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I was advised by some one at work to re-paint my new steels when I got them, but as the tyres were already on them I ignored that advice. Now the wheel covers mainly hide the horrible mess that they are in now. So, yes, if possible consider getting them painted properly as that thin paint layer will not last the first winter. A few of the "steelie" brigade seem to have found van plastic "centre hole and bolt" covers to keep things from getting too scabby in these areas. I see your tyres are "extra load", I'd be very surprised if you need that with your car, the extra load factor will make the side walls very stiff, I know a very fussy person at work who was sent "extra load" winter tyres from Mytyres by mistake for use with a Fiat next car up from Punta Grande (forgotten name), and he was not happy with them but stupidly fitted them before complaining - idiot! Generally, one extra benefit from going down a size and fitting winter tyres, is the sudden lose of "crash and bang" - now that makes a pleasant change for a while!

RUM4MO wrote:I was advised by some one at work to re-paint my new steels when I got them, but as the tyres were already on them I ignored that advice. Now the wheel covers mainly hide the horrible mess that they are in now. So, yes, if possible consider getting them painted properly as that thin paint layer will not last the first winter. A few of the "steelie" brigade seem to have found van plastic "centre hole and bolt" covers to keep things from getting too scabby in these areas. I see your tyres are "extra load", I'd be very surprised if you need that with your car, the extra load factor will make the side walls very stiff, I know a very fussy person at work who was sent "extra load" winter tyres from Mytyres by mistake for use with a Fiat next car up from Punta Grande (forgotten name), and he was not happy with them but stupidly fitted them before complaining - idiot! Generally, one extra benefit from going down a size and fitting winter tyres, is the sudden lose of "crash and bang" - now that makes a pleasant change for a while!

and your point is given the car at the moment runs on low profile 17s?

i think i was fairly specific in that i wanted H rated winters so they are good for 130mph so plenty of headroom on them, other might not want this but personally i've liked the idea of tyres rated to less than the top speed of the car and what to make sure they are up to the job for continental driving

wheels will be having a decent level of protection applied to them and key bits will be adequately protected, ironically the only rust on the steelies on my old 500 was where the hub caps were fitted, these wheels are about £40 each, i'm not going to lose much sleep over condition as i'll just flog em and buy a new set

nice heads up on the wheel centres

Test fitted the Beetle wheels. As expected, no issues. Tyres on and swapped soon, daily max here is 9* at the moment.

Put mine on yesterday at we are maxing out at 8c at the moment

Mine are on too, I'm looking forward to the snow this year ,

Wheels are on. Final spec, VW New Beetle wheels 16x6.5j ET 42 with hankook 195 50 R16. Rolling diameter is about 3-5mm smaller than stock. Cheers for the input from all of of you.

First post edited to show all relevant info for GTI winters.

Wheels and tyres now in for sale section

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191967549545