Which wheels - give me an opinion

**kaanage** · 14-10-2015, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by brad

For 8" ideally ET50 but no more poke than ET42 (ET35 sticks out too far at the front for my liking).

Not to mention that only 1" increase in track is allowed so et37 is the minimum legal offset (from the stock 50mm offset).
That is, if you care.

**wfdTamar** · 15-10-2015, 10:32 AM

Brads thinking carries a lot of weight since he's tried a lot of different wheels.

The wheels come from Tunershop-worldwide (in Germany) off eBay and I got them during a 20% off sale eBay had recently (they're normally $340 shipped) so the 18x8 Himalaya ones were $289 shipped. I got 2 on my account and 2 on my GF's shipped to her place so they won't come in together and be under the $1000 mark (or was that dropped recently to $250?). Well, even if they're taxed it will still be pretty cheap.

I don't know anyone with wheels I can try. Speedo is a bit out now with the stock 16" (according to my GPS). At 100 on the GPS, I'm doing about 108 on the speedo. Proportionately similar all around the speedo (110GPS/120speedo).

Tossing up wether to bother at all. Don't know if they'll make that much difference to handling. I have a 2001 Saab 9-5 Aero wagon which has 17" wheels that fit (just bigger centre bore) so I could try them. Pretty wacky looking wheels too.

Which wheels - give me an opinion-saabaero-jpg

Also found a similar coloured BMW with 225/50x17" BBS SR Himalaya Greys:

From this site (nice clear pics there)
BBS SR on BMW 3 Series

Which wheels - give me an opinion-bmwsr-jpg

**wfdTamar** · 02-02-2016, 06:32 PM

Right - finally got the new tyres on wheels and on car.

BBS SR 18x8" Himalaya Grey wheels with 225/40Rx18" Continental ContiSportContact 5 tyres. They have the standard VW/Skoda badge hole so a new set of badges fit perfectly. I also have tyre pressure doo dahs on the valves in case you're wondering what they are.

The car did have 16x6.5" wheels. It's a standard Octavia ride height (but the car is 4x4).

Feels less 'rubbery' around corners. I can go around 10-20 km faster than before (not really explored this yet). Barely any difference in comfort - I'm sure the Koni FSD shocks play a big part in that. I haven't hit any potholes yet though. Can't say I've noticed any difference in acceleration - I haven't weighed the wheels to see if they weigh any more than the originals.

Ride height/appearance - the rear looks fine, maybe the front would look better a tad lower, but in the flesh it looks ok. Remember this car is 4x4 so I'm not going for the low sports look.