my octavia vrs has 205/50/17 tyres on standard rims that need replacing. Can anyone advise me what size width I can go up to on these rims and can I go for a lower profile side wall, just day to day running, or should I stick with Skoda guidelines and the size that's on. Any advice will help rather than a bloke at a tyre shop trying to make a sale. Cheers, Toonarmy vRS.

You cant go for a lower profile, but a popular size on the forum is 225/45/17 which is what I run. Oddly the 225 is quiet a bit cheaper than the 205 as its a more common size.

What About the continental 215/45 they used to be on the vrs about 2 years ago, they look much better than the skinny 205's but not as frumpy as the 225's.

I am also looking to replace mine and am facing the same dilema.

215/45 will fit ok but you will get more of a speedo error than 225/45.

IIRC it's not a great amount so not something to worry about too much.

If I was to put 205/40's on the octavias 17 in rims would the speedo be the only thing affected or will I be putting extra strain on track rod ends and ball joints etc.

If you narrow down your choice to getting a 215/45/17 those owuld be extremely low profile tyres..you'll literally be strtching them over the wheels, but the handling will be superb:)

You cant go for a lower profile, but a popular size on the forum is 225/45/17 which is what I run. Oddly the 225 is quiet a bit cheaper than the 205 as its a more common size.

But- is there an insurance issue or do they foul the arch, if not then i would put these on as they are easier to get hold of, well the price is certainly cheaper.

Ade

But- is there an insurance issue or do they foul the arch' date=' if not then i would put these on as they are easier to get hold of, well the price is certainly cheaper.

Ade[/quote']

Don't know about the insurance but 225 doesn't foul the arches.

Don't know about the insurance but 225 doesn't foul the arches.

Why i Mention insurance, is that when it came to changing tyres i was surprised at price. Therefore checked the overall circumference and 225/45 17 is not much difference.

Here's the maths;

225 45 ; 45 % of 225mm is 101.25mm

205 50 ; 50% of 205mm is 102.5mm

so we have distance between edge of rim to road.

Here comes the conversion.

We work now in mm and have to convert the 17" into mm.

17 x 2.54=43.18cm or 431.8mm

divide 431.8 by 2 to get radius of rim= 215.9mm

C=2 x PI x R

Circumference = 2 x PI x Radius

205 radius is 215.9mm + 102.5mm=318.4mm

225 radius is 215.9mm + 101.25mm=317.15mm

205 circumference is 2000.566mm

225 circumference is 1992.712mm

This tells us that the 205 is 7.854 mm bigger around circumference.

Less than 1cm, thats not much.

Hopefully I have this correct. If not someone will tell me.

You could go one step further and then work out how much the speedo difference would be.

But it gets tricky, certainly if your no mathematician.

Once again there's more converting.

Having gone off on a tangent, I rang skoda to ask if they fouled the arch, I didn't think they would as the size difference is nominal, and they said, Whoooaaa-stop there, "and does your insurance company know", and having heard that, i went no further, and never investigated any further.

Ade

too much maths there for me.

dont think it would make the speedo that in-accurate.

not enough to notice.

just my opinion, proberbly wrong though.

too much maths there for me.

dont think it would make the speedo that in-accurate.

not enough to notice.

just my opinion' date=' proberbly wrong though.[/quote']

Screen shot attached

I think it's right. Or should be within a gnats hair.

Thanks for the info. I think! Just stick to the book size I think.

I read an article about some porche championship that had ran their cars on

Just a quick jab at the insurance issue - my car came to me on 225 tire, it would appear that at one point skoda were having difficulty getting in the 205's and as a result sourced 225. The bottom line of what i'm saying is if your going to change all four tires there there should be NO insurance issues with going for 225's as they were factory fit on these vehicles....... :-)

Also don't know about 40quid colways but have just replaced all four of mine this week with Bridgestone RE-050 A they were 62 quid a tire and have a mental amount of grip. They seem to last got 17k out of the last pair of fronts too :-)

cheers for info on bridgestones, good price for a good name.

.....have just replaced all four of mine this week with Bridgestone RE-050 A they were 62 quid a tire....

Where did you get those from. I know kwikfit are a bunch of thieves, but they're quoting