Hi,

 

Can someone confirm that 185/60R15 tyres on traditional steel wheels will be compatible with our Fabia Combi "Clever" from early 2018? My workshop warned me that sometimes steel rims in the smaller legally allowed size won't fit because of the disc brakes ... but IIRC the spare wheel is of exactly that dimension.

 

Anyone experience with this brand and model of tyre?

https://www.allopneus.com/vredestein-snowtrac-5-185-60r15-88-t-68628.html

I’d think that there is more danger of some aftermarket alloy wheels fouling than steel wheels, reason being that steel wheel “frames” are thinner and more consistent across brands than alloy wheels.

 

Also I’d reckon these winter tyres will do their job okay, I seem to be a Michelin winter tyre fan, but it takes all sorts!

 

If that seller is quoting that steel wheel as being okay for your car, then I’d think that they have done their homework, just check the centre bore, PCD, offset (ET) and rim width against your steel spare.

Look here as well:-

https://www.mytyres.co.uk/Steel_wheels.html

 

Thanks AG Falco

I am running 15" steels with winters on, in fact they are mk2 wheels with et38 instead of et43. You won't have any problem with the correct steels.

Edited 15 November, 20196 yr by peter3197

11 hours ago, RJVB said:

Hi,

 

Can someone confirm that 185/60R15 tyres on traditional steel wheels will be compatible with our Fabia Combi "Clever" from early 2018? My workshop warned me that sometimes steel rims in the smaller legally allowed size won't fit because of the disc brakes ... but IIRC the spare wheel is of exactly that dimension.

 

Anyone experience with this brand and model of tyre?

https://www.allopneus.com/vredestein-snowtrac-5-185-60r15-88-t-68628.html

6Jx15 ET38 is the standard size rim for the 185/60R15 on the Skoda Fabia III

 

https://www.oponeo.co.uk/steel-wheel/alcar-kfz-7760#20630120

 

mytyres.co.uk are often cheaper than oponeo.co.uk for steel rims. So check both websites.

 

These are other rim widths and offsets that might fit:

 

5.5Jx15 ET40 5x100 57.1 (from VW Polo VI)

6Jx15 ET35 5x100 57.1 (from Skoda Scala)

5.5Jx15 ET34 5x100 57.1 (from Audi A2)

6Jx15 ET29 5x100 (from Audi A1)

5Jx15 ET28 5x100 (from Audi A2)

 

The Audi steel rims shown above have  20 holes for brake cooling.

The VW Polo VI steel rim has 18 holes for brake cooling.

 

Probably best to buy just one wheel and tyre first, and test fit in all 4 positions (front left, front right, rear left, rear right) to check for any rubbing.

 

Always consider whether the wheel trims that you want to use will match up well with any particular steel rim. The Alcar 7760 steel rim for example, needs a wheel trim with 6 clips.

Edited 16 November, 20196 yr by Carlston

11 hours ago, peter3197 said:

I am running 15" steels with winters on, in fact they are mk2 wheels with et38 instead of et43. You won't have any problem with the correct steels.

Oops, got that the wrong way round, Mk2s are ET 43, Mk3s are ET38.

And our Fabia ordered in Feb. 2018, delivered early May 2018 is indeed an MkIII model? I'm getting a bit confused with these rather fuzzy details....

It does cut a long story short just to say that is a 15" steel spare wheel for a VW Group car with the same bolt pattern fits on the car you are OK with 15" steels fitting over the discs.

I was guessing that the OP was buying steel wheels+winter tyres as a unit, I did that years ago for a 2002 VW Polo and sourced them from my tyres. 
One thing about wheel trim types if that bothers you at all, I found that if the wheels don’t have the 4 or 5 small square holes for gripping the trims, it does not matter as, well at least in my case, the VW Golf trims I bought via eBay, had both the centre grouping of wheel retaining clips and the usual outer wire, so as my alcar wheels had no inner holes, I just chopped the clips off the trims and they gripped and stayed on okay using the outer string steel band/clips - for maybe 8,9 or 10 winters.

My wife’s current 2015 6C Polo 1.2TSI 110PS, has 288mm front discs, it came with 16” alloys as standard, I bought 15” used VW alloys and they fit okay, as I said earlier, if I had bought the correct 15” VW steel wheels, the rim<>front calliper would have been better than it is with the VW 15” alloys.

 

Have you priced up a set of 4 steel wheels fitted with winter tyres from places like mytyres yet, or are you only looking to buy 4 steel wheels then 4 winter tyres?

Edited 16 November, 20196 yr by rum4mo

I'm indeed looking to buy a pack, but since this is a gift for my wife's BD and her dad will in fact pay about 3/4 of the sum (he's the rich guy, not I ;)) I'm not as much at liberty to order as I'd do (so ultimately a set of Hancooks instead of Vredensteins, for instance).

 

We'll in fact be going through our local workshop who ask about the same price as the allopneus.com website, in part because they charge more for mounting if you don't order everything through them. I'm OK with that, esp. as it means I don't have to destroy my back doing the swap myself (no garage, cobble stone pavement in all kinds of slopes except horizontal). It's them who suggested I double-check.

 

But yeah, allopneus.com suggests these in a pack, for our Fabia:

https://www.allopneus.com/hankook-winter-i-cept-rs2-w452-185-60r15-88-t-86763.html

combined with

https://www.allopneus.com/jantes/tole/marque/mc-wheels/tmc007/Noir/15/294770

 

I got the same tyres from them on what looks to be the same brand of rims on my Octy, 6 years ago (but in the 195/whatever or so dimension that's OK for my car). They fit perfectly, and they plus the tyres are holding up extremely well. I'm not putting on any trims because I kind of like the serious/industrial look of the black steelies (I'd get a set of black Mags if they existed ;)). We'll most likely do the same for the (white) Fabia. One less hassle.

9 hours ago, RJVB said:

I'm indeed looking to buy a pack, but since this is a gift for my wife's BD and her dad will in fact pay about 3/4 of the sum (he's the rich guy, not I ;)) I'm not as much at liberty to order as I'd do (so ultimately a set of Hancooks instead of Vredensteins, for instance).

 

We'll in fact be going through our local workshop who ask about the same price as the allopneus.com website, in part because they charge more for mounting if you don't order everything through them. I'm OK with that, esp. as it means I don't have to destroy my back doing the swap myself (no garage, cobble stone pavement in all kinds of slopes except horizontal). It's them who suggested I double-check.

 

But yeah, allopneus.com suggests these in a pack, for our Fabia:

https://www.allopneus.com/hankook-winter-i-cept-rs2-w452-185-60r15-88-t-86763.html

combined with

https://www.allopneus.com/jantes/tole/marque/mc-wheels/tmc007/Noir/15/294770

 

I got the same tyres from them on what looks to be the same brand of rims on my Octy, 6 years ago (but in the 195/whatever or so dimension that's OK for my car). They fit perfectly, and they plus the tyres are holding up extremely well. I'm not putting on any trims because I kind of like the serious/industrial look of the black steelies (I'd get a set of black Mags if they existed ;)). We'll most likely do the same for the (white) Fabia. One less hassle.

allopneus.com are not showing photos of the actual steel rims. That site uses generic photos of steel rims.

 

Take a look at https://www.oponeo.fr/ or https://www.123pneus.fr/ if you want a French website. 123pneus appears to be the French equivalent of mytyres.co.uk

 

Oponeo and mytyres (123pneus.fr) tend to use photos of the actual rims. You will see that Alcar 7760 looks very different to the generic photo shown on the allopneus website.

 

Alcar 7760

 

https://www.oponeo.fr/jantes-tole/alcar-kfz-7760#20232843

 

The Alcar 7760 steel rim has specification 6Jx15 ET38 5x100 57.1

 

The Alcar 7760 is not an attractive rim for use without wheel trims.

 

You would be better off going for something like 6Jx15 ET35 5x100 57.1 from the new Skoda Scala, which has 18 holes for the air to cool the brakes.

 

6Jx15 ET35 5x100 57.1 (generic photo shown...not actual steel rim)

 

https://www.oponeo.fr/jantes-tole/vw-w21-19547013091#20860131

 

See this thread where a Scala owner has put up a photo of the 6Jx15 ET35 Scala steel rim with 195/65R15 tyre fitted. You can fit your 185/60R15 to this rim.

 

 

 

Edited 16 November, 20196 yr by Carlston

The Fabia Mk3 S 1.0 had 6Jx15 ET35 5x100 fitted as standard, which are the same as the full size spares. The steels supplied by MyTyres are a very similar pattern. 

3 hours ago, peter3197 said:

The Fabia Mk3 S 1.0 had 6Jx15 ET35 5x100 fitted as standard, which are the same as the full size spares. The steels supplied by MyTyres are a very similar pattern. 

I think you will find that it's 6Jx15 ET38, not 6Jx15 ET35.

 

The 6Jx15 ET35 is an 18 hole design and looks like the 5.5Jx15 ET40 5x100 57.1 (Alcar 4055) from the VW Polo VI.

 

https://www.oponeo.co.uk/steel-wheel/alcar-kfz-4055#20836095

 

The 6Jx15 ET38 5x100 57.1 has 6 square holes and 12 round holes and looks like this.

 

https://www.oponeo.co.uk/steel-wheel/alcar-kfz-7760#20630120

 

As you will see, the 6Jx15 ET38 (Alcar 7760) is not an attractive design, so is best used with wheel trims.

Edited 16 November, 20196 yr by Carlston

 

10 hours ago, peter3197 said:

The Fabia Mk3 S 1.0 had 6Jx15 ET35 5x100 fitted as standard, which are the same as the full size spares. The steels supplied by MyTyres are a very similar pattern. 

 

7 hours ago, Carlston said:

I think you will find that it's 6Jx15 ET38, not 6Jx15 ET35.

 

 

Of course it is, I give up, my brain and fingers are not connecting properly.

allopneus.com do indeed show generic rims on tyre product pages, but the product page for a rim evidently does show the actual product unless stated otherwise. Googling "MC Wheels TMC007" tends to confirm that (my own Alcar KFZ 9165 rims look very similar and perfectly OK on their own). Anyway, the important thing here is the rim specs, not its looks; my workshop will have their own source.

HAH!

 

Turns out I misremembered the rim diameter of our spare wheel. The spare is a 175/70/R14 (in 84T).

 

Given that the r14 diameter is listed in the sticker on the inside of the fuel door the size must be legally allowed for use on the Fabia.

 

Whether or not it's a good idea to go for this tyre size as a fulltime solution is a different matter. For actual driving on snow a narrower tyre might indeed be the better choice, but that should still remain the exception...

Edited 17 November, 20196 yr by RJVB

Something else I just discover, on the 123pneus.fr site mentioned above (which I didn't know before):

 

Remarquez svp que toutes les automobiles approuvées pour usage dans l’Union Européenne, après le 1er novembre 2014 doivent être équipées avec des pneus à systèmes de monitorage de la pression dans le pneu (TPMS). Si votre automobile a déjà un TPMS actif, vous pouvez acheter des pneus pré-montés sur roues en acier avec un capteur programmé spécialement pour votre voiture.

 

In short, we now need to buy rims with some specially programmed sensor installed on them?! I thought the tyre pressure monitoring was based on the ABS on our Skodas?

16 minutes ago, RJVB said:

Something else I just discover, on the 123pneus.fr site mentioned above (which I didn't know before):

 

 

 

 

In short, we now need to buy rims with some specially programmed sensor installed on them?! I thought the tyre pressure monitoring was based on the ABS on our Skodas?

No you don't. The TPMS is based on the ABS it's not active TPMS..

Thanks for confirming!

New wheels!

 

175/70R14. Seeing them next to the huge 215 wheels that came off they looked puny but on the car they don't look flimsy at all. I never drove the car before yesterday  when I took it to and from the workshop - and on the way back I had the 4 summer wheels in the trunk so had to drive really carefully. The ride should be softer, and that I should be able to confirm next time I have to be in the back :)

 

The rims look like the Alcars mentioned above, and they're indeed not as good-looking as my own steel rims (which are Alcars too, curiously). It must help that mine didn't need any balancing weights.

 

But: surprising how much smaller the car actually is than my Octy. As a passenger I never really noticed it, and the difference in trunk size isn't easily noticeable either. But behind the wheel it cries out: even with the chair all the way back I only have just enough leg room (in the Octy I still have several clicks more on the rail). In the previous C3 I had to be really careful not to hit the brake and accelerator pedals at the same time; that's no longer the case but with the top-hinged action I do catch my toes on something above the pedal when I try to brake.

 

I tested the cruise control which my wife never uses: turns out that it allows you to shift gears without having to re-engage the control. That's something I missed in the past but to which I adjusted; now I actually like to disengage the cruise control with my left foot rather than via the brake (not to mention via the finicky switch that you're actually supposed to use).

 

The clutch action is also much earlier on the pedal course; is that related to this being a petrol car, or is it an indication that the clutch in my Octy is nearing its end of life?

 

On your comment about your Octavia steel winter wheels+tyres not having any balance weights - I'd be amazed if that really is true if they have been checked after fitting the tyres.

 

Yes I know that if we are being completely unrealistic, the plan for a tyre fitter should always be to trial fit a new tyre, add air and check for inbalance, mark tyre and wheel deflate and rotate tyre by 90 degrees and repeat and from that work out what next to do to minimise unbalance before fitting weights, then fit weights to complete balance.  I'd think the only way that tyres get fitted/balanced is - just fit tyre on regardless of any manufacturer's markings > balance using many weights, job complete.

I trust the mechanic who fitted the tyres. I've seen him fit other tyres later on, and he had the necessary machine that would spin the inflated wheel and indicate exactly how much weight to add and where (in a recursive procedure).

He told me about the perfect balance because it had surprised him a lot.

 

I guess I could have asked to re-verify, 6 seasons later... but to be honest I don't notice any vibration or other indication that something might be off. My car as a slight tendency anyway to drift to the right (small enough not to trigger any flags during RWT) and the steering wheel is maybe 2° counter-clockwise from centred (which actually suits me). I did have a somewhat annoying vibration in the steering wheel at highway speeds at some point, but that was with the Bridgestones that I got with the car, and that are gone now.

On 16/11/2019 at 20:17, peter3197 said:

The Fabia Mk3 S 1.0 had 6Jx15 ET35 5x100 fitted as standard, which are the same as the full size spares. The steels supplied by MyTyres are a very similar pattern. 

 

On 15/11/2019 at 17:00, RJVB said:

Can someone confirm that 185/60R15 tyres on traditional steel wheels will be compatible with our Fabia Combi "Clever" from early 2018? My workshop warned me that sometimes steel rims in the smaller legally allowed size won't fit because of the disc brakes ... but IIRC the spare wheel is of exactly that dimension.

 

The Fabia MK3 uses either 256mm diameter front brake discs or 288mm diameter front brake discs.

 

The Fabia MK3 uses 288mm diameter front brake discs if the engine has at least 105PS. For models with less than 105PS, the Fabia MK3 uses 256mm diameter front brake discs.

 

14" steel rims will clear the front brake calipers on cars that have 256mm diameter front brake discs.

 

15" steel rims will clear the front brake calipers on car that have 288mm diameter front brake discs.

 

Edited 25 June, 20223 yr by Carlston