Apologies for wandering a bit off the topic of this thread, but I refer to Carlstons entry and mention of Alcar 6Jx16 ET43 5/112 57.1 steel rims for about £40 each.  I phoned the local Skoda dealer about something else but also asked the price of pukka alloy 16" wheels, there are 2 kinds & the 5 spoke type is available also in black - these cost a lot more @ £156 each & maybe I'll look seriously at those Alcars.  At that price could get one as a spare too + maybe another in case one gets damaged.  I wonder if they are much heavier than the alloys.

 

There has been talk that some of these 3rd party wheels aren't the best quality, but some better than others, so I'll see if there are other comments about the Alcars.  The Skoda steel wheels are are supposed to be good though, but forgot to ask their price today.

I meant to add that the spares man at the dealer said that Skoda stipulate that the 16" wheels aren't suitable for the manual 1.0, but OK for the DSG.  Strange - he didn't know why & I can't think of a reason.

5 hours ago, croquemonsieur said:

Apologies for wandering a bit off the topic of this thread, but I refer to Carlstons entry and mention of Alcar 6Jx16 ET43 5/112 57.1 steel rims for about £40 each.  I phoned the local Skoda dealer about something else but also asked the price of pukka alloy 16" wheels, there are 2 kinds & the 5 spoke type is available also in black - these cost a lot more @ £156 each & maybe I'll look seriously at those Alcars.  At that price could get one as a spare too + maybe another in case one gets damaged.  I wonder if they are much heavier than the alloys.

 

There has been talk that some of these 3rd party wheels aren't the best quality, but some better than others, so I'll see if there are other comments about the Alcars.  The Skoda steel wheels are are supposed to be good though, but forgot to ask their price today.

 

7.748kg 16" Steel Rims

https://eshop.skoda-auto.cz/cs_CZ/plechovy-disk-16-/p/5Q0601027CJ03C

 

10kg 16" Alloy Rims

https://eshop.skoda-auto.cz/cs_CZ/kolo-z-lehke-slitiny-castor-16-pro-karoq/p/57A071496++8Z8

 

10.5kg 17" Alloy Rims

https://eshop.skoda-auto.cz/cs_CZ/kolo-z-lehke-slitiny-triton-17-pro-karoq/p/57A071497A+ZG6

 

12.9kg 18" Alloy Rims

https://eshop.skoda-auto.cz/cs_CZ/kolo-z-lehke-slitiny-trinity-18-pro-karoq/p/57A071498A+HA7

 

13.9kg 19" Alloy Rims

https://eshop.skoda-auto.cz/cs_CZ/kolo-z-lehke-slitiny-crater-19-pro-karoq/p/57A071499A+8Z8

 

Edited 31 December, 20205 yr by Carlston

Thanks, that is very interesting.  I've been told more than once, the purpose of alloy wheels is to reduce unsprung weight, so clearly balony. Does that make alloys little more than a fashion accessory then?  With smaller diameter wheels and higher profile tyres, steel wheels with hub caps can look quite smart  as on modern London Taxis, and maybe could look good on the Karoq too.  They would probably look daft in larger sizes with low profile tyres though, certainly different.

 

Another large part of the unsprung weight is the actual tyre weight and this is reduced in lower profile tyres so partially compensating for the larger wheel, except that low profile tyres often come in wider sizes.  Now, where do I find the weight of a typical tyre for a Karoq 16" wheel & also for a 19" wheel?

19 minutes ago, croquemonsieur said:

Thanks, that is very interesting.  I've been told more than once, the purpose of alloy wheels is to reduce unsprung weight, so clearly balony. Does that make alloys little more than a fashion accessory then?  With smaller diameter wheels and higher profile tyres, steel wheels with hub caps can look quite smart  as on modern London Taxis, and maybe could look good on the Karoq too.  They would probably look daft in larger sizes with low profile tyres though, certainly different.

 

Another large part of the unsprung weight is the actual tyre weight and this is reduced in lower profile tyres so partially compensating for the larger wheel, except that low profile tyres often come in wider sizes.  Now, where do I find the weight of a typical tyre for a Karoq 16" wheel & also for a 19" wheel?

I weighed a 18" Octavia alloy with 225/40R18 tyre and it was 21.9kg and a 19" alloy with 235/35R19 tyre which was 22.5kg so using the figures quoted above for 18" alloy (12.9kg) and 19" alloy (13.9kg) the tyres would be approximately 9kg for 18" and 8.6kg for 19".

I don't worry about looks in winter. Safety over fashion. My car is currently on 16” black steel wheels winter tyres and no wheel covers. I think it looks quite mean and purposeful on an all black car anyway.

Much rather have steel hubs on winter salted roads and save the alloys from damage.

I changed the factory-fitted Turanza 215/50/R18 tyres on my wife’s Karoq 1.5 petrol DSG to Vredestein Quatrac Pro all-season tyres last year. Unfortunately, we haven’t had any real snow since then in Surrey to really test their performance in snow and icy conditions. But I found the prices for this Quatrac Pro tyre in 215/50/R18 size to be fairly reasonable. I paid just over £100 per tyre. 
When I was looking last year, the CrossClimates weren’t available in that size at a reasonable price, I think Michelin had just released an XL version but the prices were exorbitant at that time.

One advantage of the Quatrac Pro compared to the CrossClimate is that they are not directional, which means that you can put a spare wheel on either right or left side of the car, which isn’t possible with the CrossClimate tyre design.

Thanks, shyVRS - so tyres are a significant part of the overall unsprung weight and with 16" wheels, would likely be the dominant part, located near the circumference, which in itself might be significant.  Also, there might not then be much weight difference overall, between 16" and 19" wheel/tyre combinations.

13 hours ago, Mark-Surrey said:

I changed the factory-fitted Turanza 215/50/R18 tyres on my wife’s Karoq 1.5 petrol DSG to Vredestein Quatrac Pro all-season tyres last year. Unfortunately, we haven’t had any real snow since then in Surrey to really test their performance in snow and icy conditions. But I found the prices for this Quatrac Pro tyre in 215/50/R18 size to be fairly reasonable. I paid just over £100 per tyre. 
When I was looking last year, the CrossClimates weren’t available in that size at a reasonable price, I think Michelin had just released an XL version but the prices were exorbitant at that time.

One advantage of the Quatrac Pro compared to the CrossClimate is that they are not directional, which means that you can put a spare wheel on either right or left side of the car, which isn’t possible with the CrossClimate tyre design.

 

Are they any quieter?  

 

Have they improved the ride?

 

tom

16 hours ago, Mark-Surrey said:

One advantage of the Quatrac Pro

 

You can also easily rotate the tyres and wheels to any position you want. This can help with several issues. 

I run Vredestein Quatrac 5 as my winter tyres on one car and they are quieter than the summer I run.

They also work very well in snow.

 

Thanks, AG Falco

On 02/01/2021 at 14:04, Sanqhar said:

 

Are they any quieter?  

 

Have they improved the ride?

 

tom

My wife’s car had only done a few hundred miles when we changed the tyres, and it was all local short distance drives rather than motorways. Neither of us had really paid any attention to the noise level of the original Turanza tyres, so I can’t comment on any difference in noise levels. I was only really concerned about having tyres which would provide good safety levels all year round, without having to faff around switching between summer and winter tyres  like we did with her previous car.