Help me choose between two alloy wheel colors for my winter tire set, please.

serdar_18fr

Active Member
May 29, 2021
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392
Hi everyone
When I bought my brand-new Ateca last December, it came with summer tires so I also bought a winter tire set right away. I always hated the fact that careless tire shop workers might damage the alloys when the time to change tires comes twice a year, so through the years I made a custom of having a second alloy wheel set for the winters, shod them once and never remove the tires from them until they got damaged or worn away. That didn't change this time either; I also bought a relatively cheap alloy wheel set that I liked. They were from a Turkish manufacturer which serves a lot of famous car brands as an original equipment manufacturer. I started to use them right away in those winter months, but they looked a tiny bit wider than they had to be, and seem to be protruding a little bit to the outside from the inner edge of the tire. Anyway, I wasn't sure of my observation but it proved true when I switched to the summer tires in early April. The guys at the tire shop told me that my protruding wheels have damaged the sidewall of my two rear tires, probably when they hit a pothole or something like that, even though the tires have a rim protection strip.

Now I will probably have to replace those two damaged tires, because no repairs can be made on sidewalls, and I don't want history to repeat itself so I've been considering to replace the alloy wheel set too. I have already chosen one; this time an original Cupra wheel that they sell through the accessories line. But this wheel model has two color variants, one is silver & black and the other is copper & black. Now my question is, which one do you think would suit better to a graphite grey Ateca? My taste for wheels almost always favored shiny silvers but this time I'm not sure, so please contribute with your own two cents.

Cheers & best regards,
Serdar

alloys.png
 
Last edited:

Bahnstormer_vRS

Active Member
Oct 28, 2021
85
42
I don't understand how the 'protruding rim' damaged the tyres on your winter set.

What size wheels, including offset and rim width (J), and tyres have you got?

There might be a simpler solution than buying four new (expensive) OE wheels.

Guy

Sent from my Galaxy S23 Ultra using Tapatalk
 

Railwayman

Active Member
Jun 13, 2022
153
93
Lancashire
Hi everyone
When I bought my brand-new Ateca last December, it came with summer tires so I also bought a winter tire set right away. I always hated the fact that careless tire shop workers might damage the alloys when the time to change tires comes twice a year, so through the years I made a custom of having a second alloy wheel set for the winters, shod them once and never remove the tires from them until they got damaged or worn away. That didn't change this time either; I also bought a relatively cheap alloy wheel set that I liked. They were from a Turkish manufacturer which serves a lot of famous car brands as an original equipment manufacturer. I started to use them right away in those winter months, but they looked a tiny bit wider than they had to be, and seem to be protruding a little bit to the outside from the inner edge of the tire. Anyway, I wasn't sure of my observation but it proved true when I switched to the summer tires in early April. The guys at the tire shop told me that my protruding wheels have damaged the sidewall of my two rear tires, probably when they hit a pothole or something like that, even though the tires have a rim protection strip.

Now I will probably have to replace those two damaged tires, because no repairs can be made on sidewalls, and I don't want history to repeat itself so I've been considering to replace the alloy wheel set too. I have already chosen one; this time an original Cupra wheel that they sell through the accessories line. But this wheel model has two color variants, one is silver & black and the other is copper & black. Now my question is, which one do you think would suit better to a graphite grey Ateca? My taste for wheels almost always favored shiny silvers but this time I'm not sure, so please contribute with your own two cents.

Cheers & best regards,
Serdar

View attachment 50052
From experience the silver ones look cleaner for longer (I have a set of each) and both look great.They are extremely easy to damage on kerbs and the finish on the copper versions cannot be replicated once marked, worth considering. My silver versions are refurbished copper ones that had all been marked in some way (two by myself) I picked up the other two second hand and one of them had hit a pot hole so hard it had been buckled (I didn’t notice it on purchase) My wheel refurber did a fantastic job however and said that OEM wheels are better quality and more plyable than aftermarket replacements. I’m sure some of the more expensive aftermarket’s are good though.
 
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serdar_18fr

Active Member
May 29, 2021
577
1
392
I don't understand how the 'protruding rim' damaged the tyres on your winter set.

What size wheels, including offset and rim width (J), and tyres have you got?

There might be a simpler solution than buying four new (expensive) OE wheels.

Guy

Sent from my Galaxy S23 Ultra using Tapatalk

I've never used a wheel/tire size combination other than the ones recommended by the manufacturer. Even when I wanted to upgrade wheel/tire size on any of my previous cars to a bigger one, I always complied with the bigger size suggested by the manufacturer.

Now for my Ateca, it came with 8x19" ET45 alloys and 235/40/19 tyres, and I went for an exact same size alloy set, even with the same offset and center bore diameter (57.06mm). And needless to say, new winter tires are also the same 235/40/19.

With these specs, you wouldn't expect to have any problem but that wasn't the case. Since the day one, the outer edge of the wheel looked a tiny bit wider than it should be and later I even removed one to check what sizes are written on the inside of the wheel.

The damage is exactly the same on those two rear tires; a nearly 1 cm cut on the sidewall near the edge of the rim, and parallel to the edge. It is very possibly done when a heavy load occurred on the sidewall, like when it hit a deep pothole under speed. The protruding edge which is considerably sharp must have come in contact with the sidewall, which was compressed and widened at the time of impact. There's no other plausible explanation of having such an exact same cut on both tires. They are in storage at the tire shop's depot now for the summer, I can take a photo of the cuts when winter comes and they bring the tires to the shop.

As for a solution to the problem, I'm actually not looking for one with that relatively cheap wheels. I liked the design but that protruding look, not sure why they are like that, bothered me from the day one and replacing them and going original was always on my mind.
 
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Loadmaster748

Los Dos Amigos
Staff member
Moderator
Aug 2, 2019
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Surrey, UK
They are extremely easy to damage on kerbs and the finish on the copper versions cannot be replicated once marked, worth considering.
Funny you should say that....

I took a wheel from another of my cars into the local wheel refurbishers a couple of weeks ago, in the boot of the Cupra. One of the guys there walked past the car, complimenting it, then proceeded to say "don't ever damage those wheels, they're a nightmare to finish off!"
 

Bahnstormer_vRS

Active Member
Oct 28, 2021
85
42
@serdar_18fr - thanks for your comment. I now understand and appreciate your thinking with trying to stick with OE spec wheels.

A further question though; have you put your tyre size correctly at 235/40 R 19 or is it maybe a typing error?

Here in the UK our CUPRA Ateca's are fitted with 245/40 R19.

If you have got 235/40 R 19s, as fitted to the current SEAT Ateca FR Black Edition, the slightly shorter sidewall may be contributing to your problem.

Just a thought.

Guy
 
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Bahnstormer_vRS

Active Member
Oct 28, 2021
85
42
Funny you should say that....

I took a wheel from another of my cars into the local wheel refurbishers a couple of weeks ago, in the boot of the Cupra. One of the guys there walked past the car, complimenting it, then proceeded to say "don't ever damage those wheels, they're a nightmare to finish off!"

Wouldn't that also apply to the Black & Silver that Serdar is considering?

Same wheel; different colour.

Guy
 

serdar_18fr

Active Member
May 29, 2021
577
1
392
@serdar_18fr - thanks for your comment. I now understand and appreciate your thinking with trying to stick with OE spec wheels.

A further question though; have you put your tyre size correctly at 235/40 R 19 or is it maybe a typing error?

Here in the UK our CUPRA Ateca's are fitted with 245/40 R19.

If you have got 235/40 R 19s, as fitted to the current SEAT Ateca FR Black Edition, the slightly shorter sidewall may be contributing to your problem.

Just a thought.

Guy

Yes, they are 235s; and no, there's no typing error :)

I already knew about the 245s and it's a curious case. I wonder why there's such a difference between markets.
 
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