Ad blocker detected: Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.
Just bought a 2013 Match 60bhp for my daughters first motor. It’s in cracking nick, I want to upgrade from the standard alloys ( the standard VW 6 spoke 15” ones. What do I need to look out for? Could I fit 16”s without any issues. It’s a white car so looking for black alloys. Any ideas or info would be greatly appreciated
jonboyMP wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 7:51 am
Morning All,
Just bought a 2013 Match 60bhp for my daughters first motor. It’s in cracking nick, I want to upgrade from the standard alloys ( the standard VW 6 spoke 15” ones. What do I need to look out for? Could I fit 16”s without any issues. It’s a white car so looking for black alloys. Any ideas or info would be greatly appreciated
Cheers,
Jon
There are certain things you need to consider and / or it would be useful to be aware of;
Insurance; changing the alloys on a car is a modification for insurance purposes. Some insurance companies may increase the premium if you change the alloys, and if your daughter’s a young driver, then her premium is probably fairly sizeable before any potential additional premium charge is applied for a modification. I’d advise checking with the insurance company first before buying replacement wheels to establish whether they’ll want an increased premium and what the size of the increase will be.
Genuine VW or aftermarket alloys?; if you’re planning on getting genuine VW alloys that were specifically manufactured for the 6r / 6c model Polo, then 16” alloys should fit without issue as they’ll have the correct PCD (bolt patten) of 5x100, the centre bore will be the correct size (57.1), and the width and offset of the alloys won’t cause any rubbing issues and you can use the existing wheel bolts. You will need new lower profile tyres though (I think they need to be 215/45 R16 with the correct speed rating) so the new wheel / tyre set up has the same overall rolling radius as the current wheel / tyre set up; if not, then you’ll experience speedo reading errors.
If you’re considering aftermarket alloys, then the PCD must be 5x100, otherwise the bolt pattern of the wheels won’t align with the bolt holes in the car’s hub assemblies. Also, avoid anything too wide or with too aggressive an offset, otherwise you may experience clearance issues - either with with the wheel/tyre protruding out to far, or the inner face of the wheel/tyre fouling the suspension struts. There’s a very useful calculator on www.willtheyfit.com where if you input the details of the existing and new wheel / tyre set-up, then it’ll calculate the critical differences between the old and new set-up. Be aware that the vast majority of aftermarket wheels use wheel bolts with a tapered seat (VW wheel bolts for genuine VW alloys have a radius seat), so new wheel bolts would be required - see picture below so you can see the differences; tapered seat on the left image, radius seat in the middle. Also VW centre caps may not fit aftermarket alloys.
59C80561-CE26-4BFD-89D6-6EE3F80E1476.jpeg (44.33 KiB) Viewed 1070 times
New or used alloys; if buying used, then be sure to get the seller to confirm the alloys aren’t buckled or cracked and they’ve not had any structural repairs. If they’re being sold as genuine VW alloys, then get the seller to provide pictures of the reverse side of the wheels so you can check that the correct details are present;
- VW part number and VW logo
- wheel spec details, the width, diameter and offset
- the manufacturer’s name; most genuine VW alloys are manufactured by a small number of well known alloy wheel manufacturers such as BBS, Borbet or Ronal (there may be others too).
If the alloys are supplied with tyres, I’d also ask the seller whether or not any of the tyres have been punctured / repaired.
Personally, I’d avoid any alloys (new or used) that are described as diamond cut, machined or polished, as the bare metal / lacquered finish isn’t very durable and doesn’t stand up well to the UK weather - especially the winter months. Most diamond cut alloys succumb to white worm corrosion after 2-3 years - sometimes sooner - and to remove it requires the wheels to be refurbished (cost; in the region of around £80 plus VAT per wheel). Diamond cut alloys are also more expensive to refurbish than alloys with a painted or powder coated finish, and because of the refurb process used, they can usually only be refurbished a maximum of two times, otherwise the structural integrity of the wheels may be compromised.
If buying new alloys, I’d avoid the cheap Chinese imports as they may be poorer quality in terms of both finish and strength, and they may not have been subjected to the same standards of structural testing as reputable manufacturers’ alloys.
Hope you find the above useful. Good luck with finding the new alloys for your daughter’s car.
I don’t have any personal experience of Wolfrace alloys. However, the manufacturing and testing processes outlined at the link below suggests they’re a good quality product.
