| A lower offset places the mounting point of the wheel closer to the centerline of the wheel. Consequently, the caliper is moved farther from the inner spoke face. Another consequence is that as a wheel's offset gets lower the outer face of the wheel moves away from the mounting point of the wheel. So as already mentioned you begin to get fender clearance issues. To comment on the low offset running crowd. They're doing so for purely cosmetic reasons. In order to do so they're running over 3 degrees of camber and tires that are too small for the wheel on which they sit. This gives the effect that the wheel 'fills' the wheel well. In terms of straight line performance it's preferable to have near 0 camber. This places the weight as evenly as possible across the wheel (traction). Additionally, it's preferable to run as wide a rear tire as you can (traction). The trade-off is that in order to run a wider tire you have to run a wide wheel and thus increase the moment of inertia for the wheel. Anyway, running a big wide wheel with a skinny tire is plain retarded. Some people may like the look but that doesn't change the intelligence of the idea. A final note. In order to run with such a setup the owners often get as stiff a spring as they can. This 'prevents' (actually just makes it more difficult) the wheel from rubbing against the fender. Of course this came at the expense of the suspension dynamic. So in the end they have a car that 'looks good' to them but has diminished performance characteristics.
"The 300ZX Turbo is a dance; it's a song; it's rolling, roaring automotive art. There is no color that doesn't suit it. There is no mood-lifting chemical substance it can't replace." - Automobile Magazine |
