Hi, folks, could do with a bit of help from more experienced Yeti owners. Mine is 140 Elegance spec with 17 inch alloys. I've also got a pair of 16 inch steels fitted with winter tyres from my old Octy L&K estate. If I fit the 16s to the front of the Yeti, obviously the rolling circumference will be different, can't see it making any difference under normal conditions, but if the centre diff decides it's time for a bit of 4x4, what will happen with the front & rear being different rolling sizes? Anyone come across this before, or any ideas please ?? Wouldn't want to find myself and/or family hurtling towards the scenery on full under/over steer !!

Cheers from the Bonny Borders of Scotland.

It is highly recommended that you fit winter tyres to both axles, not just the front, otherwise it will be all too easy for the rear to lose itself. Somewhere here there is a video link showing just how uncontrollable it is!!

Will Mk1 Octi wheels fit the Yeti?

Edited 18 January, 201115 yr by Llanigraham

Other than are they the same offset - ET45 etc, I would suggest another 2 steel wheels and winter tyres to match those you already have.

Recommended sizes are 205/55 R16 which are about 1" in dia smaller, or 215/60 R16 which are a fraction larger.

There are a few folk on here who have different sizes, but those are the recommended Skoda ones.

The Haldex doesn't like different wheel sizes so need to be the same all round. Could also potentially be an insurance problem if different as well.

MIke

PS check out the Rim & tyre guide in the Yeti technical section.

Mike

Will Mk1 Octi wheels fit the Yeti?

Hi Graham,

unfortunately not, they have the smaller 5 x 100 stud layout as on the Fabia.

Regards,

TP

Hi Graham,

unfortunately not, they have the smaller 5 x 100 stud layout as on the Fabia.

Regards,

TP

The fount of all Yeti (& Skoda) has spoken.

We bow before your amazing knowledge.

Many thanks Tim.

Mike

Tim,

I guessed they wouldn't fit, but wonder whether the OP has realised?

Tim,

I guessed they wouldn't fit, but wonder whether the OP has realised?

They may have a MkII which would be OK as the Octy II has the same stud pattern, plus the rims would more than likely be 6Jx16 ET 50 or possibly 6.5Jx16 ET 50 (both cases a 205/55 tyre would be required).

Only concern would be the load index as the Octavia could use a 91; 4x4 Monster needs 94 minimum on 16" tyres, plus obviously the notion of mixing rim sizes and tyre patterns

Regards,

TP

Edited 18 January, 201115 yr by The Plumber

Hi, folks, could do with a bit of help from more experienced Yeti owners. Mine is 140 Elegance spec with 17 inch alloys. I've also got a pair of 16 inch steels fitted with winter tyres from my old Octy L&K estate. If I fit the 16s to the front of the Yeti, obviously the rolling circumference will be different, can't see it making any difference under normal conditions, but if the centre diff decides it's time for a bit of 4x4, what will happen with the front & rear being different rolling sizes? Anyone come across this before, or any ideas please ?? Wouldn't want to find myself and/or family hurtling towards the scenery on full under/over steer !!

Cheers from the Bonny Borders of Scotland.

Just two comments:

1. the Yeti does NOT have a center differential - the rear axle is driven from a power take-off, full time. The Haldex coupling either accepts torque from the rotating drive shaft when needed or just transmits the small amount of torque delvered through the friction in the lubricant on the coupling.

2. Different wheel diameters on the two axles is a bad idea. All four wheels should be identical and ideally also have the same tyres fitted.

Edited 19 January, 201115 yr by Agerbundsen

Have a look at this thread:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/182447-the-winter-tyres-thread/

And especially the second video showing what happens if your wheels are different. Not to be recommended.

Hi, folks, could do with a bit of help from more experienced Yeti owners. Mine is 140 Elegance spec with 17 inch alloys. I've also got a pair of 16 inch steels fitted with winter tyres from my old Octy L&K estate. If I fit the 16s to the front of the Yeti, obviously the rolling circumference will be different, can't see it making any difference under normal conditions, but if the centre diff decides it's time for a bit of 4x4, what will happen with the front & rear being different rolling sizes? Anyone come across this before, or any ideas please ?? Wouldn't want to find myself and/or family hurtling towards the scenery on full under/over steer !!

Cheers from the Bonny Borders of Scotland.

Thanks for all your input, in general the consensus is that I should either buy a complete set of new alloys or steels & fit winter rubber all round......or forget it completely.

Thanks for all your input, in general the consensus is that I should either buy a complete set of new alloys or steels & fit winter rubber all round......

See bold bits above!!

That's what I intend to do.

.....or forget it completely.

That is what I have done - probably due to a complete lack of funds (and a healthy dose of wondering if this is a case of Emperor's Clothes) - and with no noticeable deleterious effects so far this winter.

However - pride may well come before a fall......and I may yet be proved wrong.

I can think of many things that the relevant cash could be spent on rather than a set of different wheels. Call e a Luddite......

You are a LUDDITE.

Well you did ask!!

What are you doing being up at stupidtime in the morning? At least I've got an excuse of being at work.

Why is it necessary to buy new steel wheels? Is there a reason the garage can not simply take off your old tyre and put the new one on? Is there too much potential for damage to the rubber whilst removing the tyre?

Why is it necessary to buy new steel wheels? Is there a reason the garage can not simply take off your old tyre and put the new one on? Is there too much potential for damage to the rubber whilst removing the tyre?

Cost, believe it or not. It will cost about 1 steel wheel approx every time you have all 4 wheels changed, so it doesn't take too long to break even.

Plus quality 225/50 R17 winter tyres are much more expensive than 215/60 R16's which are more expensive than 205/55 R16's.

Mike

PS when buying my tyres, it was cheaper to buy the 215/60's and steel wheels than buying the 225/50 equivalent winter tyre.

Edited 20 January, 201115 yr by rockhopper

Try mytyres.co.uk they do Skoda model specific steel wheels fitted and balanced with winter tyres from £92 per corner plus delivery

Check out this link :-

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/skw.pl?dsco=110&cart_id=77444220.110.5384&s_p=Steel_wheels

Why is it necessary to buy new steel wheels? Is there a reason the garage can not simply take off your old tyre and put the new one on? Is there too much potential for damage to the rubber whilst removing the tyre?

Rockhopper covered a couple of reasons but there are a couple more. First is that repeated mounting and dismounting can lead to damage and the bead not sealing properly, more likely if the tyre fitter is rougher than necessary. The second is that if a wheel is kerbed then if it is steel it can often be unbent whereas alloys are harder to un-crack!

And just to finish off my query....Are the alloys designed only to fit a certain size of tyre or does that not matter. For example on my car the tyres are 225. I hear people talking about fitting winter tyres at 205. My assumption is that they are narrower. Does that mean they would not fit the alloys and so new steel wheels/alloys would be needed anyway?

And just to finish off my query....Are the alloys designed only to fit a certain size of tyre or does that not matter. For example on my car the tyres are 225. I hear people talking about fitting winter tyres at 205. My assumption is that they are narrower. Does that mean they would not fit the alloys and so new steel wheels/alloys would be needed anyway?

Should be able to fit 205/50 R17 winters to the 7Jx17 rim (seen this done on SUK press cars), although Skoda advise using 6Jx17 rims. Tyre manufactures also specify permissible rim widths suitable for different size tyres.

Regards,

TP

Excellent. So when my current tread wears out I could replace all 4 tyres on my current alloys with All Season tyres 215/50R17 etc. By all accounts this slight reduction in width should also aid grip in snow and ice. Much appreciated, I will bookmark this thread.

Should be able to fit 205/50 R17 winters to the 7Jx17 rim (seen this done on SUK press cars), although Skoda advise using 6Jx17 rims. Tyre manufactures also specify permissible rim widths suitable for different size tyres.

Regards,

TP

But that will change the speedo reading to make it over-read even more.

Mike

So when my current tread wears out I could replace all 4 tyres on my current alloys with All Season tyres 215/50R17 etc. By all accounts this slight reduction in width should also aid grip in snow and ice.

It's not so simple, but first, one last reason for getting steel wheels is that it allows you to pick a wheel size that is appropriate to your chosen tyre size, (generally the steel wheel would be narrower and of a smaller diameter), which in turn makes it easier to have narrower tyres. In general, this will have a second cost benefit in that narrower tyres with a taller sidewall will be cheaper than the standard tyres fitted to your car, although this isn't always the case.

Back to the idea of fitting narrower tyres to your existing wheels ... the problem is likely to be finding a manufacturer that makes tyres in your chosen size.

For instance, your standard tyres are probably 225/50R17, and you mentioned the wheels are 7J. The narrowest tread size that fits on 7" wheels is 195, but tyres don't appear to be made in 195/55R17 or 195/60R17, and anyway even if they were made it might not be possible to find any that meet the load rating requirements.

The closest narrower match to your existing tyres would be 205/55R17 - the speedo readings would be virtually unchanged - however there is a very limited range of summer tyres in this size, and I haven't been able to find any all season or winter tyres at all.

Finally, as rockhopper said, 215/50R17 and 215/55R17 will both alter the speedo reading - under-reading slightly with the former and over-reading slightly with the latter - but not enough to be a serious concern. If there was a choice it might be better to have the slightly larger size to give (very) slightly increased ground clearance. However the choice of all season tyre in these sizes is extremely limited, and they may not be biased enough towards winter to make great headway on snow and ice, (Nokian eNTYRE appear to be aimed at wet wintery conditions, not sure about Yokohama all season tyres).

If I wanted all season tyres, I'd consider getting a set of smaller alloys (7Jx16) and fit Vredestein Quatrac 3 215/60R16 99H XL tyres as these meet the minimum load index requirements, or Goodyear Vector 4Seasons as per TP's guide, either 205/60R16 96V or 215/60R16 95H, or keep to the original size and get Goodyear Vector 4Seasons 225/50R17 98H or 225/50R17 98V and accept the increased cost.

Edited 21 January, 201115 yr by AnotherGareth

Life, or should I say tyres, is just not simple :(

Try mytyres.co.uk they do Skoda model specific steel wheels fitted and balanced with winter tyres from £92 per corner plus delivery

Check out this link :-

http://ssl.delti.com..._p=Steel_wheels

Just one note on these MyTyres wheels: they might be Å koda specific but they are of a different shape. So you can't fit standard VW Caddy centre caps (they are too big since the "dish" part of their steel wheel is smaller). Not sure how well the Å koda full wheelcovers fit to these either. So only option to use is the VW Caddy centre caps with the five visible bolts since they are smaller.

Again just to close the loop for future searches!

After member ejstubbs posted here that his T5 centre caps did not fit I did a bit of research and found that a VW T5 in fact uses a 5x120 stud arrangement vs the VW Caddy and Yeti that uses a 5x112 arrangement. So I have to admit I led people up the garden path here! Although my first caps (the ones with the written words VOLKSWAGEN and no VW logo on the photos of this thread) were advertised as from a T5 they were in fact from a Caddy! Hence my own confusion.

So to anyone out there trying to source centre caps do NOT buy T5 cente caps. You have to find the far scarcer Caddy ones.