Can anyone tell me, in regards to wide body kits, like Archies, (havnt had a chance to call him yet) Will i need to also increase my track width? Get longer control arms and end links? stuff like that? So that my tires dont look like they are sinking into my body?
Most of the widebody kits can use wheel spacers, wider wheels, or wider suspension. It all depends on what you want and how much you have to spend. Most of the people using the MadArch widebody use either spacers or wider wheels to bring the wheel edge out to the body edge.
which option would be best drivability wise do u think? The wider suspension or wheels? I dont like spacers bcc there hard on the wheel bearings. Wider wheels sounds better...what sizes do ppl normally switch too?
which option would be best drivability wise do u think? The wider suspension or wheels? I dont like spacers bcc there hard on the wheel bearings. Wider wheels sounds better...what sizes do ppl normally switch too?
well, most probably just do wider wheels (cheaper) but a wider suspension (custom) constitutes changes in geometry, which could be good or bad depending on they are carried out.
------------------ 1st class A**hole.
we're in desperate need of a little more religion to nurse your god-like point of view...
Using a wider track suspension, if designed properly, will always be superior to adding wider wheels to the existing suspension. You might be surprised at how little the cost difference can be too. The super wide wheels you see in the photos above are three piece wheels which cost anywhere from $800 apiece and more, unless you can find them on eBay from someone who didn't know what they were doing when they ordered their wheels and now have to get rid of them. Even then, sending wheels in to get modified by some of the big wheel manufacturers isn't cheap. It's worth researching before making a decision based solely on cost.
The reason why a wider track suspension is almost always better is hard to explain in only a few words, but imagine that you've got super wider tires with super narrow profiles. Tires like that essentially become very stiff rollers. If you use tires like this with a stock suspension, the wide tires force you to have a large part of the extra width on the outboard side of the wheel. That changes the relationship between where the center of the tire is compared to where the suspension acts as a lever on the wheel, or vice versa. The best situation is always when the center of the tire contact patch coincides with the same point on the ground that the suspension levers act. The further the two points are apart from each other, the more the tires lose contact with the road as the suspension travels upwards during bumps, hard turns, and hard acceleration. The reason that happens is because the outside half of the tire will lift off the ground in all of those situations unless the suspension is properly designed.
There are several other reasons why using spacers and/or highly offset wheels are detrimental to handling, but the other problems are especially noticeable in the front. Look up the effects of "scrub radius" on Google and you'll begin to understand some of the reasons. Now, before all the guys with super wide wheels jump all over me, it's important to note that lots of people use wide wheels, highly offset wheels, or big wheel spacers and claim an improvement in performance. Certainly an improvement over stock is going to be felt, but to maximize the ability of those tires the suspension can't be overlooked. The other thing is that seat of your pants doesn't always tell the truth.
