MK5 Golf GTI

All Things Mk5 => Mk5 General Area => Topic started by: WolfsburgEd on November 05, 2014, 09:23:12 pm

Title: Winter Tyres - 16's or 17's
Post by: WolfsburgEd on November 05, 2014, 09:23:12 pm

So, we get the gti on Saturday and I want to get it onto winter tyres ASAP as the Contisports are a bit old and hard.

I see that the official vw sizing is 205/55/16 but I'm concerned it will be a bit squidgy.

I see there are new Simca's on ebay which look nice for £450 and obviously the tyres are cheaper.

The other option is to put winters on the oem 17's and get something else for the summer (Westwood are nice but nearly £800 a set).

What do others do?

Any pics of gti's on 16's?

I don't want to use Audi rims.

Title: Re: Winter Tyres - 16's or 17's
Post by: R9OSW on November 05, 2014, 10:25:09 pm

I bought a set of 17"  S4 avus wheels.
Just got 4 cooper weather master winter tyres from tyreleader.co.uk by far the cheapest place i've found for tyres.  Only £69 a corner plus free delivery.
Just going to swap them out with my pescaras every winter from now on.

Title: Re: Winter Tyres - 16's or 17's
Post by: skard on November 05, 2014, 11:05:20 pm

I have 17" Monza's with snowtyres on, for me it is purely function over form when it comes to winters as where I live can get snow quite badly.

OEM 16's just clear the 312mm brakes.

Title: Re: Winter Tyres - 16's or 17's
Post by: WolfsburgEd on November 05, 2014, 11:07:11 pm

Thanks for the tip on tyreleader!

My prefered 17 of Pirelli Sottozero W240 is under £100!

Title: Re: Winter Tyres - 16's or 17's
Post by: JonnyM92 on November 06, 2014, 12:37:26 pm

I've got some 16" OEM wheels I sniped from eBay, also sniped a set of winter rubber to go with.

Having them refurbed black to try and hide them a little, car is on 17" monza's usually.

Title: Re: Winter Tyres - 16's or 17's
Post by: DDM on November 06, 2014, 04:11:24 pm

i bought a set last year 225 45 17, and couldn't beleive the difference they made,

Title: Re: Winter Tyres - 16's or 17's
Post by: Scottymon on November 06, 2014, 04:34:10 pm

Quote from: skard on November 05, 2014, 11:05:20 pm

I have 17" Monza's with snowtyres on, for me it is purely function over form when it comes to winters as where I live can get snow quite badly.

OEM 16's just clear the 312mm brakes.

This in a nutshell.

I have 18's which are both expensive to wrap and probably less effective than smaller rims... still, they are a huge leap over ANY summer tyre on snow and ice.

Title: Re: Winter Tyres - 16's or 17's
Post by: Matto on November 06, 2014, 04:40:05 pm

For summer I have 18's and originally I started out with a set of 16" winters but was forced to upgrade to 17" due to changing to S3 brakes.

I would go 17" just incase you want to ugrade the brakes anytime in the future and save having to pay out twice.