Just purchased a new Black Edition Rapid Spaceback as a replacement for my current (2011) MKII Octavia (facelift) company car.

Love the look, generally, but like the new Octavia MKIII vRS I took delivery of two months ago as a replacement for my private car, it needs 'tweaking'.

It's suffering from the current Skoda problem in that it bears little resemblance to the brochure pics and looks like it's on stilts (the 'All-Road' look), and the wheels, although 17", look too small and they're sitting way too far inward of the bodywork.

The first and most definite 'tweak' will be lowering the car by 30mm with Eibach springs, and its

possible then that just changing from the 17" Savio's to a more 'visible' wheel with a lesser offset, moving them closer to the outer bodywork, will remedy the problem.

However, I'm contemplating 225/40 R18's on 7.5J rims with an offset of 35 to further enhance the cars appearance and fill the gargantuan wheel arches, but this will increase the rolling circumference of the wheels by 100.73mm (5.53%) and thus knock the speedo out of calibration (when the speedometer reads 40mph, which is the speed limit here in Jersey, I'd actually be doing 42.21mph). I'm not bothered about the resultant effect on the 0-62mph time and I can't see any reason it should affect low speed handling.

Does anyone know if if it's possible to recalibrate the speedometer to counter this (and how it's done)? I purchased a genuine VCDS for use on my MKIII vRS a while back but I'm a novice and have yet to grow the balls to plug it in and start mucking around with it?

I agree, dark wheels accentuate the oversize arches. I dont know about skoda but every seat publicity shot of the toledo has been photoshopped to fill them out. I like the idea of 225/40 18 as well but i think they may rub on lock.

The speedo should be correct after the change. I just checked with gps and with 215/40 17 speedo is 2 mph fast, so your big new tyres will fix that

What rims?

OZ aristos (off the original R32) should fit.

Or maybe some RS6 reps

Edited 24 October, 201411 yr by camelspyyder

Not sure what rims as yet.

The move to 18's offers a rather massive choice so gonna take a bit of time to see what's available.

One of those things... when I see the right ones I'll know right away!

Google search on 'Rapid Spaceback Black Edition' brings up a nice pic of a white rapid hatchback with hyper silver twisted 5 spoke alloys. Seems the 5 spoke look (including those similar to the SE Sport wheels) suits the car.

superskoda.com have pics of their rapid on 19s in their rapid parts section. 30 profiles i think.

I expect the narrowness of the car be good where you live?

My Dad's over there and a TSI would probably be a practical replacement for his IS250 that he's moving on.

I did that google search - a few PR shots with a 2 inch drop there

Edited 24 October, 201411 yr by camelspyyder

I think these are 19,s but look awesome.

I wouldn't worry about 5% on the speedo.  If it's anything like my car, bigger wheel/tyre combo simply makes it more accurate.  Mine now only under reads by about 2% - On oem setup it was more like 6% to 7%.

superskoda.com have pics of their rapid on 19s in their rapid parts section. 30 profiles i think.

I expect the narrowness of the car be good where you live?

My Dad's over there and a TSI would probably be a practical replacement for his IS250 that he's moving on.

I did that google search - a few PR shots with a 2 inch drop there

Yes, the Rapid's a 'sensible' car for over here... not just for the narrowness of the roads but because of all the muppets that keep appearing around corners on the wrong side of the road (the go faster crew with the baked bean tin sized exhausts and those busy checking their make-up in the mirror or kids in the back seat... and of course ubiquitous white van man on his mobile phone). I used to have a Q7 and it was white knuckle time anytime I went out in it (and the wife wouldn't even drive it... although that could have been classed as a bonus with each rim costing £1180 to replace).

I noticed the pics on the Superskoda site the other day... does look good and gives the car 'presence'.

I'm hoping to achieve a 25-30mm drop maximum which should keep clearance for the 18's... think 19's might be a step too far, more so as the roads over here are worse than most third world countries I've visited.

Wheels in the pic posted by Stormchaser are Octavia III vRS 19" Xtreme's and look good, but would need PCD adapters as they're 5x112 (unless the Rapid pictured has, probably quite likely, Octavia hubs/brakes).