changing wheels and tyres Superb Sedan

[romaniac]

Yep, wait until you get the car & do a trial fitment. Make sure they are locating the wheels on the hub & not using the wheel bolts to centralise the wheel.

I usually have a look at tirerack for some basic information & fitments
If the Superb is like a Passat 19x8.5 is the max you can sensibly run.
Centre bore 57.1.
Stud pattern 5x112.
ET will need to be around 45mm (say between 40mm-48mm) although you might manage 50mm with a 19x8. A few of the BBS rims shown there are ET35 but I had 17x8 ET35 on the Octy & the rears were perfect but the fronts stuck out past the guards - one of the reasons I went back to 7.5" ET50.
Weight: In 19x8.5, I'd be aiming for 10kg (22lb) rims but I think you'd be struggling to achieve that. I wouldn't run greater than 12kg (26.5lb) because once you add a tyre you'll be getting up near 23kg total.

brad thanks very much for your persistent help mate. I think I may try and get a refund on the current wheels and wait till I get my car to fit some new wheels.

---------- Post added 21-11-2011 at 11:52 AM ---------- Previous post was 18-11-2011 at 03:30 PM ----------

Slight change of plans for now, decided to keep the stock wheels initally and look at getting new ones when the tyres wear out and need replacing. I've ordered some H&R springs 40mm drop and made sure they are specifically for the Skoda Superb. Also got confirmation that car is arriving on the 11th Dec, should be a nice xmas present not long to go!

[pologti18t]

Another thing I could suggest is looking around for secondhand 18 inch rims from Passats/Jetta/Golfs etc. Sometimes people get rid of them when they buy their new car (very few kms on them). So you can pick them up at a reduced cost as a wheel/tyre package.

Also, sometimes skoda/vw service/spare parts departments will offload excess accessory wheels at a good price.

Skoda shows one optional 18inch rim - Luxon

[romaniac]

good idea, I'll ask my dealer if there are any spares lying about. I never really liked the look of the skoda wheels but looking at them now they aren't all that bad.

[2009fsi]

Just Thought I might add 2/- worth to this thread for anyone who might come along in the future.
Mine is a MY10 V6FSI Superb. We do plenty of touring & I've recently had to deal with the problems which arise from the 18" Thenisto wheels fitted to the Superb being such an orphan size. For the record, it is 18 x 7.5J offset ET46, Stud pattern 5 x 112, wheel weight 12kg. Just about all similar cars running 18s are a minimum of 8" wide. You can walk into any tyre dealer & buy 235/40/18s for the 8" wheels, like the Passat has, but the chances of any dealer having 225/40/18s to fit the 7.5" Themistos in stock are pretty slim. Even here in Sydney, Bridgestone, Dunlop, Goodyear & Jax all needed 2 days to get them in. Why Skoda put 7.5x18s on when all other Euro makers seem to fit at least 8" is beyond me.
When I got the car, an ex Factory Demo, with less then 10k on the clock, the Continentals were evenly worn, showing no sign of ever being driven hard at all, but after 3 trips on NSW country roads, including gravel, they wouldn't have passed roadworthiness. Maybe alright on super smooth autobahns, but too soft for Australian roads. I've had to replace them & now fitted Dunlop SPSports Maxx TTs.
Bearing in mind the experience of getting tyres & the price of same, the question of where that would leave me if a tyre went west of Parkes or West Wylong. One thing is certain, that space saver is worse than useless & a recipe for very costly delay while being ripped off big time waiting for some hole in the wall garage 200kms from anywhere, to get a trye freighted in. The upshot is I investigated
getting 8" wheels & fitting more commonly stocked 235s. The offset & stud placements of other reasonably available possibles were just not right & the cost frightening. In the end I've recently bought a 5th SkodaThemisto at a costly $449 from one Skoda dealer. Others Skoda dealers in Sydney quoted me up to $579, so shop around, even if you want genuine spares. I've fitted the best of the Continentals as the spare. BTW, the 18 wheel fits perfectly in the wheel well, contary to what car writers & dealers will tell you. One only needs a Stanley knife to trim the batwings off the foam tool block. Dare I suggest some entrepeneur ought to start selling compatible full size steel rims to replace space savers at a much more modest cost. My reading of ADRs suggests spacesavers are technically illegal to run on a car anyway.
Finally, I have to question why one would produce a luxury car like a Superb Elegance & fit 18" wheels for Australia, where the roads are rougher, mostly of coarser material than European roads on a car with a firm suspension & inadequately soundproofed. Personally, I think 18s or bigger are unsuitable for the car on Australian roads. Anyway, unless you take the car to club meets for track days & thrash the living daylights out of it, you'll never approach the point of realising the actual difference, other than to look at & pay for.
Each to their own.

Amendment: One vital point I neglected above about 18" wheels on a Superb is that the far bigger brakes on the V6FSI wouldn't fit inside a smaller wheel. I one seeks "similar" wheels from another make, the profile of the wheel has to be right to have clearance on those bigger brakes & caliphers. A number I looked at from euro makers didn't have sufficient clearance from the caliphers.

[BlackSuperb]

I don't get having a spare that is THE SAME SIZE as the rest of the tyres/wheels on the car and then put a crappy 80km rated tyre on it? Silly me, I thought the idea of a space saver was to save space. But apparently it's a cost saving.

I like the idea of having a proper wheel as a spare as 2009fsi has done. Australia is a lot different to Europe in terms of tyre repair/replacement availability.

[brad]

2009fsi.
I'm sure you have something useful to say but that clump of txt just gives me a headache.

225/40x18 was standard size on Gen4 Liberty H6 and aren't uncommon (same issue - 7.5" rim so couldn't fit 235/40). They are expensive as you pay Ferrari tax on them (OEM on the front of a fair few Fazzas).



Black Superb - what do you mean by same size? Isn't it 205/55x16 on a steelie? Therefore it has to be speed limited to 80kmh by law.

[BlackSuperb]

Black Superb - what do you mean by same size? Isn't it 205/55x16 on a steelie? Therefore it has to be speed limited to 80kmh by law.

Umm well, almost the same size then. To be honest, I didn't even check the size.

I've never had to use it yet. I have had a flat though, but I managed to limp into a tyre place on a Saturday morning to get it fixed.

It certainly looks like a full size wheel will fit in the well in the boot, so why not have a full size spare? It would only cost a few dollars more.

[dArK5HaD0w]

It certainly looks like a full size wheel will fit in the well in the boot, so why not have a full size spare? It would only cost a few dollars more.

16" steel rim vs 18" alloy rim - steel rim is much much cheaper.
205/55/16 tyre vs 225/40/18 - the 16" tyre is much much cheaper.

u do the maths - it not just a few dollars more!!

b thankfull that u get a full sized spare, & not a space-saver skinny/slim spare.
having a full size spare means u can put ur 18" in there. the only thing is it will sit 20mm higher from the boot floor as the 18" tyre is wider than the 16" tyre.

[BlackSuperb]

Yeah, of course it will cost more. My old 2005 Outback came with a spare alloy and the same tyre that was in the other 4 wheels.

[2009fsi]

dArK5HaDOw, just for info: In the Superb, the full size 18" alloy does fit in the wheel well with a 225 on it, without any compromise to the boot floor. There is excess foam on the sides & bottom of the tool block which usually keeps it centred in the spacesaver which one needs to cut to have it fit neatly in the alloy. When that is done the lot fits in the Superb wheel well no problem.