i live out in the sticks and had real problems last year in the snow. just brought a mk1 octavia L&K 1.9 pd. its sitting on 16" rims at mo with 205/55/r16 tyres. have read that dropping to 15" rims with narrower tyres can really help in winter conditions. can anyone give me the rim size i would need and the tyre size i would need to use, i presume that if using 15" rims i would need to step up to 65 on tyres but not sure. any help much appreciated

cheers

rob

Go for as narrow a tyre as the car can use......check the fuel filler cap or the handbook.......but if your standard tyre size is 205/55 R16...then to keep the same RC on a 15" rim = 195/65 R15.

I picked up a set of L&K alloys, so I was just going to use my standard 205 55 r16 Elegance alloys for winter tyres. I figured that something was better than nothing.

I have a spare set of elegance alloys which I am aiming to put some winter tyres on. Interestingly SWMBOs Leon was much better in the snow than my car last year and that has 195/65 R15 tyres, though you would think that 10mm narrower on the width wouldn't make much difference.

I need to sort this for my vrs am looking to put the standard spiders on as I don't think 235 35 19 will work well

My winter tyres are 205/55/16 fitted to the OEM Elegance rims.

Going down a size can assist in two ways - first on your pocket - generally the smaller the rim diameter, the lower the cost and secondly you are distributing the weight of the car over a smaller contact area. The higher profile of say 195/65/15 would also reduce the chance of kerbing or pothole damage.

Just be sure to check the load rating is correct too - I would think you need at least 91 on a diesel.

My winter tyres are 205/55/16 fitted to the OEM Elegance rims.

Going down a size can assist in two ways - first on your pocket - generally the smaller the rim diameter, the lower the cost and secondly you are distributing the weight of the car over a smaller contact area. The higher profile of say 195/65/15 would also reduce the chance of kerbing or pothole damage.

Just be sure to check the load rating is correct too - I would think you need at least 91 on a diesel.

What tyres have you gone for?

Cheers for all the advice. So I can fit 15" steels as long as same off set ect and then put 195 65 r15 on that rim as long as weight rating is the same. Is all that right??

Cheers again

Rob

What tyres have you gone for?

Continental TS 830.

@heli195

Yes providing you have 288mm or less front discs, ie standard.

Best to think about buying now as last year UK stocks were completely depleted by November and you should still be able to pick up a cheap set of 15inch rims, before everyone tries off loading their old rims as "winter rims".

Seat Leon Mk1 / Golf Mk4 are all compatible, Audi's tend to have different offsets but A3 should be ok.

Lastly, all season tyres are not winter tyres but people try to sell them as such.

Continental TS 830.

What sort of pricing were you seeing for those? Was that supply & fit, or did you order online, and then get a local garage to fit them at £10-£15/corner (seems like a rip off to me).

What sort of pricing were you seeing for those? Was that supply & fit, or did you order online, and then get a local garage to fit them at £10-£15/corner (seems like a rip off to me).

I bought mine at £394 fitted from Kwik Fit last November. I originally ordered from My-tires but spent a week chasing them around the county as they seemed to want to deliver (via DPD) after 10pm, when, of course, the tyre fitters are all closed. They ended up returned to Germany undelivered, but I got a full refund. My-tires were good price but 2 days after I ordered mine, word about winter tyres got out in the media and the price almost doubled. So happy to get the last set Kwik Fit had, when my-tires were charging £140 unfitted a corner...

They are very good tyres - saw about 1.5mm tread loss over 3000 miles usage and rated most highly in reviews.