General Advice Needed

[JohnC]

Hi Guys, new member here.
My name is John and I moved from Ireland to Australia 2 years ago. I was a big car enthusiast back home, mostly sticking to Jap machines. The last car I had in Ireland was an R33 GTR which I sold (for peanuts!) before making the big move. After a year of driving a ball of scrap Magna, I purchased a VE Sv6 Ute manual. I'm really impressed with the car and love the way it drives and the comfort as its totally standard. Any way, to cut a long story short I dont really know too much about these cars and Im looking for some general advice about them. I have been to this site many times but never signed up until today. Looks like a good set up ye have here

[VXSS346]

Welcome. :wave:

You've bought an Australian made car and your happy. Enough said. :goodjob:

Enjoy.

[steve_t]

Welcome!
Unfortunately, asking for general advice is like asking how long is a piece of string. Have a look around the forum and use the search function (or google) if you have any questions otherwise, start a new thread and we'll try to be as helpful as we can

[whitels1ss]

Welcome to Australia and to the forum John:cheers:

[Troutman]

G'day John and welcome.

For basic info about the VE, Wikipedia is not a bad start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VE_Commodore

For technical info or questions, I'd recommend doing a search here. If your questions are still unanswered, you can start a new thread in the technical forum.

I've also got a Youtube channel which includes info and trivia, specialising on international Holden variants. The most popular video has been this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZAb6-w2J2Y&feature=plcp

Cheers!

[Tryhard]

Welcome to Aus mate and welcome to the forum. Enjoy!

[Drew SS]

If you want a ute when you get back to ireland ill sell ya mine lol

[JohnC]

Thanks lads :wave:
I should have been more specific with advice. I want to get a set of wheels and some springs & shocks. I have been looking around at rims and have only found one or two that i like. What are peoples opinions on G8 wheels? The standard 18's look really small with the size of the arches on the car so I was thinking 20 or 22's. Will I need to do any work to the inside of the arch?
Also I want to lower it about 50mm on King springs.

[JohnC]

The other thing is I want to get an induction kit. Has anyone here fitted the Orssom Performance kit?

[JohnC]

If you want a ute when you get back to ireland ill sell ya mine lol

Ha, the tax would kill me! Hopefully I wont be back there for a long time

[HSVREDSLED]

John firstly welcome to this site.:wave:

MY car (SSV Sportwagon) has been in for a service and warranty work for about a week and I have been driving a loan car straight off the used car lot...a SV6 Manual VE Ute, just like yours. Can I say, that it has been the longest week of my life. As soon as I heard my car was ready I dropped everything and drove 150km to pick it up! When I first got the Sv6 I thought, hey this aint that bad and for the price.....then reality started hitting home. Before you spend one cent on mods, go and test drive a used SSV ute, and then do some sums and see what an upgrade would cost you as opposed to rims, wheels induction etc etc etc. BY the way...anyone getting a little 'used to' their car...go and drive a few models down around for a week. You will be giggling again soon.

Just my thoughts...

[Micks]

John firstly welcome to this site.:wave:

MY car (SSV Sportwagon) has been in for a service and warranty work for about a week and I have been driving a loan car straight off the used car lot...a SV6 Manual VE Ute, just like yours. Can I say, that it has been the longest week of my life. As soon as I heard my car was ready I dropped everything and drove 150km to pick it up! When I first got the Sv6 I thought, hey this aint that bad and for the price.....then reality started hitting home. Before you spend one cent on mods, go and test drive a used SSV ute, and then do some sums and see what an upgrade would cost you as opposed to rims, wheels induction etc etc etc. BY the way...anyone getting a little 'used to' their car...go and drive a few models down around for a week. You will be giggling again soon.

Just my thoughts...

Spot on Sled, had a loan car last service when we had our Calais in @ the Dealers, gave us a Pov pack Omega & don't know how anyone could drive one! abs door handles that feel like they will brake under usual pressure!!

[HSVREDSLED]

Mick, Im doing about 400ks in mine tommorow after getting back today and cant wait...oops back on topic.

[Wonky]

Hi John and welcome to Australia and LS1 forums! :) Unfortunately most of this site is V8 oriented so you may not be able to get much help on V6 engine mods here if that is part of your future plans. For that you're probably best to go to the Just Commodores forum at http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/forum.php

Other stuff like wheels, suspension etc we can certainly help on. Rims are a very individual choice and what one person loves others will hate, so just go for rims you love the look of. There are plenty of Aussie wheel sites which show you the huge range of rims available and I'd recommend having a look at the VEs in My Ride on here to see if anything takes your fancy. Just in case you intend putting big brakes on at some stage be aware that only a small percentage of rims will fit for example HSV brakes behind them. There is a thread on that in here if you'd like me to find and link to it.

Be careful if considering 22s! Most people, not all of course, find the ride of 22s far too harsh for daily use, especially when combined with lowering. Also it is apparently quite difficult to find correctly load rated tyres for 22" rims which could lead to problems with insurance if you do have an accident with them.

[JohnC]

@HSVREDSLED, thanks I appreciate the input. I would have gotten a V8 but it was out of my budget. Mayby in a year or two all going well. As I am using the Ute everyday I find it does everything I need. Obviously more power would be great but for now this will do me.

@Wonky, thanks mate. To be honest I was looking at 22's purely to fill the massive arches on the car. The only smaller rim that appeals to me is the Varrstoen (jap style) available in 19. I would consider getting a set of them and spacing them out but I would really have to drop the ride alot to make it look good. I dont have any big plans like brakes or engine work, I'll leave that for the next one!

Mayby its just me but there seems to be an awful lot of chrome wheels out there. Not wanting to offend anyone but they dont do anything for me. My Ute is Atomic Green and was hoping to get some Charcoal/Gunmetal or possibly matte black rims

[steve_t]

The general consensus seems (seemed) to be that 22's give a significantly poorer ride quality and possibly less tyre grip. I'd suggest seeing if you can have a ride in a car with both (with the same suspension if possible) so you can experience the difference first-hand

[JohnC]

Good idea Steve thanks. , thats would make more sense

[mbabs1]

But the 22's do fill the guard better and will stand out more if your just going for looks and don't mind the other issues mentioned

[Angeldust]

22 make ure car slower, and use more fuel

[JohnC]

Not really worried about making the car slower, if I was going for power I would have gotten a V8. Just want to make it look a bit better. The stock 18's look lost under it. The main thing for me is not messing up the ride too much. I know it will make it alot harder and make every bump feel alot bigger. I can live with that but I just dont want to do it and then after regret it. And its not like its ever going to be on a track so it doesnt need to handle like its on rails. Its a daily driver only being used to drive to work and back

[feistl]

Big wheels (like 22s)...

Negatives

Decrease Economy
Decrease Acceleration
Increase pad/brake wear
Increase steering stiffness
Increase unsprung weight (which means the car doesn't ride the bumps as well)
Increases braking distance
Reduces grip in cornering on uneven surfaces
Increased cost of tyre replacement
Increased chance of rim damage (Cracking etc)
Increased chance of theft/attention from police

Positives

Looks good.

[A PSYCHO]

even that 1 positive is arguable.

[NickS]

even that 1 positive is arguable.

Agreed ... 20" is plenty of a VE. Even at that it'll be illegal, 22's will stick out like dogs balls ... why attract unwanted attention if you don't need to ?

22's will be rough as guts too, 20's will still ride quite nicely. The main reason the 18's look lost is width, not diameter. Get some nice 20's with a decent width rear. throw some 285's on the back and it'll ride & look great.

[JohnC]

Why would they be illegal? As I said earlier the other option was to get 19's or 20's and space them out. I seep 35mm wheel spacers for sale. Might look good

[feistl]

Why would they be illegal?

Not sure about NSW, but maximum size you can increase factory wheels by is 2" in victoria.

[JohnC]

Thanks for that, must check it out

[NickS]

Not sure about NSW, but maximum size you can increase factory wheels by is 2" in victoria.

Pretty certain it's the same law in NSW.

[whitels1ss]

As I said earlier the other option was to get 19's or 20's and space them out. I seep 35mm wheel spacers for sale. Might look good
Wheel spacers are illegal all over Australia AFAIK
Also they tend to often cause massive problems for getting a decent wheel balance

[Wonky]

:doh: I forgot to mention in my earlier post that according to various threads discussing the legalities of 22" wheels on a VE they are probably illegal, so why attract unwanted attention? Add to that the fact as I said it is apparently difficult to get correctly load rated tyres, especially IIRC for a VE ute, which again leads to potential problems with police and insurance if you have an accident. My 20" rims ride quite well, even with 30 profile tyres on the rear. :yup:

Definitely agree with whitels1ss - steer clear of spacers!!

[NezVim]

Welcome to Aus John.


G'day John and welcome.

For basic info about the VE, Wikipedia is not a bad start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VE_Commodore

For technical info or questions, I'd recommend doing a search here. If your questions are still unanswered, you can start a new thread in the technical forum.

I've also got a Youtube channel which includes info and trivia, specialising on international Holden variants. The most popular video has been this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZAb6-w2J2Y&feature=plcp

Cheers!

@Troutman that vid was awsome

[Drew SS]

Ha, the tax would kill me! Hopefully I wont be back there for a long time


Commercial tax mate lol

[JohnC]

Commercial tax mate lol

Its only a matter of time before they close that. I thought from now on you need to be VAT registered before you can avail of that tax.

[JohnC]

And to everyone else, thanks for the advice. Looks like I'll go with 19 or 20's so. Really appreciate the input:thumbsup:

[Hi Octane]

If you want big rims buys a horse & cart. :)