!

Hopefully this will finally solve the problem........

If not i think the RSR's will be appearing soon on ebay again and i'll revert back to the standard 16's and perhaps powder coat them gun metal/charcoal....

Your no having much luck! I would take the 15mm ones back and say you want the 10mm ones to try? Must be annoying not getting them on every time! Nice wheel though, will look good once there on!