Winter Wheels and Tyres.

[vwooks]

Hi all, I've just got my 150 FR TDI, and I'm looking to get some winter shoes ready for when the weather gets worse.

I've been looking on the web and so far I have found nothing that explicitly states the recommended tyre and wheel size apart from a German forum which mentions 205/55/16

So does anyone know if dropping down from 225/40/18 (Ive got the upgraded 18" Seat alloys) to 205/55/16 would be safe? I think 16" will fit over my brakes as I only have the 150bhp FR

Then, I'm unsure what wheels I need, obviously 16x6.5J but what ET should I look out for?

 

[trebor]

I run 17's as std on my 1.8 180 FR, but for winter i have a set of 16 x 6.5 ET46 with 205/55/16.

Not only were the 16's cheaper that 17's but I figured if I drop the alloy size an inch to give a deeper tyre sidewall for a bit more give and bit more protection from kerbs in case the white stuff comes.

I used mrwinterwheels for mine.

 

[Biker]

The first thing I would do is speak to your insurance company to be sure they are ok with changing the tyre size. Better safe than sorry!

 

[vwooks]

I run 17's as std on my 1.8 180 FR, but for winter i have a set of 16 x 6.5 ET46 with 205/55/16.

Not only were the 16's cheaper that 17's but I figured if I drop the alloy size an inch to give a deeper tyre sidewall for a bit more give and bit more protection from kerbs in case the white stuff comes.

I used mrwinterwheels for mine.

That's great, I'm bad at avoiding kerbs at the best of times so added sidewall is a real positive for me. Have you ended up with steel wheels or alloys? I think I have decided on 205/55/16 on 6J ET48 Steel wheels. Oh out of interest what tyres have you got?

The first thing I would do is speak to your insurance company to be sure they are ok with changing the tyre size. Better safe than sorry!

Of course I had winters on my old Ibiza and they were happy as long as I followed SEAT's authorised sizes.

 

[trebor]

I went for alloys for the Leon, have had steels before but for the Leon I thought I would try alloys. If nothing else it will stop my work colleagues from asking if I have had my wheels stolen!

http://www.mrwinterwheels.co.uk/16-seat-leon-5f-alloy-winter-wheels-tyres.html

Always found insurance companies are fine with winter tyres too.

 

[moriarty]

I've just ordered the same 16"wheels from Mrwinterwheels due for delivery at lunchtime today. Confusingly they recomend the same wheel and offset for the 5F and 1P Leon which seems odd when Seat state a 4mm difference in offset.

Worth a look at this Swiss SEAT website for sizes.

http://www.seat.ch/content/ch/brand/de/service/winterkomplettraeder.html

 

[Biker]

Always found insurance companies are fine with winter tyres too.

My insurance company were fine about fitting winter tyres, it was the fact they were a different size that caused the problem. The standard wheels are 19" with 235/35x19 tyres, the winters are 18" fitted with 235/40x18 tyres. The guy I was dealing with couldn't understand that the two are identical from a contact area point of view, he insisted on speaking to the underwriter about it.

The underwriter was fine about it and even offered to cover my summer wheels against theft while they were stored in my garage, all for free.

I still think it better to sort these things out in advance, it avoids any problems should you claim and they try to use non standard tyre sizes as a get out clause.

 

[vwooks]

If anyone is interested, I ended up getting 16x6.5J ET46 with 205/55/16 tyres.

Gone for Nokian WRD4 on the front and WRD3 for out back.

 

[treborsk]

Also our of interest, I got the newly available Nokian WRD4 for my Cupra (235/35/19) directly from their UK distributor. Really superb service from them, delivered free to my home. My previous Leon FR came with the 18" and I fitted Semperit 225/40/18 (bought online). I can't recommend switching to winter tyres enough. 2 years ago, I had to bail out 3 of my neighbours who had various travel issues as the town was paralysed by snow and ice and all buses and taxis stopped running. My car was one of the few on the roads that day. Be safe this winter!!

 

[niggle]

Gone for Nokian WRD4 on the front and WRD3 for out back

Why on earth would you do this?

The suspension is designed around tyres that provide equal levels of grip front and rear.

 

[JACUPRA280]

Why on earth would you do this?

The suspension is designed around tyres that provide equal levels of grip front and rear.

THIS - I went for Nokian WR D4 all round, wouldn't mix the D3 with the D4 because the D4 is a far superior tyre grip wise, a mix like the suggested could cause oversteer!

 

[P0LKR]

THIS - I went for Nokian WR D4 all round, wouldn't mix the D3 with the D4 because the D4 is a far superior tyre grip wise, a mix like the suggested could cause oversteer!

While it seems a bit strange putting on different tyres when four new ones are going on it will be ok. When people change the front tyres of the car they are often different to the back.

Really the only time you need to worry is putting winter tyres on the front snd summers on the back. The difference in grip is so great in snow etc then yes its very dangerous.

Also, on a different note. If you get a puncture make sure you keep the same tyres on the same axle. Different tread patterns on the same axle cause handling problems.