Hi all,

My long search of cheap alloys to replace 14" steel wheels will soon be over!!!!

I am about to get a set of 2nd hand VRS wheels for my 1.4 16v, this Friday. Although they cost way over my 150 pounds budget, I don't care as I know they will surely look geat on my Fabia. So few newbie questions:

1. How difficult it is to replace wheels myself (2 hands, no help)? I saw someone replacing wheel by a road, it seems a pain in the *** to me. I got a feeling that wheel wounldn't come off even with all nuts unscrewed, and I am so scare that the jack will slip if I force it.

2. Can I reuse those locking wheel nuts/bolts off my 14" steel wheels?

3. How much a Garages will likely to charge me for this kind of job? Just in case I fed up with all this hassle. lol

1. Time consuming

2. The nuts are for steel or alloy

3. Difficult to say spose it depends if they are busy??

It isn't difficult. Jack the car up and do it like you're changing all four wheels with four 'spares'. Straight swap.

Piece of cake, I can do 4 swaps in under 20 minutes

If you are worried about it coming off the jack, put your spare wheel under the edge of the car so it doesn't fall all the way to the ground, you then have a chance to re-jack it.

I wouldn't get a garage to do it, it sounds like you need the practice

As for the bolts, they may be a different length, I'm sure someone will advise on that.

Oh, and I reckon it will look good

Just make sure when you fit those awesome wheels, the tyre and wheel combination will add up to the same size as your 14" with those fat tyres.

I changed my standard wheels to vRS alloys.... really easy to do yourself.... like everyone mentioned stick a wheel under the side of car just incase it slips.

Bolts will work fine with alloys however you will need to get yourself one set of locking bolts to prevent theft and also dont forget the little silver dustcaps for the bolts, cant help you with part numbers but dealer will know what you want.

Wheels will look ace on your car, just look in my gallery for example... thats comfort to vRS wheels there.

Just be sure to have same rolling radius at the end.

if the jack dose slip and the spare is not under it, you will still be able to get the jack under it again, because your legs that are now wedged under your car will create enough space. lol

And don't forget to slacken the wheel nuts before you jack the car up and don't tighten them fully until the car is back on the ground, otherwise it will likely rock off the jack!!!

Chris

Many thanks for all the advise. I shall give it a go and do it myself, can't wait about it.

I changed my standard wheels to vRS alloys.... really easy to do yourself.... like everyone mentioned stick a wheel under the side of car just incase it slips.

Bolts will work fine with alloys however you will need to get yourself one set of locking bolts to prevent theft and also dont forget the little silver dustcaps for the bolts' date=' cant help you with part numbers but dealer will know what you want.

Wheels will look ace on your car, just look in my gallery for example... thats comfort to vRS wheels there.

Just be sure to have same rolling radius at the end.

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WAW, your fabia look awesome!!! clean and shiningly. Those vrs wheels look way better than comfort wheel, which I am currently having them on my fabia.

WAW, your fabia look awesome!!! clean and shiningly. Those vrs wheels look way better than comfort wheel, which I am currently having them on my fabia.

cheers m8

Yeah. it is fitted! Took me almost 3 hours. I had to jack the fabia very high in order to remove those steel wheels, and the jack didn't look stright up made me feel very scary, my heart beats very fast while I tried just to jack 0.5cm higher to fit VRS wheel (bigger). I think how to initiate the jack position is really important.

Bought myself a torque wrench, so nuts are not over tighten.

My Fabia 1.4 16v Comfort look way way better than it was, even my girl friend start to like my Fabia!!! need I say more?

Conti tyres up front, Toyo tyre (nearly new) at the back. These tyres are much quiet than those Michelin on steel wheels. Travel on Motorway (NSL +10mph) is more comfortable now, more stable, less rocky. Deal to low profile tyres, body rolling is reduced a lot, I am now able to attack corner more confident at high speed. I tested on A57 and those complex B roads around lake district.

Well, downside is that acceleration is much harder than it was. I won't shift up until rev is up to 3-3.5k rpm now. Rev even higher to shift from 4th to 5th. I floor the petal more often now , hope Fabia's engine is reliable enough.

I am very very happy with this upgrade, as I travel on motorway a lot, almost 99%.

PS: Chris, thx for selling those wheels to me, they are fab.

One thing that might suffer then is economy, but I just think "stuff it!"

Fitting 17s to my old TDI in standard form caused a 15-20% drop in economy. :eek:

Just out of curosity, what torqueness (sp?) should the wheel nuts be tightened to?

Just out of curosity, what torqueness (sp?) should the wheel nuts be tightened to?

120 Nm

Cheers.

For me its "until the wrench won't go round anymore" - then "one last final shove"

Not had a wheel bolt fall / rattle out yet, and neither had any sticky removal issues too.

hmmm I need a set of these aswell lol.... I thought that if you change the wheels yourself, you need to get it balanced, else one of the tyres may wear out quicker than the other? Or is balancing to do with something else? Ive only changed a flatty myself, but not all 4

If anyone does alot of wheel changing I'd advise buying a torque wrench. They arent that expensive these days and you cant put a price on peace of mind. 120nm is correct.

hmmm I need a set of these aswell lol.... I thought that if you change the wheels yourself, you need to get it balanced, else one of the tyres may wear out quicker than the other? Or is balancing to do with something else? Ive only changed a flatty myself, but not all 4

You only need to get a wheel/tyre balanced if the tyre as been off the rim or you have wheel wobble. Balancing wont normaly effect wear.

You can change wheels yourself without bother. Just make sure bolts are tight (see above post).

hmmm I need a set of these aswell lol.... I thought that if you change the wheels yourself, you need to get it balanced, else one of the tyres may wear out quicker than the other? Or is balancing to do with something else? Ive only changed a flatty myself, but not all 4

Balancing is to do with balancing out any imperfections in the tyre/alloy so it doesn't vibrate when it's turning at speed, so in theory if you buy a balanced set of alloys with tyres, you shouldn't experience any problems. However, there is a possibility that the hub itself has imperfections, in which case you'd have to get the wheels balanced on the car.... I've not had any problems switching wheels on my previous cars, but a few on here have experienced problems with Octy wheels on Fabia's (Hellfire?)... sure one will be along to comment

Chris

Been away so ive just got back to loads of emails, Louis they look spot on!