Hey Everyone,

Can you help? I have a octavia vrs 2004 and i need new tyres, currently it is on the standard wheels running 205/50/17's, i have heard its not a prob to go with either 215/45's or 225/45's, i know the 225's offer less of a change to the speedo about 0.4% but i wanted your opinions as some tyre places wont fit anything but 205's to it.

Has anyone changed to a different tyre size? What are the poss and negs? Your opinions are very much appreciated!!

Cheers

Al.

I would stick with the 205 width tyres. They offer enough grip for the car, and don't aquaplane and tramline like the wider ones have mor chance of doing.

The cost difference is negligible over the life of the tyre anyway.

A lot vrs owners upgrade to 225s, they do not aquaplane or tramline (only a prob with really wide tyres) and have more tread on the road, also 225 are more readily available and often cheaper than the rarer 205 size.

This is more common than the 215 and more preferable due to less speedo variance.

Edited 20 September, 201015 yr by Oet

How wide are the alloys? Certain width / profile combination of tyres only work well with certain alloy widths.

How wide are the alloys? Certain width / profile combination of tyres only work well with certain alloy widths.

225/40R18 are a widely used size

Alloy wheel diameter/width; for example genuine OEM R32's alloys are 18" x 7.5", some copies I have are 18" x 8".

225/40R18 are a widely used size

Alloy wheel diameter/width; for example genuine OEM R32's alloys are 18" x 7.5", some copies I have are 18" x 8".

I'm confused, isn't the OP talking about 17" wheels?

225/45R17 are common for 17" alloys

Think OEM spiders are 17" x 7.5" (?)

225/45R17 are common for 17" alloys

Think OEM spiders are 17" x 7.5" (?)

Would make sense, 225/45 r17 will work with 7-8.5" wheels but the ideal width is 7.5".

That said the OP is running 205/50 r17 which work best on a 6.5" rim and would look kinda skinny on a 7.5" rim.

If the OP is running a 6.5" wheel then the 215/45's and 225/45's will be too wide.

Never had trouble changing the size of the tires? Although you may have trouble at a main dealer or some of the larger firms.

A friend said kick fit wouldn’t fit 225s on his golf which had spiders on it due to the size of the rim. I am sure the rim is plenty big enough though!

Mine are 225/45/17 there is about a 5 mph difference at 80mph. speedo reads 80 tomtom says 75!

think stock rim is 7", however the 225 fits on this fine.

Never had trouble changing the size of the tires? Although you may have trouble at a main dealer or some of the larger firms.

A friend said kick fit wouldn’t fit 225s on his golf which had spiders on it due to the size of the rim. I am sure the rim is plenty big enough though!

Mine are 225/45/17 there is about a 5 mph difference at 80mph. speedo reads 80 tomtom says 75!

Different tyre widths only work with certain rim sizes. Imagine a 165 tyre on an 8" rim, or a 265 on a 6" rim, you could see how that would never work (despite what the VW boys will have you believe )

Just one more thing to keep in mind when changing tyre sizes.

Jon, they do like to stretch their tyres dont they

Thats not the case with the 225 however, it fits and works well.

I think its better gives more protection on the rim.

The two sizes 205/50/17 and 225/45/17 were both used in the factory, although the former is the most used and the 225's were rare iirc.

The rim is 7" wide on an oem spider.

I've had both sizes and to be honest there is a difference, the 205's are much more steady in the puddles, but the 225's are more planted in general.

Swings and roundabouts really what you lose with one you gain with the other.

BTW 205's are about 5mpg better on the Mway

HTH

5 MPG

I used to scrape 32mpg on the 225's at around 75 ish, it's now 37mpg on the 205's

A little better around the town but not as noticable.

Thanks everyone,

The OEM Spiders are a 7" rim, (double checked my spare to be sure). The 205 seems to be approw £30 - £40 more expensive per rim as its an aukward size! I had heard that alot of people had switched to the 225 but wanted to make sure it wouldnt cause me problems. I bought the car from a VW dealer and it came with the cheapest of the cheap infinitys on the rear and second cheapest of the cheap champions (or somthing like that) on the front leaving me with no traction in the wet and even the rear has broke away from me a couple of times so i need to do all 4.

Costco have Michelin Pilot Sport 3's for just over £100 in the 225 and Continetal Sport 3's for a few quid cheaper. I checked them out on the web and both seem higly rated, Any other suggestions? (Without making the bank cry preferably!).

I got the 205's cheaper than the 225's last time.

Strange ........But true ??

Edit http://www.camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m54b0s304p6202 They do seem to be dirt cheap atm ?? The Toyos are £93 each and the Michelen are £144 .......I'm sorry but fark that lol

As said above the standard wheels are 7" wide, I had all 4 (205 /50/17 cheap budget tyres that were on the car when I bought it) to 225/45/17 as they were much cheaper as I got all 4 fitted for about £300.

The tyre place did notice the fact I was changing the size but was not bothered just said to me you do know your putting a diferent size tyre on?

Thanks everyone,

The OEM Spiders are a 7" rim, (double checked my spare to be sure). The 205 seems to be approw £30 - £40 more expensive per rim as its an aukward size! I had heard that alot of people had switched to the 225 but wanted to make sure it wouldnt cause me problems. I bought the car from a VW dealer and it came with the cheapest of the cheap infinitys on the rear and second cheapest of the cheap champions (or somthing like that) on the front leaving me with no traction in the wet and even the rear has broke away from me a couple of times so i need to do all 4.

Costco have Michelin Pilot Sport 3's for just over £100 in the 225 and Continetal Sport 3's for a few quid cheaper. I checked them out on the web and both seem higly rated, Any other suggestions? (Without making the bank cry preferably!).

As you say, there's an absolute glut of choice in 225/45 r17. My money would go on the Sport Contact 3's as they seem to win every test they've been in, beating the Pilot Sport 3's which have been somewhat disappointing in the group tests this year.

I don't see what the big problem is with fitting the correct size tyre (205/50's). It's not like they are massively more expensive than the 225/45's (usually about £5 more). This topic pops up pretty much every week, and it's getting tyred (ha!).

The correct tyre size as documented in all Skoda official workshop manuals and sales documentation, is 205/50R17. I have found the OE tyre brands to vary, but never the size in true OE (factory fitted) form. Earlier cars seem to have been fitted with Conti's and later cars with Dunlop's.

You might save a few quid by buying the wrong tyres, but you'll soon lose a lot more when you start driving the car on long trips. You'll also reduce acceleration and top speed by going wider, and the car won't change direction as quickly. Yes you obviously have a larger contact patch, but do you really need it? If you're constantly falling off the road with 205's then I would suggest your tyres are crap, or you need to adapt your manic style to driving a front wheel drive car. Or your suspension is at fault. The only real excuse I can think of is if you have a big turbo and your pumping out enough torque to spin the wheels when at speed!

At the end of the day who cares, fit 205's or 225's if you want. It's not like the world will end! I just personally will always stick to the 205's.

If you do get some, I would strongly recommend the Avon ZV5's. They are the best tyre I have ever used. Brilliant grip levels, excellent in standing water and they seem to be wearing well. I will be sticking to them in the future. I used to bum the KU31's, but these offer much more grip off the line and in-corner.

P.S. What I've said is based on you running the OE 7Jx17 spiders.

Well said that man

Well ....I'm converted back to the 205's lol

Another factor is tyre pressures.

I'm not entirley sure how this works, but the recommended 2.1/2.2 bar pressure is for 205's, not 225's.

Also, going back to my road bike days, if you keep the tyre pressure constant, the contact patch will stay the same size, no matter what the tyre size is. e.g. If you put 100 psi in, and the bike weighs 100 lbs, you get a 1 inch contact patch. I presume it is the same with car tyres. So, even if you put 225's on, you will still get the same size contact patch as a 205 if you have them both at the same pressure.