16" Wheels, Which Tyre Size?

[Nick G]

I've managed to get a good set of 16" Wheels and am now getting a set of 16" Winters for them....

The standard 16" Tyre size I believe is 205/55/16 - Can anyone confirm?

I'm trying to find out if a 195/55/16 will fit, the wheels would be 7" wide I believe so just want to make sure it will fit?

Thanks

 

[Redemption]

What model Leon is it?

Using my FR as an example. 18's are 225/40/18, 17's are 225/45/17 so 16's would need 225/50/16. Could probably use skinnier tyres like 215 or 205 but the profile would still need to be 50.

 

[koush]

you can't have a profile of 50 on 215 or 205 as the 50 represent 50% of the height of the width of the tyre. if you go with 205 or 215 width you will need higher profile tyre. best to do is use a site like this to figure out the best combo;
http://www.alloywheels.com/tyrecalc.asp

Koush

 

[Redemption]

My bad. I stand corrected.

 

[Nick G]

What model Leon is it?

Using my FR as an example. 18's are 225/40/18, 17's are 225/45/17 so 16's would need 225/50/16. Could probably use skinnier tyres like 215 or 205 but the profile would still need to be 50.

Yeah it's an FR, 225's are only needed on an 18" wheel as they're usually 8" wide... Some people run 205/40's if they can find them, gives it a nice stretch (VW style) then.

That's why I'm thinking a 195/55/16 might fit a 16" x 7" wheel rather then the 205/55/16 that would be suggested for a standard 16" Leon Wheel.

Also a narrower tyre is going to work better in snow / ice anyway so a 195/55 winter tyre would be lovely if it will fit the rim....

 

[Redemption]

Going by Koush's link 195/60/16 fits a 7 inch wide rim and would be the correct overall diameter.

 

[predo]

205/55/16 is what I got for winters and seems to be popular size as well

 

[coggie]

Yeah, very popular size the 205/55/16. You'll find better availibility and prices....

 

[Red Leon]

Hi, Guys

Newbie here so be gentle with me!

It seems a common theme to want to fit winter tyres and I'm in the same boat. I will need to buy some wheels to put them on and I would prefer to buy smaller tyres than the 18" currently fitted. I'm pretty sure 205/50/17 or 205/55/16 would be the same circumference as my 225/40/18'.
I'm confused by the (I think) rim sizes - things like "7x7.5" and "6x112" are quoted on various sites but I can't find out what these numbers mean or what size my current wheels are - any assistance gratefully received. If I buy 17" wheels, what rim size do I need?
Also, there seems to be some doubt over whether 16" wheels will fit over the brakes - anyone know for sure?

Many thanks

 

[FRozz]

Hi, Guys

Newbie here so be gentle with me!

It seems a common theme to want to fit winter tyres and I'm in the same boat. I will need to buy some wheels to put them on and I would prefer to buy smaller tyres than the 18" currently fitted. I'm pretty sure 205/50/17 or 205/55/16 would be the same circumference as my 225/40/18'.
I'm confused by the (I think) rim sizes - things like "7x7.5" and "6x112" are quoted on various sites but I can't find out what these numbers mean or what size my current wheels are - any assistance gratefully received. If I buy 17" wheels, what rim size do I need?
Also, there seems to be some doubt over whether 16" wheels will fit over the brakes - anyone know for sure?

Many thanks

What car, year, brakes you got? This will determine what size and type of wheel you can use. here is a link to all the sizes and definitions of the numbers. The main ones to look at are PCD (most likely 5x112 but depends on car) and offset.

When you get back with your car model etc there will be plety on here to help.

 

[Red Leon]

Thanks, FRozz

How dim must I be? I typed & retyped my question so many times to make sure it included all the relevant tyre-size info I managed to delete the bits about the car. Sorry!

It's a 2009 (FL) FR170. No idea what brakes I have, I'm afraid.

The link you've given has cleared up the "5 x 112" bit so I guess what I would like to know is..

What size rims are my current 18" Ibera wheels likely to be? eg 7 x 7.5
What size(s) should I be looking at if I were to fit the 16" or 17" tyres mentioned in my original post?
What offsets am I looking for?
Will 16" wheels clear the brakes (if you can tell without knowing which brakes are fitted)?
Does anyone sell cheap steel wheels which might do the job?

Many thanks for any pointers

On a different note, do any posters have experience of insurance companies' attitudes to changing wheels to accomodate winter tyres? Does anyone still inform insurers and , if they're told, do the insurers generally regard ANY change of wheels as an 'enhancement' (with the usual additional premium), even if the new wheels are 'cheap' steel ones and shod with winter rubber which greatly reduces the risk of a claim in poor weather?

 

[GainfulShrimp]

I had a 2009 FR TFSI before my current Ecomotive. I believe your brakes will be the same size as my FR had. Standard 16" steel wheels do clear the brakes but there's barely any gap (not that there needs to be). I used 16" steel wheels on my FR (and now on my Ecomotive) without any issues. Tyre size should be 205/55 R16 and I bought my tyres and wheels as a package from mytyres.co.uk.

As for insurance, YMMV. I told a previous insurer and they seemed dumbfounded why I was telling them, but said that as long as the wheels and tyre size were of an approved size for the vehicle, there wouldn't be an issue. When I called my curreny insurer last year, they said it was important to let them know whenever changing from summers to winters or vice versa but they wouldn't charge (or refund) anything - it was just for their records that they needed to know. I've heard that some insurers charge an 'admin fee' if you declare *any* change to your car to them - but I haven't experienced that myself yet, touch wood.
As with any change to your car, if you tell your insurer about it then they can't possibly use it as an excuse not to pay up if you need to make a claim... so probably worth checking if they're interested.

 

[Nick G]

Thanks, FRozz

How dim must I be? I typed & retyped my question so many times to make sure it included all the relevant tyre-size info I managed to delete the bits about the car. Sorry!

It's a 2009 (FL) FR170. No idea what brakes I have, I'm afraid.

The link you've given has cleared up the "5 x 112" bit so I guess what I would like to know is..

What size rims are my current 18" Ibera wheels likely to be? eg 7 x 7.5
What size(s) should I be looking at if I were to fit the 16" or 17" tyres mentioned in my original post?
What offsets am I looking for?
Will 16" wheels clear the brakes (if you can tell without knowing which brakes are fitted)?
Does anyone sell cheap steel wheels which might do the job?

Many thanks for any pointers

On a different note, do any posters have experience of insurance companies' attitudes to changing wheels to accomodate winter tyres? Does anyone still inform insurers and , if they're told, do the insurers generally regard ANY change of wheels as an 'enhancement' (with the usual additional premium), even if the new wheels are 'cheap' steel ones and shod with winter rubber which greatly reduces the risk of a claim in poor weather?

Your 18" Wheels will be:

18 x 8 (18" Rim by 8" wide), 5 x 112 (5-Stud 112mm apart), ET50 or thereabouts but you should be able to fit anything with arount ET40 up to ET50 or so without any problems.

If you want to put 16" wheels like I have, most will be 16 x 7" as theere wouldn't be many 16 x 8" wide so you've got a narrower rim so will need a narrower tyre (e.g 205 instead of 225 like your 18"s). You'll also need to make sure they are 5 x 112 and have an ET of around 40 to 50 - They should then be fine!

Hope that helps, as a general rule Mk4 Golfs, Mk1 Leon's, Mk1 Octavia's and Mk1 A3's are all 5 x 100 Stud pattern so won't fit, then anything from Mk5 Golf, Mk2 Octavia, Mk2 Leon and Mk2 A3 onwards are all 5 x 112 so those should fit fine.

 

[Red Leon]

Thanks for the pointers, guys! I think I'm almost there now

After much digging around on the web, it seems I can get some steel wheels which appear to be suitable (from Tyremen, Oponeo, Mytyres and others), but I would much prefer to fit proper VAG stuff if I can. My research has led me to some alloys on the seatonlinestore - ref 5P5071490 (I can't post a link but Google will find it) which are original Seat wheels apparently suitable for "Leon 2009 >" and are 16 x 6.5" ET50. They're certainly more expensive than the steels but not much - and fitting these would mean I could ignore any concerns about invalid insurance. Plus, they look better than steels!

Nick G - you say you have fitted 16" wheels to your FR so it sounds like you're best-placed to (perhaps) know the answer to my one remaining question....do you think these 16 x 6.5" alloys will fit my 2009 (FL) FR CR Leon 170? I am pretty sure they'll be fine but I'm worried that maybe the Leon to which the 16" were originally fitted had smaller brakes than mine (I think I've got the 312mm). What do you think?

In an effort to 'put something back' as they say....I really struggled to get my head around the effect the various 'offset' changes would have and eventually I found an application on willtheyfit.com (Google for it!) which I thought others might find useful. I've not seen it mentioned in many places at all so perhaps it's not very well-known

Thanks in advance

 

[Red Leon]

xxx