Steel wheels for winter tyres

[Fliptop]

Hi there - I'm new to Briskoda, you'll usually find me lurking on UKSaabs, Saabs being one of my passions in life, however I have a query about winters for a Yeti. My girlfriend's Mum recently bought a Yeti 2.0 TDI 110 Elegance FWD, on my recommendation. I've been really impressed with the car and I am seriously toying with one when the time comes to replace my daily driver, but that's another story.

Janet lives in a rural part of North Yorkshire and at almost 80 years old relies on her car to get about. Her private drive is about 300 yards long and is currently under nearly a foot of snow, despite the local farmer clearing it for her a few days back. The Yeti on it's stock Dunlops just ain't up to getting her out. My low slung boy-racer (yes, really ) Saab 9-3 Aero on Nokian WR G2s had no problem getting up there, even though the front spoiler was doing a snow plough impression... So we (the GF and I) have convinced her to get some winter boots. Good call, I hear you say. The trick is, what to get...

The current shortage of winters in the UK has put the prices to ludicrous levels, if she gets the 225/50 17s to sit on her stock alloys, they'll cost an arm and a leg locally, or she'll have to wait over a week for mytyres to deliver and still cost a few limbs. So I looked into using 16" steels instead, to save a few quid. I found one of the excellent technical guides on here and I understand a 5x112 PCD 6x16 ET50 rim with centre bore of 57mm is what she would need. 205/60 16 winters are almost half the cost of the 17s so that's a big boon. Her local Skoda dealer poo-pooed the whole idea, "it'll invalidate your warranty and insurance, madam", and all that sort of nonsense, but she has confirmed the recommendation with Skoda UK so I'm convinced. The local dealer is rapidly showing himself to be an idiot.

Anyway, he's quoted her almost £300 for 4 steel rims which seems so far beyond steep it's unreal. So to eBay...I assume that any VW Group 5x112 ET50 rim would do, but not all of them have the centre bore listed. Can anyone confirm this for me please? I have found a good set HERE

Would these do the job?

All advice and guidance welcomed. Thanks a lot in advance...

[The Plumber]

Hi and welcome,

I believe for some strange reason the 6Jx16 rim is far more expensive than the 7Jx16 from a dealer. Those you have linked to look to be the correct size from the information given and a reasonable price.

Regards,

TP

[survey]

Hi there - I'm new to Briskoda, you'll usually find me lurking on UKSaabs, Saabs being one of my passions in life, however I have a query about winters for a Yeti. My girlfriend's Mum recently bought a Yeti 2.0 TDI 110 Elegance FWD, on my recommendation. I've been really impressed with the car and I am seriously toying with one when the time comes to replace my daily driver, but that's another story.

Janet lives in a rural part of North Yorkshire and at almost 80 years old relies on her car to get about. Her private drive is about 300 yards long and is currently under nearly a foot of snow, despite the local farmer clearing it for her a few days back. The Yeti on it's stock Dunlops just ain't up to getting her out. My low slung boy-racer (yes, really ) Saab 9-3 Aero on Nokian WR G2s had no problem getting up there, even though the front spoiler was doing a snow plough impression... So we (the GF and I) have convinced her to get some winter boots. Good call, I hear you say. The trick is, what to get...

The current shortage of winters in the UK has put the prices to ludicrous levels, if she gets the 225/50 17s to sit on her stock alloys, they'll cost an arm and a leg locally, or she'll have to wait over a week for mytyres to deliver and still cost a few limbs. So I looked into using 16" steels instead, to save a few quid. I found one of the excellent technical guides on here and I understand a 5x112 PCD 6x16 ET50 rim with centre bore of 57mm is what she would need. 205/60 16 winters are almost half the cost of the 17s so that's a big boon. Her local Skoda dealer poo-pooed the whole idea, "it'll invalidate your warranty and insurance, madam", and all that sort of nonsense, but she has confirmed the recommendation with Skoda UK so I'm convinced. The local dealer is rapidly showing himself to be an idiot.

Anyway, he's quoted her almost £300 for 4 steel rims which seems so far beyond steep it's unreal. So to eBay...I assume that any VW Group 5x112 ET50 rim would do, but not all of them have the centre bore listed. Can anyone confirm this for me please? I have found a good set HERE

Would these do the job?

All advice and guidance welcomed. Thanks a lot in advance...

If you look at other threads regarding winter tyres you will see that I agonised over what size winter tyres to put on my Yeti instead of the 17" Dunlops. I found it difficult to get help from the dealers and indeed from Skoda Technical. Eventually I had confirmation of my preferred combination - (16" 6J steel wheels and 205/60/16 Nokian WRG2 tyres) - via Will Fisher of Skoda UK and also another source in Skoda Technical via my dealer. Apparently they all say - look on the fuel filler cap or in the manual - but I found the tyre sizes etc only seem to relate to the ability to put snow chains on certain size tyres. I went for the 205/60 because it is pretty close to the diameter of the 17" wheels so the odometer is almost as accurate as with the standard 17" wheels that my car was set up for. Also - I did contact my insurance company and they had no problem with the change and did not require any additional payment (as some have experienced).

Since fitting the winter wheels & tyres I have hardly noticed the snow and ice - very safe driving!

[Fliptop]

Many thanks for the quick response chaps

I've used winter tyres on my cars for years so I'm more than sold on the benefits.

I shall convince her to buy that set off the Bay of shiny temptations and order up some 205/60 16 Winters, as you say they're close enough the the original 17" tyre overall diameter...

I may well be back next year when I start looking for a nearly new 170 4x4 with the beige leather trim (as I really don't like black leather...).

[oldstan]

Many thanks for the quick response chaps

I've used winter tyres on my cars for years so I'm more than sold on the benefits.

I shall convince her to buy that set off the Bay of shiny temptations and order up some 205/60 16 Winters, as you say they're close enough the the original 17" tyre overall diameter...

I may well be back next year when I start looking for a nearly new 170 4x4 with the beige leather trim (as I really don't like black leather...).

There really has been comprehensive correspondence on here recently which covers everything you're chewing over. I just posted this ..... http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/182139-winter-tyres-on-2wd/page__view__findpost__p__2193329 ......which has prices for Skoda supplied wheels plus my own personal summary of what I've learned from better informed bods here. You will be very familiar with Yeti wheels, tyres including recommended makes, if you trawl through the half dozen or so tyre related posts over the last week or ten days. It's a popular topic here and people here are very enthusiastic about their winter tyres, on the whole. Good luck getting a reasonable deal.

Edited 4 December, 2010 by oldstan