New Alloy Wheels for 61 Plate Polo

[IanfromBristol]

Hi All

I bought a very nice 61 plate 1.2 Polo for my son and he's underwhelmed by the stock steel wheels so he's decided to fit 17" allow wheels. He also wants to lower the suspension by fitting some aftermarket springs - what height reduction would be suitable for 17" wheels? I've seen 30mm/40mm suggested - is this ok? Also what profile tyre would be a good choice? I don't want to go for ridiculously low profile as some of the roads round where we live leave a lot to be desired!.

Many thanks
Ian, Bristol

[iichel]

For the front, I'd stop at about 25mm and at the rear you can drop 30/40mm, whatever pleases the eye. With 40mm, you're really pushing the limits of the OEM shocks and will end up on the bumpstops. I currently lowered mine 25mm at the front and 30mm at the rear and that's sufficient. This is done with an Eibach kit.

What about 16 inch rims?

[amer6R]

I had mine front on -45 mm, and if you have bumpy roads dont do it. If your hunting for stability they are great, buts its more for highway type.of roads.
But if you want high drop for daily use get some coilovers.

[SRGTD]

Tyres for Polos on factory 17” wheels (Blue GT and GTI models) are 215/40 R17. Keeping the tyres this size on 17” wheels should mean the overall rolling radius will be pretty much the same as the rolling radius with your son’s current smaller wheel and higher profile tyre set-up, so there shouldn’t be any issues with speedo reading errors.

Assuming your son is a young driver, I’d suggest he checks with his insurer what extra premium they’d charge for fitting larger wheels and lowering the suspension before making the changes. If he is a young driver, then he’s in what insurers consider to be a high risk insurance category, so any modifications that insurers consider represent an increase in risk is likely to result in them increasing his premium further on top of his (assumed) already fairly sizeable premium.

With the actual wheels; I’d recommend not going too wide or choosing a wheel with too aggressive an offset, especially if the car’s going to be lowered, as there could be issues with the tyres rubbing / fouling the bodywork.

[amer6R]

17x8" ET 35 wont rub with 215/ 45 / 17 tires
17 x 7.5" ET 35 loads of room with 205/40/17 - stock 215/40/17.
Dont go over 215/45/17 tire, or wheel wider than 8"

[IanfromBristol]

Hi All,

Thanks for all your advice. We (my son and I) have settled on -25mm/-40mm on front/rear suspension with 17" wheels running 215 profile tyres.

Basically we want to match the Polo GTi geometry. Just out of curiosity are the Polo GTi wheels 7.5" or 8" width?

Ian

[SRGTD]

Hi All,

Thanks for all your advice. We (my son and I) have settled on -25mm/-40mm on front/rear suspension with 17" wheels running 215 profile tyres.

Basically we want to match the Polo GTi geometry. Just out of curiosity are the Polo GTi wheels 7.5" or 8" width?

Ian

The 6c Polo GTI’s standard Parabolica alloys are a 7.5J x 17” wheel with an offset of ET44. The optional Serron alloys are 7J x 17” with an offset of ET46. I think the Monza alloys on the pre-face lift 6r Polo GTI were 7J x 17” ET46.