I thinking of ditching my rays as the mrs has scuffed them again. Don't get me wrong I think they look great but these diamond cut alloys are basically knackered once you scuff them. My mate recons bout £220 to have repaired but they are only £182 on flea bay for a new wheel.

What you recon to a set of 18s on the rapid ? Maybe matt black

18,s[emoji106]

Very nice.

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I think the Rays look awesome but like you say once there kerbed that's it and they are also prone to corrosion. I am considering some alloygators in order to hide any scuffs and protect against future damage, worth a google, see what you think.

Another cheaper option would be to chemically strip the Rays and spray matt black or look at these.....

http://www.theskodashop.co.uk/product/Prestige_17%22_Alloy_%28Matt_Black%29_-_Rapid_12%3E14_5JA071497AZG6

Of course this doesn't give you 18s but I think 17s suit the car just fine and will save you a packet not having to buy 4 x 18" tyres at the same time as new wheels.

One of the benefits of going for an aftermarket alloy will be that you can choose, amongst other things such as greater rim width and diameter, a wheel with a much better offset.

One of the issues which makes the wheel arch gap look so big and the ride height look more like an Audi Allroad is the very 'inboard' offset of the wheels on most of the new Skoda's.

Had this same problem on my old MK II and my new MK III Octy, and changing to a wider rim with a lesser offset (but retaining the use of the stock tyres) makes a huge difference to the cars appearance, plus I've always found that the wider track also gives the car a much more stable feel and generally improves the handling.

A wider track may not, however, be the best option if the other half is determined to use the kerbs like train tracks to keep herself on course.

I'm waiting on delivery of my 17" Fox Racing FX004's in gloss black, which with a rim width of 7.5J and an ET35 offset will give a 17.35mm increase in track width per wheel (34.7mm overall per axle) and vastly improve the cars appearance, and the best thing is that if they get damaged, a bit of sandpaper or a small metal file and a can of gloss (Piano) black is all that's likely to be required to effect a pretty decent repair... or I can just get a brand new rim for £75 + delivery.

Oh... and before anybody asks the question, a (typical) alteration to the ET of -11 will have no discernible negative effect on the bearings whatsoever unless you happen to spend your entire day driving an off-road rally course or repeatedly circling a roundabout for 24 hours, in which case you'd wear your bearings quicker no matter what type of wheel you had fitted!

Another positive I've also found is that whenever I sell my cars on, I put the original wheels (which are still basically brand new) back on the car, and hey presto, instant USP - the immaculate wheels say you are obviously a careful driver and have looked after your car (this of course doesn't apply if you happen to have dragged the side of your car down every car park ramp wall you've come across, if your better half's idea of how reversing sensors work is 'beep... beeep... beeeep... crunch', have back seats covered in baby drool, or the dog's eaten the back of your headrest).

Great post nookie bear. Can you explain to a wheel amateur what offset is?

What is the offset on a ray alloy for a rapid as standard ?

says et 46 on

 

http://eshop.skoda-auto.com/cz/en/b2c/alloy-wheel---ray-70j-x-17-5ja071497--8z8x

 

I was jealous of the skoda rim choices when I bought the toledo, I especially liked the black Savio.

 

Hearing about everybodys scuffing issues on black wheels, I'm glad I stuck with the SEAT 17 option though.

Edited 27 January, 201511 yr by camelspyyder

diagram and explanation of offset here:

 

http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/roll-on/what-is-rim-offset-and-backspacing-how-do-they-effect-fitment

diagram and explanation of offset here:

http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/roll-on/what-is-rim-offset-and-backspacing-how-do-they-effect-fitment

Consider me now edumacated

Been thinking. Might just spray mine the same colour as my spoiler/wing mirror covers and put some 5mm spacers on !

The wheel doesn't look to bad size wise now that it has been lowered.

Lowering makes a big difference to the way the wheels look and sit on the car. [emoji106]

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Been thinking. Might just spray mine the same colour as my spoiler/wing mirror covers and put some 5mm spacers on !

The wheel doesn't look to bad size wise now that it has been lowered.

Let me know if you do this as I would love to see what it looks like...

you can photoshop it. rays are on the skoda auto site in all black, all silver or diamond cut black.