Reducing rim size on vRS

[applesee]

You must be joking? There are heaps of suitable rims in VIC.

Sorry, I should have been more specific when making a general statement like that...
I am looking for the exact same wheel/tyre size combination as the standard 16" rims. i.e. 205/55 R16 6.5J ET50...

[brad]

Sorry, I should have been more specific when making a general statement like that...
I am looking for the exact same wheel/tyre size combination as the standard 16" rims. i.e. 205/55 R16 6.5J ET50...

A few of those links I posted match that description. you just have to be in the right place at the right time. I tried to sell mine for many months & practically gave them away in the end.

6.5/7/7.5 won't make a lot of difference as long as you stay close to ET50. 205/55x16 will fit on any of those widths.

Why not the 225/55x16? Would there be a clearance issue with chains? (not a skier, so don't know)

[Diesel_vert]

Sorry, I should have been more specific when making a general statement like that...
I am looking for the exact same wheel/tyre size combination as the standard 16" rims. i.e. 205/55 R16 6.5J ET50...

Skoda says to use;

195/65 R15 tyres on 6.0 J x 15 ET47 wheels (max. chain size 15 mm)
195/65 R15 tyres on 6.5 J x 15 ET50 wheels (max. chain size 15 mm)
205/55 R16 tyres on 6.0 J x 16 ET50 wheels (max. chain size 15 mm)
205/50 R17 tyres on 6.0 J x 17 ET45 wheels (max. chain size 9 mm)

if you want to fit snow chains.

[applesee]

the reason for going 205/55 R16...
thinking that I might be able to get away with 6.5J instead of 6.0J

[brad]

OIC. That makes sense.

Wow! 15mm chains sound big.

[DunlopRS]

Well Guys,
Was going to leave an update for a few more km but following applesee‘s question, I have recently travelled ~1300km from the ACT across the Hay plain into rural SA (5.5L/100 km indicated…..).

For my driving I am VERY happy with the change to 16” rims. I went with 205 55 continental conticomfort 5s. I no longer feel every join in the concrete on the hume in spine and there is no reason at all to slow down at places on the Hay plain for fear of breaking the car (or the significantly worse council maintained roads off the major tracks). They are much quieter and get the power onto the road better (much, much harder to make the wheels spin).

There is a very small but noticeable reduction in handling “quality” around roundabouts on good roads (as would be expected), but overall the car is much better behaved on uneven and broken surfaces and is a real joy to drive (not sure what the “v” stands for but is it is “variant” perhaps I could ‘dub’ the car now as sub-variant GT). On examination of the 18s there is some evidence that most of them have touched the road surface or something very hard on the road surface – so it seems it would have been only a matter of time before a bend or fracture…..
Again, for me, I think only going down to 17s would have left me with a slower car (in my world).

Not sure (have no idea) if any VW group 16 would fit over a RS disk/caliper (there is enough but no excess in clearance with mine) – but it seems that you may be able to find 3rd party alloys that fit if you can find a salesman that is interested in spending the time……
Good luck (will be taking my wife’s focus to the snow…).

...... not sure how to get a photo in - anyone point me in the right direction?

[brad]

I cant quite see how a 205/55x16 would have more resistance to wheelspin than a 235/40x18 unless the 18s were crappy tyres.

You realise that the smaller diameter of the 205/55x16 will make your fuel economy look better even though it's not? Also, 15,000km on the odo will now be more like an actual 13,500km (I think that's what I worked out mine was).

Sounds good though.

[Transporter]

...... not sure how to get a photo in - anyone point me in the right direction?

Photos have to be hosted. Try Picasa in google.
The instructions are here http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/foru...ges-45153.html

...also if you have an Android phone, you can upload the photos easier using the Tapatalk.

[DunlopRS]

Photos have to be hosted. Try Picasa in google.
The instructions are here http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/foru...ges-45153.html

Thanks – will have a go later

I cant quite see how a 205/55x16 would have more resistance to wheelspin than a 235/40x18 unless the 18s were crappy tyres.
Sounds good though.

OEM Dunlop maxx GT (or something like that). It’s all very subjective – not real sure of the physics but I understand a bit more sidewall flex can occur in the higher profile tyre rather than just breaking contact with the road. Its real for me in normal driving…….
Also, I reckon the car “points” better on the 16s as on the dunlop’s with only 35psi in them (dunlops were a bit “doughy” at 35psi….)

You realise that the smaller diameter of the 205/55x16 will make your fuel economy look better even though it's not? Also, 15,000km on the odo will now be more like an actual 13,500km (I think that's what I worked out mine was).
Sounds good though.

Yes – perhaps – “indicated” fuel economy as noted. Even if this is 10% out its still great….
From the tool on carbon black the 205/55-16s are 17mm less in circumference that the 225/40-18s (<0.1% reduction in circumference).
Not sure how this really works out in practice. On those 5km check strips on highways I travel about 5.1 kms on the odo – about 2% out (with a large potential error – and if it really is 5 km). Also on radar speed “checks” the speedo seems to be about 5% faster than the radar reports – and I would assume that the radar units are generally set a bit high?
Next time I have a few hundred kms between towns which should remove some of the measurement errors I will take note of indicated distances and see if that tells me much.
I guess the Columbus sat nav does not report apparent ground speed anywhere like a navman does?

[DunlopRS]

Thanks – will have a go later