17" steels?

[Geja]

I've not posted for a while but continue to pick up lots of information from everyone!

I think I've seen something posted previously but can't find it!

I was given a good deal from National on winter tyres.... Dunlop 225 50 17. Talked to a couple of skoda dealers about acquiring suitable steels for them and got no where!

Please can anyone shed any light on suitable, compatible steels for my Yeti, apparently it's easy for 16" but not for 17". Maybe audi, vw etc would fit? Surely there must be stuff out there.

I looked at the tyre and rim guide and barely understood it, felt a bit out of my depth!

Appreciate any advice...... apart from don't buy 17" tyres. I went in asking for 16" winters..... maybe he saw me coming as he had a 17" set in! I suppose at worst I simply swap them on my alloys each time. Thought now maybe a good time to get a decent deal.

Thanks

[jrw]

Surely 16inch tyres and wheels are cheaper than 17's even if you were 'offered a good deal'?

I have 16's on my VRS in the Winter and they are a hell of a lot better than my summer 18's!

[Geja]

I think he had no 16" in at that time but did have a set of 17"! He told me I could have them at the same deal price! But now I find it's not easy (maybe not possible) to find well priced suitable steels for 17".

[weasley]

Find a cheap set of alloys?

[My_Yeti]

Look for steelies from French cars. The Peugeot 3008 is supplied with 17" steelies. Not sure about PCD etc though.

[mike57]

Buying new steel versus new alloys puts the cost firmly in favour of steel.

But if you have spare alloys or buy secondhand there is no real cost difference.

I know in theory the steel wheels stand up better to salt corrosion and the potential for resisting damage from sideways clips from kerbs etc. However, from personal experience of using winter tyres over ten years on the same (audi) original alloys that still look almost new I think that benefit is exaggerated.

As an aside, for when I can't face grovelling round outside in the cold and wet, my local tyre dealer does change over a set of wheels for £10 +VAT so with a Lidl wheel stand and cover to keep the garage tidy it becomes very painless.

[vegit8]

Personally speaking I would go the second set of alloys route, there are always loads for sale on the eBay. You may have to spend a while looking for the best deal.

There are a number of things you need to be mindful of .

Not all VAG wheels fit, you need a stud configuration of 5 x 112 - you will see many that are 5 x 100, these won't fit.

You also need to make sure the offset is correct as well, this is the distance that hub is offset from what would be the centre of the rim.

This will explain it better > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offset_(wheel)

The figure you need is an ET of 45 or 50

The advertiser should know this information, and ought to be displayed.

I would have thought that a VAG dealer should be able to give you a price for 17" steels, they must fit them to their van ranges. I may be wrong here of course.

Finally to give you an idea of what can be achieved, I got a refurbished set of 16" Audi alloys that were 5x112 with an ET of 45 for £200.

As for damaging them, I have been driving for more than 40 years and have only once hit a kerb in icy conditions, but that statistic tells you nothing really as its all down to how much risk of doing that you expose your self to. I want to run winter tyres because they give better performance in all low temperature conditions, not just snow and ice.

In recent years the weather seems to have greater extremes of all types, so I just want to be best prepared.

[Auric Goldfinger]

I have 16's on my VRS in the Winter and they are a hell of a lot better than my summer 18's!

Same here, vast improvement on 16" winters than running the 18" summer rubber

[The Plumber]

Personally speaking I would go the second set of alloys route, there are always loads for sale on the eBay. You may have to spend a while looking for the best deal.

There are a number of things you need to be mindful of .

Not all VAG wheels fit, you need a stud configuration of 5 x 112 - you will see many that are 5 x 100, these won't fit.

You also need to make sure the offset is correct as well, this is the distance that hub is offset from what would be the centre of the rim.

This will explain it better > http://en.wikipedia....i/Offset_(wheel)

The figure you need is an ET of 45 or 50

The advertiser should know this information, and ought to be displayed.

I would have thought that a VAG dealer should be able to give you a price for 17" steels, they must fit them to their van ranges. I may be wrong here of course.

Finally to give you an idea of what can be achieved, I got a refurbished set of 16" Audi alloys that were 5x112 with an ET of 45 for £200.

As above the standard size rim fitted to the Yeti is 7Jx17 ET45 with a centre hole of 57mm diameter and a 5x112 stud pattern

You can deviate fom these figures slightly for example you should be OK with a ET of 47 or instead of 7J it's 7.5J.

The following link for ebay is to give you an idea what is out there that should work, these though are a bit pricey but the first ones I came across doing a search;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/17-AUDI-GENUINE-ALLOY-WHEELS-AND-TYRES-AUDI-A3-A4-A6-SHARRON-GALAXY-/170832518495?pt=UK_CarParts_Acc_Wheels_tyres_Rims_Car_Wheels_ET&hash=item27c6695d5f

Also looked at steel rims, could not find anything that would fit; VW do make 17" steels for their T5 but the stud pattern is 5x120.

Hope of help,

TP

[900000]

This post is a sticky in the Tyres section and lists all VAG wheels:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/217746-vag-group-steel-and-alloy-wheel-part-numbers-and-specs/

So have a gander there for a suitable 17" with the correct 5x112 bolt spacing.