Ride ! Don’t just expect to slap them great
big 17’s on without a shit load of work, especially on the smaller non-Gti models. All sorts of things like spring rates are
different and they’ll catch like a git. With the
106, the trick is to make sure that you use a thinner wheel than usual, go
for a 6” max width on the lower models, with a 7” on the Xsi/Gti
models. On the smaller models, you have to watch out as well ‘cause you’ll only have three studs instead of the usual
Pug 4 stud pattern. Still, there’s plenty of wheels out there so don’t worry.
With the Xsi and Gti
models, you don’t have to worry about the above so much. They’ll usually drop
60mm no problem, but 30mm will offer the best ride/looks/practicality. The
standard shocks ain’t too bad, so you should just be able to get away with
lowering springs. If you want to be sure though, some polyurethane bushes,
thicker anti-roll bars and adjustable shocks will sort you right out! For the
higher models in the range, you can usually do a 7x16” wheel with 195/45 (205/40
maximum) rubber. Don’t go for wider rubber as once again,
you’ll be chafing you arches. If you do go for 17’s prepare yourself for a
lot of arch work. Also, in my humble opinion, they look way too big on the
106. 16’s look perfectly balanced. Important,
the rims need to have the correct Pug offset, this
is 15-18mm offset for the 106. Ecosse do sell a hubsentric
adapter to convert 35mm offset Ford rims, so this opens up a lot more wheel
designs. If
you’ve got 15” rims or larger, then you can go for Ecosses big disc
conversion. These are monster 285mm front discs which are similar to 306Gti
versions, along with some matching callipers. Don’t forget, if you’ve got a
lower range 106, these will all happily take the rear disc assembly from the
106Gti. |
||||||
|