It doesn’t matter that they’re not going on a car for some time (they don’t even have a dedicated home yet), nor does it matter that we’ve seen other Mk3s both in person and online sitting on these; one does not simply purchase a new set of wheels without test-fitting said set of wheels.
With step one complete – that is, driving to Edmonton and back to secure them in the first place – step two was therefore to pull one of the new 57xtremes out at the earliest opportunity and see how it looked bolted on to a Mk3. The (first world) problem however, was that I don’t have Mustard stored at my house this winter, so I’d have to borrow one. Enter stunt double Dijon: if you squint – and I crop the photos tight enough – it could almost pass for Mustard.
Since clearance wasn’t a concern this test was done purely to see how they’d look, and so I only tossed a single wheel on to the car. The (very heavily) worn tire and the fact that the car wasn’t fully settled didn’t do the wheel gap any favours, but the design of the wheel itself worked pretty well with the flares and their own sharp edges.
These measure in at 18×8.5 +33, and with the spacers kept on the more aggressive sizing was immediately apparent. One of our favourite design elements of the SS Tuning flares is how the bumper finisher doesn’t run all the way to the ground, so you always see some tire when viewing the car head-on. With Dijon’s uncut fenders though, this fitment would not work well!
Slight poke – and severe paint damage – aside, I was quite pleased with the test. These are very good-looking wheels and especially once they’ve been refinished, should really do a lot to dress up whatever Mk3 we decide to actually fit them to (we still have to check brake clearance on one of the RSs to verify fitment for them specifically, but that can be another day).
Speaking of refinishing I do believe I’ve at least narrowed down the options a great deal – possibly even finding the colour I’ll be going with – but I have no timeline in mind yet since there’s so much up in the air right now regarding restrictions and lockdowns, and ultimately these won’t be needed for a handful of months yet at the absolute soonest, since it’s winter. I can almost guarantee that they will not be white this time around however as I want to try something new here. Or at least, new for me.
-Bill