I've just finished swapping my 16" vRS alloys with the original 14" steelies on my Furby (loads of tyre tread on them, so may as well use them for the winter and keep the nice wheels for the summer!). First off, it was damn near impossible to get the front wheels off - perhaps all of you with vRS alloys (especially if you fitted them aftermarket on a non-vRS Furby) should check to make sure yours havn't fused onto the hubs - it took a lot of work with a rubber mallet, WD40 etc. to get the wheels off.

Anyway, I swapped them around and after a 10 mile test drive I was amazed by the differences! The cabin was markedly quieter, the car seemed to move with greater ease, the ride was far smoother and the mpg increased by about 20% over what I usually get on the test drive (I have a standard route which I use as basis for comparison). Before anyone says it, both sets of wheels had correctly inflated tyres so that's not the cause. I presume that this is the result of narrower tyres (although not a huge difference: 14/185/60 as opposed to 16/205/45.

Only problem is that it's understeering a lot more now, probably because the tyres on the front aren't particularly good ones, so I have to be a lot more careful.

Show us some pics.

Hmmmm im tempted to put my steelies back on as they have brand new tyres... see if i can be arsed sometime lol

Did you just put the wheels on, or did you use some copper grease? A little copper grease will help, just not too much.

Did you just put the wheels on, or did you use some copper grease? A little copper grease will help, just not too much.

I certainly didnt when i done mine... oh goody!!

I didn't take any pics . . duh! I was too stressed out by the fact I'd spent the last 20 mins smacking my alloys with a mallet.

Yes, copper grease was used on both the wheels and the wheelnuts . . or at least I was sure I had. It was obvious on the wheelnuts but I could only find traces of copper grease on wheel hub. Maybe I forgot at the time.

I didn't have any copper grease handy today so I just used petroleum jelly when i put the steelies back on again - shouldn't really be an issue with them, but hey, you can't be too careful.

Fabia 12v, I would strongly urge you to check to make sure your wheels are not fused onto the hubs . . . or else you'll have great fun if you get a puncture in the middle of nowhere!

Just spent the last half hour completely cleaning the alloys and putting them away in their hibernation store for the winter . . . ooh, they look good when they're cleaned on the inside too! It's a hell of a lot easier cleaning them when they're off the car rather than on them though.

Fabia 12v' date=' I would strongly urge you to check to make sure your wheels are not fused onto the hubs . . . or else you'll have great fun if you get a puncture in the middle of nowhere!

Just spent the last half hour completely cleaning the alloys and putting them away in their hibernation store for the winter . . . ooh, they look good when they're cleaned on the inside too! It's a hell of a lot easier cleaning them when they're off the car rather than on them though.[/quote']

You've given me two very good reasons to get them off car now

I'm in the same situation as you, car came with steelies with loads of tread and have a nice set of alloys on instead. . .

I'm not putting the wheel trims back on again, though, no point trying to tart up steel wheels IMO.

I'm in the same situation as you' date=' car came with steelies with loads of tread and have a nice set of alloys on instead. . .

I'm not putting the wheel trims back on again, though, no point trying to tart up steel wheels IMO.[/quote']

cant stand plain steelies look like a hire car or taxi without them.. will be putting mine back on!!