Yet another winter tyres/wheels thread

[C.D-vRS]

I have had a search but not much luck answering all my questions.

What steel wheels do I need for my Fabia? I've seen some 14" on eBay, but am I right thinking I need at least 15" to clear the brakes?

What offset & PCD etc do I need?

Last question. What tyres should I go for?

Sorry again for another winter wheel thread.

[AnotherGareth]

What steel wheels do I need for my Fabia?

What does it say in your handbook or inside the fuel flap? Generally there will be some information about tyre sizes in those places. For a vRS 15" wheels should fit but 14" may not clear the front calipers.

What offset & PCD etc do I need?

Don't know the correct offset as that depends on wheel width, (and possibly wheel size). PCD is 5x100mm.

What tyres should I go for?

Whatever you can get as it's hard to find stocks at the moment. Look at other threads for ideas and what people have been able to get recently.

Just had a look at a couple of other threads to save you the bother ;-) Is the standard size 205/45R16? If so then an appropriate size for winter wheels & tyres would be 195/55R15. The widest wheels that you can use with 195/55R15 is 7", I think the narrowest is 5.5", and 6" is optimal.

Edited 21 December, 2010 by AnotherGareth

[C.D-vRS]

Thank you AnotherGareth

[JulieD]

You will need 15" wheels to clear the standard vRS brake calipers.

PCD must be 5x100, centre bore 57.1mm. The standard vRS wheel has offset ET38, so try to stick within +/- 5mm of that. You might find it easier (and cheaper) to get hold a set of secondhand 15" alloys from a mk4 Golf or mk1 Audi A3. Provided you get OEM VAG group wheels (steel or alloy) you'll be able to use your exisiting wheel bolts.

Tyre size - I'm running 195/50/15s (by choice because that's the size Skoda fitted to the mk1 Fabia on 15" wheels), but 185/55/15 or 195/55/15s would be fine too. Just go for whatever you can find in stock. Obviously you need all four to be the same size.

Hope this helps.

[C.D-vRS]

I've sourced some 15" steel wheels, brand new for £130 posted.

Now I need some tyres, tried Blackcircles & mytyres. Any other places that are good?

[C.D-vRS]

These any good?

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?details=Ordern&cart_id=22225140.110.9872&typ=R-168603&ranzahl=4&Breite=195&Quer=55&Felge=15&Speed=H&weiter=0&Ang_pro_Seite=10&Transport=P&dsco=110&sowigan=Wi

[Tight Git]

185 60 15 on early (pre 93) Audi A3 alloys on my VRS SE - around £50 for 4 off Ebay.

HTH

[rum4mo]

I've sourced some 15" steel wheels, brand new for £130 posted.

Now I need some tyres, tried Blackcircles & mytyres. Any other places that are good?

Now that was a slight mistake as as far as I know (bought wheels and tyres back in February from them) mytyres do a steelies with winter tyres package - and at their prices, it beat the pants of me buying steelies then buying tyres from places like mytyres.

[rum4mo]

These any good?

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?details=Ordern&cart_id=22225140.110.9872&typ=R-168603&ranzahl=4&Breite=195&Quer=55&Felge=15&Speed=H&weiter=0&Ang_pro_Seite=10&Transport=P&dsco=110&sowigan=Wi

You could do better, remember that you are looking for scores of below "2" especially in the important winter sections of the test - these tyres sound like they would be better than using summer tyres in winter - but just how much better is the point, if you have descided that you want to spend money on winter tyres then it might just be a bit wasteful and annoying to find that you have saved some money and bought tyres that independant tests show to be "lacking" - and then you discover what that translates to in real world situations.

[Polo6n1600i]

In Germany they recommend snow/mud tyres with a snowflake on the side of the tyre - these are tried and tested winter tyres and come with a TUV certificate. My sister lives over there and her Husband has Michellin winter tyres which has never had any issues with!

[ChrisRs]

Snow flake symbol is good, but one within a mountain symbol are even better....apparantly

[Polo6n1600i]

Ok cool - didnt know that - i'll keep that in mind!