Winter tyres and steel rims recommendations please?

[Ooopnorth]

The question from the OP was about fitting them to a vRS.  Which comes on 205/40 R 17's

 

if he needs tyres as narrow as 185 then that might be an idea,

but he will get around just fine on 205's quite probably,  good Winter Tyres in 205 or 215 work just fine on a vRS on now & on Ic

http://kouki.co.uk/utilities/visual-tyre-size-calculator

That's very true.  I've been running the Fabia Scout on 205/45 R16s for the last couple of winters, as for various reasons I was unable to acquire a set of 15" steelies.  Even with the lowish profile  and broader width they were fine.  Now it's time for new tyres I'm looking to buy some steel wheels too and the thought of narrower rims occurred to me, although aesthetically they might not be quite as  appealing!

[lol-lol]

The most important factors are, in combination, having the right type of tyre but also at least sufficient tread depth. 

 

Many will know that for Summer/regular tyres the wet weather performance  of the tyre noticable starts to tail off once there is less than 3 mm of tread left.

 

Official cars, police, customs (now called UKBA) who I worked for, and some emergency services follow this change at 3mm tred depth. 

 

I gather some emercency services ie Staffs, keep All season/winters on all year round!

 

On All season you see two sets of wear block indicators, 1.6 mm for the summer settings and it looks like about 4mm for the winter wear blocks indicators.

 

The way that all season/winters work there needs to be plenty of chunky tread to grip the mud/snow.

 

In general All seasons/Winters run tyre pressure 0.1 bar/2 psi more than summers as they do not heat up and hence the tyre pressure increase of the semi perfect gas the air with water vapour is. 

 

No requirement to use nitrogen as the fill gas with winters as is useful with summers if you push them hard.

Edited 5 October, 2014 by lol-lol

[Ootohere]

What is Important is that you know the Pressures change as the Ambient gets colder.

So you check and adjust.

http://michelin.co.uk/tyres/learn-share/care-guide/cold-weather-tips

 

It got to 0.2 *oC here during the night, (Forfar)

1.3*oC Now at 8.am

Black Ice all around and Gritting has not Started for the Winter & being the Weekend there would be non anyway 

other than on Trunk Roads,

Edited 5 October, 2014 by goneoffSKi

[lol-lol]

Zero Kelvin (Another great Scottish scientist) is -273.16 centrigrade.

 

Hence every 10C lower temperature will reduce tyre pressure by about 0.1bar

[Ootohere]

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/219400-winter-tyre-pressures

[trundlenut]

The most important factors are, in combination, having the right type of tyre but also at least sufficient tread depth.

Many will know that for Summer/regular tyres the wet weather performance of the tyre noticable starts to tail off once there is less than 3 mm of tread left.

Official cars, police, customs (now called UKBA) who I worked for, and some emergency services follow this change at 3mm tred depth.

I gather some emercency services ie Staffs, keep All season/winters on all year round!

On All season you see two sets of wear block indicators, 1.6 mm for the summer settings and it looks like about 4mm for the winter wear blocks indicators.

The way that all season/winters work there needs to be plenty of chunky tread to grip the mud/snow.

I pointed that out the other day (perhaps a little indelicately) and got a rather angry response, that I was talking rubbish...

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[dazz600]

Always check with insurance first too

Mine was awkward about it,wanting like for like sizes

So are winters on 205/40/17 going to be effective?

[Ootohere]

Yes a 205 /40 R 17 winter tyre will be effective.

 

Maybe look at 215 /40 R 17  Winters, they might protect the rims a bit better.

 

http://mytyres.co.uk

http://camskill.co.uk

Edited 5 October, 2014 by goneoffSKi

[h3srr]

Hi

My question is will 16inch steels fit my Monte, as I may also need to to fit them to my wife's Roomster- which is the size of alloys on her car

Many thanks

Steve

[Rsrob]

Hi

My question is will 16inch steels fit my Monte, as I may also need to to fit them to my wife's Roomster- which is the size of alloys on her car

Many thanks

Steve

Yes 16" steels will fit your monte

I had 15" steels on my Fabia vRS estate last year

[logiclee]

Hi

My question is will 16inch steels fit my Monte, as I may also need to to fit them to my wife's Roomster- which is the size of alloys on her car

Many thanks

Steve

 

You could even fit 15" rims.

 

On HTP and lower powered 1.4TDi's you can go down to 14". All other models have bigger brakes and need 15" wheels or bigger.

 

Lee

[h3srr]

Many thanks

Looks like 15inch need to be ordered

Steve

[jonro2009]

Hi

My question is will 16inch steels fit my Monte, as I may also need to to fit them to my wife's Roomster- which is the size of alloys on her car

Many thanks

Steve

I was running 195/55 r15 on my Monte in the winter and had absolutely no problems last winter. Will be popping them back on next month, weather depending.

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[RapidReaction]

Went for the Nexen All season tyres on the HTP Fabia.  Paid £44 delivered, now £45 as Euro/GBP fluctuates and All/Winters become more in demand. 

 

http://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-details/nexen-n-priz-4s-195-55-r15-85-h#72921237

 

Could work on Faiba VRS but as I said I would not want to see 132 Kw going through them where as the 205/40-17 Nexen Winguards seem to cope no bother.

Will be interested to see how you get on with them.  When I picked up my 69PS Reaction this time last year I got the dealer to fit my 17" wheels with Nexen Winguard Sport winters.  It was a hot day (shorts weather) on collection so seamed weird driving off on winters in a relatively gutless car.  A year on and 7000ish miles later there's not a lot of wear and they'll easily get through another winter and probably until this time next year.

 

I've got a (relatively) cheap set of 16" alloys with Maxxis MA-AS all-seasons ready to go on.  In fact one is already in my boot serving as a spare.  Justin at Worcester Tyres changes mine for me and is well recommended and inexpensive, but I'm not sure where in Worcs. you are.

 

The reviews on Oponeo always make me chuckle, especially with the translations into pigeon English.

[George Dim]

Can I feet 15" steel wheels with winter tyres to my vrs? Will they fit with the brakes?

[Ootohere]

Yes,

the vRS Steel Spare wheel is 15".

[lol-lol]

Yes,

the vRS Steel Spare wheel is 15".

 

Got loads of these as I kept popping back to the Skoda dealer to buy a spare wheel ie wheel and rim.  They were doing these for less than £100 a couple of years ago and that was with a Conti 2 tyre on it (to use in the summer) !!  So then got my order of Nexen winter tyres from OPENEO, £44 delivered, and therefore have a good set of summers and winters and basically got the rims for almost nothing and winter tyres for less than £180.

Edited 20 October, 2014 by lol-lol

[trundlenut]

Got loads of these as I kept popping back to the Skoda dealer to buy a spare wheel ie wheel and rim. They were doing these for less than £100 a couple of years ago and that was with a Conti 2 tyre on it (to use in the summer) !! So then got my order of Nexen winter tyres from OPENEO, £44 delivered, and therefore have a good set of summers and winters and basically got the rims for almost nothing and winter tyres for less than £180.

Did you have to wear a disguise after the first couple of times?

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[lol-lol]

Did you have to wear a disguise after the first couple of times?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

No not at all.  I don't think they would have cared if I had bought ten sets.  AS long as they get their margin, and I think they were pretty low price as an option, £75+VAT or the like, so everyone happy.

[trundlenut]

No not at all.  I don't think they would have cared if I had bought ten sets.  AS long as they get their margin, and I think they were pretty low price as an option, £75+VAT or the like, so everyone happy.

 

Based on previous experience, if you went into my local dealer and ordered the same thing four times, you would end up with four different things.

[shandyandy]

I got some fitted to my vRS today, Cooper WeatherMaster Snow 195/55 R15 (£268 for the four fitted from mytyres). It's still a bit warm for them really, wasn't particularly impressed with them on the drive back from the garage but what can you expect when it's 15 degrees and raining.

 

Rims are 15 inch steelies (5x100 bolt pattern) from the local scrap dealer (£60 for the set), painted white with some halfords wheel paint. Turquoise detail on the inside of the holes and around the circle, and matt lacquer on top of the lot. The turquoise is quite subtle, I wanted to make them look a bit 'icy', not entirely sure it's worked but nothing ventured nothing gained! Think I need to get some centre caps to cover the hubs still.

 

[Ootohere]

Welcome to the forum.

 

I know the Speed Rating for the Tyres, and obviously it is OK for UK National Speed limits, 

bit is you Insurance Company going to be OK with them if you intend running those tyres for the next 5 months or so.?

 

george

[shandyandy]

Thanks, hello!

 

Insurance company (admiral) is fine with it - when I phoned up earlier they just had to make a note that I had fitted winter tyres. However they didn't ask about the wheels and I didn't mention them because I didn't have time to explain the situation to the particularly slow individual on the other end of the line. Should probably ring back tomorrow and explain that I've fitted them on 15" steelies, no doubt they will charge me for the pleasure. Every year.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

I know the Speed Rating for the Tyres, and obviously it is OK for UK National Speed limits, 

bit is you Insurance Company going to be OK with them if you intend running those tyres for the next 5 months or so.?

 

george

[Ootohere]

No need for them to charge more,

they hardly make the car more desirable to theft by toe rags.

 

george

[lol-lol]

I got some fitted to my vRS today, Cooper WeatherMaster Snow 195/55 R15 (£268 for the four fitted from mytyres). It's still a bit warm for them really, wasn't particularly impressed with them on the drive back from the garage but what can you expect when it's 15 degrees and raining.

 

Rims are 15 inch steelies (5x100 bolt pattern) from the local scrap dealer (£60 for the set), painted white with some halfords wheel paint. Turquoise detail on the inside of the holes and around the circle, and matt lacquer on top of the lot. The turquoise is quite subtle, I wanted to make them look a bit 'icy', not entirely sure it's worked but nothing ventured nothing gained! Think I need to get some centre caps to cover the hubs still.

 

 

I drive a white Fabia 2 but when I first got the car the engine power seem to be able to melt the 205/40-17s so I was not keen to drop to 195/55-15s so went the way so full width and diameter winters and full speed rating.   I do have 195/55-15 on the HTP Fabia but then it only has one third of the power of the VRS. 

 

I went for two spare full sized alloy which was expensive and in retrospect I should have perhaps just gone for 7"J steelies and banged some nice cheap wheel covers on them but I feel more confident about giving the car stick on full sized winters than the 195-55-15s. As you say one day it can be 7 degrees wet and cold and next day sunny and 15 degrees air temp (288 Kelvin) and winters are getting out of operating range (we never talk about ground temp do we?).  That said some emergency services use winters all year round but I would have thought full width ones!  If I had some of the really oversized options that other VAG cars get ie 235s etc for the same chasis we are using I would consider dropping a size or two but 205-40-17 is versitile in my experience even in mud and snow but, of course, it is required that there is at least 4mm ie the winter wear block height, on at least the front wheels if not both. 

Edited 21 October, 2014 by lol-lol