Winter tyres and wheels

[spartacus68]

What's everyone plannning to do regards winter tyres this season?

I've come from a Skoda Fabia 1.6 TDI daily driver that I used steel wheels and Khumo winter tyres, which transformed the car. Unfortunately they don't fit.

Car is 2015 Polo 1.4 TDI BlueMotion. Running with 215/45/R16 tyres on 7Jx16H2ET46 rims. I am tempted to go for used alloys if I can find them and stick on new Khumo winter tyres. Steels look fine for about a season before the rust sets in.

Refurbishing steels with rattle cans is a thankless task, even if you go back to bare metal.

[Ricmondo]

Get the steel wheels powder coated then you can forget about them for several years.

[RUM4MO]

I agree that keeping steel wheels looking acceptable in Northern UK Winters is a lost cause - okay if you can live with using wheel covers, ie hub caps as I did with a 2002 Polo using Golf wheel covers.

My wife has a 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS SEL with these 16" alloys and I just bought a set of used 15" Polo 6R alloys from Germany without tyres and bought in 185/60 X 15 88T Michelin Alpins.

The wheels I bought were Riverside Borbet ZA 15” 6.0J H2 ET 40 6R0 601 025 L .

I think that in UK they have another name other than Riverside, they are 7 spoke plain alloys.

Having just been involved with helping my daughter picking winter wheels and tyres, one bit of advice I'd give is, only ever consider buying wheels that are genuine OEM for VW or aftermarket that come from either VW Group suppliers or are rated as being OEM equivalent, doing that means that you don't have to mess with spigot rings or faffing about with two sets of wheel bolts as VW Group are always R13 Radius seats whereas aftermarket tend to be 60 degrees taper seat, so having a puncture in winter means carrying a set of VW wheel bolts in the boot along with something to remove the spigot ring from the hub if it have ended up staying on the hub - I plan to lubricate the hub boss with Aluminium loaded grease to make getting the spigot ring off, if it stays with the hub that bit easier - and I've also bought a set of 4 VW wheel bolts and spray painted their caps with bright yellow paint so that no one is ever in any mind which bolts to use with the VW steel spare wheel, I also plan to spray paint the winter wheel bolts satin black as some/most aftermarket alloy wheels do not allow the use of bolt caps - or even the ones that do do not allow you to fit the bolt cap cover removal tool on the hex bolt covers, the round VW ones are just too big a diameter. Looks like similar issue if planning to buy a set of suitable locking bolts! I've learned a lot taking on this task although daughter and her BF picked the alloys that caused most of these problems - one problem I can't get rid of is the fact that buying 8.0J rims instead of the 7.5J rims I suggested means that there is no rim protection from the tyres!!

Edit:- by the way, even if you have the 288mm front brakes, these VW alloys will still fit over these brakes, close fit but enough to keep out of trouble! That is one thing that you need to bear in mind if dabbling in the aftermarket alloy wheels supply market. If they are extremely nasty looking paint wise, you could always get them powder coated - that was what I needed to do with the 18" Audi alloys I bought for winter use on my Audi S4.

Another Edit:- by the way my wife's Polo is a 6C version so ignore the age limitation for these wheels - they were, I think, only ever fitted at factory to the earlier 6R Polos.

[spartacus68]

Thanks for the responses.

I'm done with the steel wheels. I had them on the Skoda for 5 seasons and they worked a treat, but to re-powder-coat, you're probably still looking at £200 which is false economy. I used to have A3 pepperpots for my Wife's A2, so am used to swapping alloys with summer tyres for alloys with winter tyres. She progressed to a BMW i3 with diamond cut turbine alloys, but that's an entirely different story and the ravages of a typical Scottish winter!

I do like the look of the Polo R alloys.

[RUM4MO]

As you might know, the current SEAT Leon Cupra sports diamond cut areas on its factory fit wheels, a very good idea to convince her, if she needed it, to buy a set of winter wheels and tyres!

She spent the last maybe couple of winters on all season tyres as the original tyres on her last car were all due for replacement.

[spartacus68]

Quick update. Checking Ebay and Gumtree is a lost cause. Almost impossible to find alloys that aren't kerbed or generally f**ked.

Called Volkswagen, so genuine 15" alloys 5x100 PCD are reasonable £120 a corner. Also if car is fitted with tyre pressure sensors (standard on mine) its linked to ABS, not a separate sensor as I thought via tyre valves. Think only Toureg uses that system.

I think winter wheels long term pay for themselves if you hold onto the car for 4-5 years, but agree initial outlay is expensive.

[RUM4MO]

Yes TPMS only uses ABS sensor data, nothing clever in wheels, which is a good thing.

A pity if you find that you need to buy new, but at that price it is not too bad, maybe I was lucky when I looked for wheels for my wife's 2015 6C Polo as there were quite a few sets being sold in Germany - and in very good condition without tyres, that was back in late 2015 though!

By picking genuine VAG wheels you will avoid the inconvenience of buying "softer" wheels which distort quickly, I hope that the wheels my daughter bought from Mytyres do not fit that description!

Edit:- one of yesterday's jobs was swopping wheels over on my wife's Polo, summer wheels/tyres washed and dried off and stacked in the garage!

[spartacus68]

Agree RUM4MO - if I can see any used, then that's what I'll buy. The product is Corvara, 2G00714958Z8. Would suit 185/60/15 tyres. Looking at Kumho WinterCraft WP51. Great price, and I think they come with rim protector on sidewall.

Satisfying to get summer wheels washed and stored.

[spartacus68]

Quick update, I have VW original alloys (6QS 601 025 C) alloys (old stock) being shipped to me which look the part. Fresh out of the box. Just to source new winter tyres now.

[RUM4MO]

Good, still time to beat the snow/ice!

[spartacus68]

Wheels arrived today. Factory fresh having been in storage.

[davo172]

Audi A1 wheels off ebay with winters on mine difference is night a day in colder weather worth every penny.
Not just in snow in any conditions below 7-8deg they are a massive improvement.

[RUM4MO]

When I was looking for suitable winter wheels+tyres for my wife's Polo back in late 2015, there were a set of only slightly used Audi A1 alloys+winter tyres for sale in the Audidriver mag, I checked the details of them and dismissed them due to offset difference to 6C Polo and the seller was being a bit unrealistic about the asking price, also I felt that dropping down a wheel size was what I'd always aimed to do in the past, so I went from 16" summer wheels+tyres to 15" winter wheels+tyres.

Any winter tyres should make life a bit more predictable from late Autumn to late Spring - depending on location and if weather is nasty.

[spartacus68]

My 15" alloys have been on for a couple of weeks now. Tyres are 185/60/15 Kumho Wintercraft WP51. Car handles like it's on rails, very comfortable and we've had sub zero temperatures too. Certainly gives you confidence, but not to the point you can push it through corners. Black ice will still catch you on untreated roads.