Steel wheels and winter tyres question

[PeteVRS]

I think I might do the decent thing this winter and buy some winter tyres, but also a set of steel wheels so I can change over each summer/winter.

I was hoping to find a numpties guide to doing this on a VRS here but there isn't one and a search for winter tyres gives lots of threads about tyres but not many about wheels. So please be gentle with me...

... Can anyone tell me in layman's terms, what size/type of steel wheels I need for the vRS (I think from what I have read so far, it's best to get 15" because the tyres are easier to get hold of, and cheaper)? I don't care what they look like. Yes I have standard VRS brakes.

... I am assuming if I ring my Skoda dealer tomorrow they will charge me 10 times the price for these? So any recommended suppliers who can order and supply the tyres and fit it all?

I had a look on mytyres and they can do steel wheels with tyres, fully fitted, but as I don't know what size of wheel I need it's hard to get a price. Is there a better supplier? A mobile supplier who will come to me?

... will the four original wheels, with their tyres, fit in the back of the vRS when I come home from getting the steels fitted?

Thanks for any help Basically I want a pain and hassle free experience where I hand over some money, and my VRS comes back with winter tyres fitted to steel wheels

[Ryan90VRS]

i can answer 1 of your questions and thats four standard vrs wheels will fit in the back of your car.....just mind the bloody seats!

[JulieD]

Cheapest way of getting four 15" wheels that will fit is to get a secondhand set from a mk4 golf/mk1 Audi A3/mk1 Audi TT/mk1 Octavia or Fabia Sport/Bohemia. If you want steel wheels the dimensions you need are PCD 5x100, centre bore 57.1, offset ET38 to ET42

[rum4mo]

Cheapest way of getting four 15" wheels that will fit is to get a secondhand set from a mk4 golf/mk1 Audi A3/mk1 Audi TT/mk1 Octavia or Fabia Sport/Bohemia. If you want steel wheels the dimensions you need are PCD 5x100, centre bore 57.1, offset ET38 to ET42

I'd add here that the wheel width is also important, sometimes you will find that the narrower option is easy to pickup whereas the wider option is a bit harder to find. Do find out which wheel width you need for the tyre width you are buying.

I went through this with getting wheels for my wife's Polo 9N, it had 15" alloys but because of the brake dimensions, I could drop down to 14" and so end up with narrower and cheaper winter tyres (both from mytyres.com)

[JulieD]

I'd add here that the wheel width is also important, sometimes you will find that the narrower option is easy to pickup whereas the wider option is a bit harder to find. Do find out which wheel width you need for the tyre width you are buying.

I went through this with getting wheels for my wife's Polo 9N, it had 15" alloys but because of the brake dimensions, I could drop down to 14" and so end up with narrower and cheaper winter tyres (both from mytyres.com)

Most 15" wheels will be 6J x 15. You could fit a 185/55/15 or 195/50/15. I have 195/50/15s on mine, and it has easily coped where neighbours have failed on everything from clios and minis to mondeos.

[PeteVRS]

Thanks folks. So, if I order new steel wheels I need "PCD 5x100, centre bore 57.1, offset ET38 to ET42"?

When I look on mytyres at the other car models you suggested, their wheels are 57.00 - is that close enough to 57.1?

Then for tyres I fit "185/55/15 or 195/50/15"?

Or, does anyone know for 100% definite, on http://www.mytyres.co.uk/Steel_wheels.html which car make/model and then car type would be exactly the right size and type of 15" wheel to fit my vRS? It only lists by engine, not by model name (so I don't know which one would be a Fabia sport for example).

Sorry about the questions, all I want is four wheels and tyres but this is all Greek to me!!!

[JulieD]

The steel wheel they list is 6 x 15 5 x 100.00 x 57.00 ET: 43.00 5-hole steel wheel (8000). ET43 will be fine, and I would think that the centre bore of 57.00 is a msiprint, cos otherwise it will be slightly too small to fit your hub. If you're unsure about it I recommend you phone them up and ask and get their 100% assurance that the wheels will fit.

[vRSsunroof]

... Can anyone tell me in layman's terms, what size/type of steel wheels I need for the vRS (I think from what I have read so far, it's best to get 15" because the tyres are easier to get hold of, and cheaper)? I don't care what they look like. Yes I have standard VRS brakes.

Personal Choice, you can get the same size wheels in a steel version that came off a Beetle, but for ease i went for a set of 15" octy steels. 15" is the smallest with Std Vrs Brakes

... I am assuming if I ring my Skoda dealer tomorrow they will charge me 10 times the price for these? So any recommended suppliers who can order and supply the tyres and fit it all?

They are about £80 a corner

I had a look on mytyres and they can do steel wheels with tyres, fully fitted, but as I don't know what size of wheel I need it's hard to get a price. Is there a better supplier? A mobile supplier who will come to me?

Stud pattern 5x100

wheel size 16xJ6.5 or 15xj6

... will the four original wheels, with their tyres, fit in the back of the vRS when I come home from getting the steels fitted?

Yes they will fit, Fold the back seats down. hell i got 4 wheels in my old smart car

[W14RRN]

VW Beetle 5x100 16"x 6.5J.

195/45 on the front

205/45 on the rear.

How they look....

[Paul10]

I'm picking my (new to me) Fabia up hopefully at the weekend, and am I am thinking of the mytyres winter wheels & tyres package. Bit worried by the 57.00/57.10 issue though!

Assuming their package does fit, can I use the same wheel bolts?

[PeteVRS]

Looks like we are in the same boat Paul. I'm going to ring them tomorrow and ask, because these figures don't mean a lot to me I don't want to end up with four wheels that don't fit. I will also see what my local Skoda service dept have to say. I definitely want 15 inch not 16 inch though.

W14RRN - Looks very nice - Were they black to start with or did you paint them?

[W14RRN]

They are original paint.

[modelrallysport.com]

They are original paint.

Will those Beetle wheels and tyres fit my Fabia 1.9 TDI estate-----"03" Reg?

[W14RRN]

Will those Beetle wheels and tyres fit my Fabia 1.9 TDI estate-----"03" Reg?

Yes they will. There's a silver estate with them on.

[Paul10]

Let me know your findings Pete!

Thanks,

Paul

[phantomlurker]

15" is the smallest with Std Vrs Brakes

and if you have 312's? i take it that would mean 16"s?

ta

[JulieD]

and if you have 312's? i take it that would mean 16"s?

In a word, Yes. The 15s are quite tight for clearance with standard brakes - no way you'll get them over 312s

[phantomlurker]

In a word, Yes. The 15s are quite tight for clearance with standard brakes - no way you'll get them over 312s

Ta

might have to battle the wallet-moths to get some though!

[Stunts]

I've just received some Beetle Steelies from Mk2_Pete (thanks mate ) but they have 205/55R16 hoops on them. Can I run these or would I experience rubbing? Has anyone had any experience of this larger profile tyre? I've done a search but it doesn't turn anything up though I remember a similar thread recently (I think!).

Ta

S

[softscoop]

I've just received some Beetle Steelies from Mk2_Pete (thanks mate ) but they have 205/55R16 hoops on them. Can I run these or would I experience rubbing? Has anyone had any experience of this larger profile tyre? I've done a search but it doesn't turn anything up though I remember a similar thread recently (I think!).

Ta

S

I had pretty bad rubbing with that profile, but it seems others have run them no problem.

[Stunts]

I had pretty bad rubbing with that profile, but it seems others have run them no problem.

I guess the acid test is to chuck them on and see then. Cheers

[Vagophile]

Good old Car Bibles gives all the info you need to size your wheels & tyres.. can't give link I'm afraid!

What about wheel studs? I assume thet the standard alloy studs work for steels as my spare is a steel?

[djdazzy]

Good old Car Bibles gives all the info you need to size your wheels & tyres.. can't give link I'm afraid!

What about wheel studs? I assume thet the standard alloy studs work for steels as my spare is a steel?

Check this out for Skoda approved tyre sizes:

http://skoda.de/download.php?id=255

[Synchrosunlight]

Maybe I'm repeating some of the content, but I'm attempting to find 2 x 15" rims so I can fit snow tyres on to my Fabia. Being  tight fisted I'm trying to get them 2nd hand. I have seen a pair of 15" rims from a VW advertised. Other than that they have no other information. My current tyres are 195/55 R15 85H. What is the depth of the tyre is it 5.5" or 6", and if the VW rims are 6" would they still fit on my Fabia?

My car is a 1.6 Se Tdi Cr 105 Combi. I've only had it for 2 months so I'm still finding my way. What should I be looking for before  I decide to go for the VW rims?

Synchrosunlight

[timber]

Hi Synchrosunlight

Sorry, I can't give specific advice on your car, but I'm after winter tyes for my 2005 vRS and have a few general comments that might help.

1. Your insurance co. needs to know, although most will accept that winter tyres are not a "mod". They might sting you for a fee for a policy change, typiically £25.

2. I haven't been able to locate any official Skoda advice on winter tyre sizes, but my driver's handbook mentions sizes that will & will not accept Snow Chains. They are the OE tyre 205/45 R16, 195/50 R15 & 185/60 R14.

3. Car Bibles http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible_pg4.html has a useful calculator for rolling circumferences, which shows your 195/65 R15's are very close indeed to my OE 205/45 R16's (a negligible 0.78% bigger). But the alternatives mentioned by Skoda are quite a bit smaller - 2.52% for the 195/50 R 15's, and 2.25% smaller for the 185/60 R14's. You would be going more slowly than the speedo reading.

4. There are quite a few other sizes which are "possibles" but they are not going to be the "official" alternatives. Mytyres offers a Continental WinterContact TS 850 195/55 R15 85H which I quite fancy at a rather hefty £77.30 each incl. delivery.

5.  Winter Tyres tested by Which? attempt to put figures on performance and have thrown up Continental WinterContact TS 850 as "best" in quite a few sizes. Conti's own website shows there are TS 830, TS 830P, TS 850 & TS 850P treads in ascending order of performance/grip. The P's have asymmetric treads and seem (particularly the 850P) to be aimed at high power and/or luxury cars. The TS 850P has at present a small range with no suitable sizes for Fabias, so I'm aiming for a tyre from the TS 850 range, with the TS 830P as second choice. Having said that, general opinion seems to be that any reputable winter tyre would be a GOOD THING, particulary in icy Scotland

6. My driver's handbook acknowledges that it is permissible to relax the "speed" rating for winter tyres and so an H (up to 130mph) or T (up to 118mph) would be OK. For summer tyres the speed rating would correctly be based on the max speed of the car, even in our 70mph limited green & pleasant land. I had the same "OK to relax speed rating" from Conti's technical enquiry phone line.

7. BUT Conti's insisted that the LOAD RATING should not be relaxed.

8. I have found mytres (www.mytyres.co.uk) helpful in searching for suitable tyres, wheels and tyre/wheel combos. You may be able to get useful gen on rim width and offset (OS or et) for your car - the site accepts reg nos and both alloy & steel wheels are dealt with. Carbibles also has a calculator for the range of permitted rim widths for various tyres.

Hope you get some specific posts on your VW rims.

Good luck - it's a minefield!

Edited 23 December, 2014 by timber