Winter wheels and tyres: HELP!

Chris F

Active Member
Sep 9, 2018
4
2
Hi all.

Apologies if this has been covered before.

I've got an Ibiza FR115 Sport DSG. Loving the car in almost every way (bar a really annoying rattle from the parcel shelf somewhere and an occasionally stubborn infotainment screen esp when loading AA)

The issue I have is trying to get a definitive answer about winter wheels and tyres. The car has the standard 18" FR Sport wheels with 215/40/18 tyres. I want to buy a set of steel wheels and winter tyres. My local dealer say they have nothing on their system beyond 15" and those 'will not work with your car, sir'. Seat UK were similarly unhelpful: 'we don't stock that size winter wheel and tyre combo' and their system apparently didn't show that I could downsize my wheels to a 185/65/15 or even a 195/55/16 tyre. They suggested I try a third party retailer. I asked if VW Polo wheels are the same but they couldn't (wouldn't?) answer. It all seems to be a case of computer says no.

Has anyone on the forum got winter wheels and tyres and could advise me on what to do or where to source from? Am happy to get steel wheels for the moment and just shove them in the shed once the season is over. It seems crazy to me that a correct or even recommended size can be unavailable. I've just tried another main dealer who said the same thing.

I've got these specs for the hub:
Center Bore: 57.1 mm
– Wheel Fasteners: Lug bolts
– Torque: 120 Nm
– Thread Size: M14 x 1.5

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks in advance :)
 

camelspyyder

2 SEAT-er
Jun 26, 2014
1,305
175
1.0 TSI 115 114hp
185/65R15 5.5Jx15 ET40 5x100 M14 x 1.5 57.1
185/60R16 6Jx16 ET45 5x100 M14 x 1.5 57.1
195/55R16 6Jx16 ET45 5x100 M14 x 1.5 57.1
195/55R16 6.5Jx16 ET47 5x100 M14 x 1.5 57.1
195/50R17 6.5Jx17 ET47 5x100 M14 x 1.5 57.1
215/45ZR17 7Jx17 ET51 5x100 M14 x 1.5 57.1
215/40ZR18 7Jx18 ET51 5x100 M14 x 1.5 57.1
 
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Dec 31, 2019
2
1
West Midlands
I use to have an 18 FR115 I traded the car in october. Still have my winter set on me which i need to look at selling soon, could I possibly interest you in it at all? they're not steel wheels but the original Ibiza 17'' FR alloys with Dunlop wintersport5's I only ran them during the 18-19 winter so they're as close to new as you can get.

https://imgur.com/a/WXXXkJ3
WXXXkJ3

WXXXkJ3
 
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RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
I've just come back from Vienna and many many cars of all marques are proudly wearing their black steel winter wheels and tyres.

I've bought steel wheels and winter tyres from mytyres,co.uk in the past, for my wife's previous 2002 Polo 1.4 16V 75PS, they start to look quite scabby quickly, so I bought a set of slightly used Golf wheel covers and that worked. With my own car, at that time a 2000 Passat 4Motion, I used the factory fit alloy wheels and bought a better looking set of slightly used Audi A4 B5 alloys for use in summer months. Next when I replaced that car with a 2011 Audi S4, which came with 19" alloys, I bought a used set of 18" Audi A4 alloys and got them powder coated and fitted them with Michelin Alpin Pilots for use in winter months. My wife's next car was a 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS, for that car that came from the factory with 16" alloys, I bought a set of slightly used slightly earlier 15" alloys and fitted them with a sensible and the correct homologated size Michelin Alpins. My older daughter used to run a late 2009 Ibiza SC and I managed to get her to replace the summer tyres with all season tyres when they needed replacing. That daughter now has a new Leon Cupra and I managed to get her to buy in a set of suitable 18" winter alloys and winter tyres.

Edit:- my top tips would be to consider a used set of alloys that will still fit over the front brakes, or buy from mytyres.co.uk etc and only select a wheel that is described as being OEM as by doing that you will satisfy the needs of most insurers and still be able to use these new wheels without needing to buy spigot rings and tapered bolts - both of which you normally need to do when buying aftermarket wheels.
 
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RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
Any original Polo - of same "version" alloy wheel seems to have slight different offset, ie the ET referred to on wheel sites, so no SEAT dealership would suggest any suitable Polo alloys as they are not genuine SEAT branded items.

Moving down a size to 17" for winter use is better than nothing, moving down two sizes to 16" would be a better plan as that would give you a higher aspect ratio so some more "give" in winter conditions.

One suggestion that I made to my older daughter was, "as it makes good sense to keep winter wheels and tyres on for roughly half the year" "why not always good for alloys that look good enough for you over that half year period"?

For my wife's 6C Polo bought new in 2015, I chose to come down to the smallest diameter wheel that would fit over the 288mm front brakes, and that was 15" alloys and used the homologated 15" tyre size, which was 185/60 in the case of that 6C Polo - if I had wanted to make that car look slightly better in winter, I would have chosen 195/?? tyres, but for as good a grip in winter I went for the narrower tyre.

Edit:- if you have never used winter tyres in the past, then I'd suggest buying a quality brand like Michelin etc as if you run them well into late spring/early summer, they will tolerate this and still give you very good mileage - which surprised me when I first started using Michelin Alipns/ Alpin Pilot.

There is slight wiggle room offset wise, but best to stick with the offset that SEAT uses for wheels.

Another consideration is to try to aim for a wheel/tyre combo that gives you good rim protection, and that usual means sticking to a wheel width/tyre width combo that the manufacturer uses. My older daughter picked a wheel 0.5" wider than she should have for her tyre size and even although the chosen tyre has a rim protection band/bead, if you lay these new winter wheels down flat or stack them, there is rim edge to rim edge contact - and for me that means absolutely no rim protection, plus she picked aftermarket alloys that need a plastic spigot ring to reduce the centre bore AND they need 60 degree taper bolts which gets messy if the original steel SEAT spare needs to be used in winter! Another reason to keep it simple in my mind!
 
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kwlw

Active Member
Nov 22, 2019
35
8
From SEAT themselves - OK it's Austria, but may give you some pointers including part numbers and fitments:
https://www.seat.at/service-zubehoer/reifen-felgen/winterkomplettraeder/ibiza-winterkomplettraeder

I am running SEAT Enjoy 5,5 x 15" 5/100/40 wheels as winter for my FR 1.5. With studded 195 tires (which is max for this wheel). These wheels are way too narrow for the tire, even though it's legit size. I slide on tarmac, like on ice with them. Most of starts from traffic light is with wheel spin and second gear turns are usually accompanied by blinking traction control light.
Car is way too heavy and too powerful :)D). Sidewalls of winder tires are very soft and bend easy.
There were not too much choices in used wheel marked for the weird Mk6 offset, so I bit a bullet and tried. Thought, that right offset will give me better handling. Brakes clear no problem and my FR has biggest ones available on Mk6 so far.
I regret the choice. It was a mistake. 6 or 6.5 inch wide R16 wheels would be much better option. I am comparing with winter tires on my Cupra. Day and night. It was cheap as chips, but can recommend 5.5 inch only for people mover type cars. And only with European style 185 winter tire, with hard sidewalls (runflat?). R15 on orgininal narrow alloys IMHO is poor choice with nordic winter tire. Even though it increases the comfort running through endless potholes, which are waiting to chew the wheel while covered with water.
Funny enough, that one of criteria to chose FR over Polo because it has small brakes. This allows me to have cheaper winter tires (check), less damage to the wheels and suspension (check) and better grip during winter (fail) as this is my (mostly) winter car :).
By the way - this is how my car looks on winter wheels:
kUnBIFt.jpg
 
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