Vrs 245 Challenge - Wheel Options After Pothole from hell

[Dougall]

So last night driving in the dark on a country road and hit the biggest pothole ever - massive bang, pressure sensor warning and puncture within about 5 seconds.  Garage inflated the tyre this morning and big hole in the inside sidewall - so no option but a new tyre.

 

With so many potholes on poor country roads - I'm now worried about the unforgiving 19" Xtremes on the 245 challenge...........maybe I'd be safer with alternative alloys or even a set of steels

 

I had a spare set of wheels and winters on my old Octavia 2 - but a bit clueless with the new one running these 19".  On my old VRS 2, I basically got VAG wheels with the same specs as my 16" spare wheel so felt happy with the caliper clearance etc.

 

So.............any advice appreciated................is there anyone out there with a 245 Challenge running winter wheels tyres?  Are people dropping down to 18" or 17's?

 

Not so worried about tyre choice..............it's more what wheel sizes/options are there?

 

Ideally don't want top spend a fortune but maybe being a bit proactive may help protect the xtremes! 

 

[john999boy]

17" is the smallest you can go to clear the calipers.

[Octaviarse]

Options are fairly limited if you want to keep the same width and reuse tyres. I ended up tracking down a new set of the 18" official Turinis in black because I wanted to get away from diamond cut wheels. My own feeling was that it was going to cost over £1000 for a decent set of aftermarket wheels and I couldnt be sure of the quality of the aftermarket stuff available in the £500-£800 region.

[flybynite]

I use 17" Terons in winter with standard-size 225/50 tyres and they fit over the 340/310mm brakes fine, but I'm not sure the increase in sidewall size will do you much use as we hit a pothole in one of my other machines (cleverly hidden by a puddle) and it did the tyre and bent the rim and that was with the mother of all sidewalls on a 235/55

[Alex-W]

Obvious choice is the 18" Geminis.

Standard fitment on a normal vrs.

 

Mines is the pfl 230, some came with the same 19s from the factory, but I had them swapped for the Geminis from another car when I got the car.

 

18" take a 40 profile which gives 15% more sidewall.  

[tinman80]

On 28/12/2019 at 16:24, Dougall said:

So last night driving in the dark on a country road and hit the biggest pothole ever - massive bang, pressure sensor warning and puncture within about 5 seconds.  Garage inflated the tyre this morning and big hole in the inside sidewall - so no option but a new tyre.

 

With so many potholes on poor country roads - I'm now worried about the unforgiving 19" Xtremes on the 245 challenge...........maybe I'd be safer with alternative alloys or even a set of steels

 

I had a spare set of wheels and winters on my old Octavia 2 - but a bit clueless with the new one running these 19".  On my old VRS 2, I basically got VAG wheels with the same specs as my 16" spare wheel so felt happy with the caliper clearance etc.

 

So.............any advice appreciated................is there anyone out there with a 245 Challenge running winter wheels tyres?  Are people dropping down to 18" or 17's?

 

Not so worried about tyre choice..............it's more what wheel sizes/options are there?

 

Ideally don't want top spend a fortune but maybe being a bit proactive may help protect the xtremes! 

 

I've just literally bought a set of 18s to put on in place of my 19 xtremes for this very reason on my vrs 245. Roads are terrible, even the dual  carriageways where I am are littered with pot holes, glad I gave up motorcycles as could easily cause a crash.

Hoping the 18s are a bit more forgiving

[silver1011]

Not a MkIII, but I got fed-up with pothole damage on my MkII vRS.

 

Mainly during winter in the dark on unlit roads where it is all but impossible to spot freshly opened holes...

 

 

 

 

When I replaced it I went for a Superb with 17" alloys, I didn't want 18" alloys and rubber bands as tyres again.

 

I also fitted a non-approved tyre with a higher profile for even more protection.

 

Not great aesthetically but I never suffered a puncture again!

 

 

[Dougall]

Thanks for all the replies - really useful.

 

might sound a bit strange but all wondering if just a set of steel wheels wouldn’t be a bad idea - just thinking they probably take a lot of abuse and cheaper to replace if they get damaged.

 

The 17" Terons in winter with standard-size 225/50 mentioned by flybynite sound alright. Could I get a set of steels in this size?

 

[Carlston]

18 minutes ago, Dougall said:

Thanks for all the replies - really useful.

 

might sound a bit strange but all wondering if just a set of steel wheels wouldn’t be a bad idea - just thinking they probably take a lot of abuse and cheaper to replace if they get damaged.

 

The 17" Terons in winter with standard-size 225/50 mentioned by flybynite sound alright. Could I get a set of steels in this size?

 

 

Mytyres list Alcar 9021 6.5Jx17 ET38 5/112 57.1 steel rims for the Skoda Kodiaq. These should fit if you use 205/50R17 tyres. They will fill the wheel arches similar to 225/45R17 tyres fitted to 7.5Jx17 ET49 rims.

[Dougall]

17 minutes ago, Carlston said:

 

Mytyres list Alcar 9021 6.5Jx17 ET38 5/112 57.1 steel rims for the Skoda Kodiaq. These should fit if you use 205/50R17 tyres. They will fill the wheel arches similar to 225/45R17 tyres fitted to 7.5Jx17 ET49 rims.

Thanks Carlton.

 

was just searching around and saw the Kodiaq option - seems Skoda also do genuine part steels in that size 

• 5QF 601 027  03C

[Carlston]

10 minutes ago, Dougall said:

Thanks Carlton.

 

was just searching around and saw the Kodiaq option - seems Skoda also do genuine part steels in that size 

• 5QF 601 027  03C

Yes, Skoda are the genuine article. Various aftermarket makes such as Alcar, Magnetto Wheels, Kronprinz, MAM, Eurawheels, simply copy the manufacturers.

[Dougall]

9 minutes ago, Carlston said:

Yes, Skoda are the genuine article. Various aftermarket makes such as Alcar, Magnetto Wheels, Kronprinz, MAM, Eurawheels, simply copy the manufacturers.

On the my tyres site I’m struggling to get the 205/50/17 tyres on those rims and see a price - wanted to see how much it would be with the continental ts830

[flybynite]

15 hours ago, flybynite said:

I use 17" Terons in winter with standard-size 225/50 tyres

 

10 hours ago, Carlston said:

These should fit if you use 205/50R17 tyres.

 

9 hours ago, Dougall said:

On the my tyres site I’m struggling to get the 205/50/17 tyres on those rims and see a price

 

I made a typo, that is the Scout size. On the Terons I use 225/45 which is the standard size tyre for 17"