Hi

Did a search but couldn't find a reasonable match

Currently have a FL hatch with 17-inch wheels and 205/55/17 tyres fitted to 7Jx17 ET46 Mensa wheels.
The tyres are Goodyear EfficientGrip, which are frankly, pretty poor.

Later this year I'm looking to get them replaced with Michelin Pilot Sport 5. They don't do a 205/55/17 but from what I've read, I can fit the 225/50/17 or even 225/45/17.
Appreciate there is a trade-off but has anyone done this and encountered any problems?
Thanks

On 26/01/2026 at 12:13, darrenw said:

...Later this year I'm looking to get them replaced with Michelin Pilot Sport 5. They don't do a 205/55R17 but from what I've read, I can fit the 225/50R17 or even 225/45R17...

225/45R18 is a standard Octavia MK4 tyre size, so a 225/45R17 tyre will have an outside diameter that is 1" too small for the Octavia MK4.

225/50R17 is suitable for 7Jx17 ET46 rims on the Octavia MK4, although it is not a Skoda approved tyre size. The 225/50R17 is used on the Yeti and Octavia MK2/3 Scout...all on 7Jx17 ET45 rims. So 1mm different from ET46.

The standard 18" and 19" rims on the Octavia MK4 both have a specification of 7.5J ET48 for their 225 tyre sizes, ie. 225/45R18 and 225/40R19.

ET46 is only 2mm different from ET48, which means that the centre of each tyre is pulled 2mm further out in each wheelarch...which gains you 4mm of extra track width. Considering that some owners fit 15mm spacers, which changes the offset by 15mm...ie. the ET48 offset would be effectively changed to ET33. So by comparison, a 2mm difference in offset is very small.

If I was looking for new 17" alloy rims for the Octavia MK4, one of the specifications I would consider for a 225/50R17 tyre size is 7Jx17 ET45 because that's a common specification and fitted to the Octavia MK2/3 Scout, Karoq, and Yeti...and ET45 is still only 3mm different from ET48.

My own view on changing offsets is 3mm less offset than standard is a small difference, 5mm less offset than standard is a modest difference, 7mm less offset than standard is generally the maximum I would consider, but up to 10mm less offset than standard in certain circumstances (such as if that was the only suitable rim for a certain tyre size that I wanted). In any case, the lowest offset I would consider for 5/100 hubs is ET28 and the lowest offset I would consider for 5/112 hubs is ET33...because those are the lowest offsets that VAG have used for those hubs.

Edited 27 January27 Jan by Carlston