I'm going to order an SE spec (no idea on colour yet!) but wondering about the 17" wheels on it.

I live in a rural area so might get some winter / all weather tyres after the first set wear out, but 17" ones seem a lot more expensive than the 16" tyres (unless i'm not looking on the cheapest sites!). So i'm thinking of asking if they can swap the 17's to 16's. Bad idea???

isnt the spare wheel (if i spec one) a 16" as well, so i f i have 17's on it means if i get a flat i'll have one slightly smaller wheel on for a bit?!?

You can probably tell i'm no tyre expert!

I have just fitted 16" Steel wheels with winter tyres to my Octavia Scout. There is a bit more tyre noise, but that will be down to tread pattern not size, the ride is much softer over pot holes and broken road surfaces (most of the roads here) not in a mushy way, in fact feels better, more controllable. Problem is middle of summer when our temps hit 20c+ I will be glad to have the 17" with summer tyres back on, you are not going to have that option. I am comparing 225 50 R17 with 205 55 R16, for the Yeti you will need higher load rated tyres which cost more as well. What 16" tyre size were you looking at?

I had considered Goodyear Vector All Season tyres on the 17" wheels but as my Dunlops had wear left in them it was cheaper to add the extra wheels.

Parked up next to an Audi Allroad the other day and saw they run 225 55 R17, that looked about right but would increase the overall size and although not by much it is not a recommended tyre size and could cause problems.

Thing I don't really understand is why 205 55 R16 and 225 50 R17 are standard fit sizes on the scout but give a 3.8% difference in circumfrance, you can't see any difference looking at them, perhaps I should measure on the actual tyres!

Tyres with the same marked size from different manufacturers can be of a different size when measures. Even tyres from the same manufacturer but of different styles can measure different. On small road cars tis might not be at first apparent until they a actually measured but on large 4X4 vehicles (the Yeti does not qualify) the sise differences can be very noticeable visually.

What puzzles me is, I understand the need for winter tyres. I understand the physics of requiring narrower tyres in snow. What I do not understand is why they offer tyres with a smaller diameter/radius/ circumference. the only explanation that has been given to me and by a member of this board is that smaller overall diameters allow the fitting of snow chains. As the vast majority of GB users will not be fitting snow chains, then I beleive that narrower tyres but with the same approximate diameter as the original should be fitted. Further more chains of the name Spike Spider or Spider Spikes are claimed by the manufacturer to fit normal sized wheel tyre combinations on the Yeti so no need to reduce wheel/tyre size.

Hi,

you may find this link helpful My link. Not keen on the 17" either; swapped mine for 16" winters until it warms up again.

Unfortunately SUK marketing love big wheels, so there is no 16" factory option for the SE as in Europe. You may be able to get the dealer to change the wheels as part of your deal but again SUK have limited your options as the only 16" alloy available here is the Spectrum. For summer or 4 season tyres you require 215/60 R16 with a minimum 94 load index.

Regard the spare, although technically a full size wheel it's still smaller than the standard 16" being 195/60/R16 and safety limited to 50mph; basically a get you home.

Regards,

TP