At the moment I have 19" Triglav wheels with the stock Hankook tyres. It's almost time to change the fronts, and the rears aren't too far behind, so I'd like to swap everything out for a set of all-seasons tyres. While doing that, I'm considering a change to either 17" or 18" wheels, for the sole purpose of increasing ride comfort (the car is a keeper, so I'm ok with the investment). I understand that there is likely to be some impact on handling, but I'm finding it very hard to quantify what that would actually feel like. Some people have complained about the sponginess of driving on 17" wheels, while others have praised the increase in comfort. And I also can't figure out if 18" wheels would be a sweet spot of comfort and precision, or whether there wouldn't be enough of a difference between them and the 19's to justify the cost. I would love to hear from those of you who have made similar changes, or who otherwise have experience of the different wheel sizes. 

 

On a related note, although aesthetics are definitely not the main consideration here, I really don't like the Nanuk wheels, which appear to be the only 17" rims available for the Kodiak (I'd be quite happy with the 18" Trinity rims). So if I choose to go with the 17" option I would likely look at aftermarket rims. As long as I stick to the Skoda prescribed wheel sizes, are there any other issues to be aware of in doing that? (other than checking with my insurers). Or is anyone aware of any other Skoda 17" wheels that would work with the Kodiaq?

 

Thanks!

I’ve got 17” Borbet wheels that were supplied from Mr Winter Wheels with my winter tyres.

I can honestly say I can’t notice much if any difference in comfort or handling between them and the standard 19” s.

I find the standard 19” tyres very comfortable at the correct pressure 2.3-2.4 bar, and I do run the 17” winters at 2.6-2.7 bar.

Edited 13 June, 20214 yr by Kenny R

There are a number of Skoda wheels in various sizes for Kodiaq, some of which have never been sold on new cars in UK.  These are available as accessories and spares (and are in some of the European accessories brochures).

 

How you drive the vehicle will be relevant, if you are spirited and try and drive it like a sports car on winding roads you will notice the smaller wheels.  But you won’t in everyday driving.

 

But it works both ways, on my car (not a Kodiaq) I have 16 inch winter wheels with 60 aspect tyres, and in Spring when I change back to 18 inch wheels with 45 tyres, I find the ride harsh and lot more rumbling when on poor tarmac.  I use Borbet Y wheels which fit with original bolts.

 

@Tier I suspect if comfort is your thing, rather than go-cart handling, then get 17 inch, the tyres are a more standard size as well, so more choice and better price (but, from memory if you have the big engine, can’t have 17 inch as brakes too big)

 

Borbet do handy configurator to what fits, see link

https://www.borbet.de/en/configurator#249446799!16AC279
 

If you want tyre recommendations, there are plenty in tyres threads in technical section

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/213-tyres-zone/
 

Edited 13 June, 20214 yr by SurreyJohn
Added link

55 minutes ago, SurreyJohn said:

 

 

@Tier I suspect if comfort is your thing, rather than go-cart handling, then get 17 inch, the tyres are a more standard size as well, so more choice and better price (but, from memory if you have the big engine, can’t have 17 inch as brakes too big)

 

 

 

17” wheels fit over the 340mm brake discs fine.

1 hour ago, Kenny R said:

I’ve got 17” Borbet wheels that were supplied from Mr Winter Wheels with my winter tyres.

I can honestly say I can’t notice much if any difference in comfort or handling between them and the standard 19” s.

I find the standard 19” tyres very comfortable at the correct pressure 2.3-2.4 bar, and I do run the 17” winters at 2.6-2.7 bar.

 

 

Thanks Kenny. That's interesting - I would've expected at least some difference in how the ride feels. It's all very subjective I know, and highly dependent on the quality of road surface etc, but I'm definitely not satisfied with the comfort level on my 19" wheels, using recommended pressure.

1 hour ago, SurreyJohn said:

There are a number of Skoda wheels in various sizes for Kodiaq, some of which have never been sold on new cars in UK.  These are available as accessories and spares (and are in some of the European accessories brochures).

 

How you drive the vehicle will be relevant, if you are spirited and try and drive it like a sports car on winding roads you will notice the smaller wheels.  But you won’t in everyday driving.

 

But it works both ways, on my car (not a Kodiaq) I have 16 inch winter wheels with 60 aspect tyres, and in Spring when I change back to 18 inch wheels with 45 tyres, I find the ride harsh and lot more rumbling when on poor tarmac.  I use Borbet Y wheels which fit with original bolts.

 

@Tier I suspect if comfort is your thing, rather than go-cart handling, then get 17 inch, the tyres are a more standard size as well, so more choice and better price (but, from memory if you have the big engine, can’t have 17 inch as brakes too big)

 

Borbet do handy configurator to what fits, see link

https://www.borbet.de/en/configurator#249446799!16AC279
 

If you want tyre recommendations, there are plenty in tyres threads in technical section

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/213-tyres-zone/
 

 

Very helpful, thank you, and thanks for the links. I'll see if I can track down some of those other 17" Skoda rims to have a look. If I could get a set that I was happy to live with, I think my preference would be to go all the way to 17" for the best possible comfort. 

9 minutes ago, Kenny R said:

17” wheels fit over the 340mm brake discs fine.

 

Really helpful, thank you! I hadn't even thought about this. I also have the 2.0 TSI engine. 

I have a 2.0 TSi Edition model and replaced the 19-inch wheels with Borbet alloy 17-inch shod with Michelin Cross Climate + tyres: my local tyre dealer is 'garaging' the original wheels/tyres and when the car gets sold, those will go back on. I obtained the wheel spec from Skoda, everything fits just as it ought to.

 

Round here, the roads are absolutely atrocious (and getting worse) and the higher-profile tyres give a lot more protection and cushioning. In the short time I had the original wheels/tyres, I was impressed by both the ride and low level of road noise. The switch to 17-inch wheels means the ride is noticeably improved when encountering the road imperfections (round here, that's, er, all the time) and a bonus of a small but noticeable reduction in road noise (more to do with the CC+ tyres I guess rather than the tyre profile). I run the tyres at or slightly below Skoda's recommended pressure of 2.4 bar. (As an aside, I can't quite see why Skoda recommend the same pressure for 19, 18 and 17-inch wheels/tyres, given that the larger volume of tyre as wheel size decreases would normally suggest a lower pressure. Hmmm)

 

Given my style of driving, I detect absolutely no downside to fitting the smaller wheels and as mentioned above, this wheel/tyre combo is available in the EU (most EU countries do not share the UK fetish for crazy large wheels with rubber-band low-profile tyres). My local tyre dealer will happily tell many stories of how the local roads wreck these fetish wheels/tyres, which is good for his business. His brother-in-law runs an alloy wheel refurb business - surprise, he's doing a roaring trade.....

 

And one final bonus: my Borbet alloys are 5-spoke and thus much easier to clean than the factory-fitted wheels.

I’m another running OEM 19” Triglav Summer tyres plus 17” winter tyres.

 

Skoda Nanuq btw.

 

I can definitely feel a more “bouncy” ride on the high profile 17” tyres compared with the 19” tyres.

 

Not a problem, but noticeable.

 

I do have DCC to play with so often use it to offset the squidginess on 17s.

 

ps - today’s solo run was on 19s in Sport mode and Manual paddles most of the way. Sure was fun.

Edited 13 June, 20214 yr by BoxerBoy

@SinglePointSafety and @BoxerBoy, thank you both very much for those perspectives - I appreciate it. 

 

I've had a look at the wider range of Skoda 17" rims, and (from those that I've been able to find) none of them have the correct offset. So if I want to stick exactly to Skoda specs, the choice seems to be between using the Skoda Nanuq rims or going with an aftermarket set. I'll think some more about it. I've got a couple of months before I run out of rubber :-) 

 

Strange, Skoda certainly **did** sell a choice of two 17-inch wheels for the Kodiaq: Nanuq 6.5J x 17, suitable for snow chains, and Ratikon 7J x 17, both using 215/65 R17 tyres. I considered the Ratikon until I saw the price and my wallet screamed and locked itself away, hence (pre-Brexit) I ordered a set of Borbet wheels of similar appearance from the EU (the company I used no longer sells to the UK post-Brexit). Hugely cheaper and excellent quality, just have to ensure the wheels have the correct spec, which Skoda kindly supplied when I asked nicely (offset, bolt centres, diameter of central hole)

 

3 hours ago, SinglePointSafety said:

Strange, Skoda certainly **did** sell a choice of two 17-inch wheels for the Kodiaq: Nanuq 6.5J x 17, suitable for snow chains, and Ratikon 7J x 17, both using 215/65 R17 tyres.

 

Sorry, you're right, I was reading the workshop manual wrong because of a table that spans 2 pages - both Nanuq and Ratikon are available. Still not much choice though, considering they are so similar to each other!

 

 

Edited 15 June, 20214 yr by Teir
typo

Have you looked at the wheel options used on Karoq and Superb?
 

Or even other VAG cars.

 

There are lots of used VAG wheels out there.  I put some used 16” VW wheels on my Superb a few years ago with winter tyres.

 

I quick refurb and you can have any colour you like.

. 

Edited 15 June, 20214 yr by EnterName
Deleted post as Octavia wheel sizes unrelated to topic.