Alloys

[PD]

Hey,
I want to soon get some alloys for my car, As the wheels on my car are just the stock ones with caps found on the S 16v and the tyres are it at the moment have about as much grip as tourvile and dean skating with socks on.

I want to get some quite wide tyres so i assume i need some quite wide alloys to go with it.

thing is i know nothing about alloys and i know theres things you need to know.

so can you guys give me a crash course on wheels, what i need to know and all the technical stuff

thanks

[DanDiesel]

rite, firstly, u decide on the alloys and then the size of the tyre can be decided!
to make sure any alloys u choose will fit, u've gotta make sure that u get these things matched up:

PCD 4x100
(basically the "4" denotes the numbers of studs (bolts) that the alloys have and the "100" is the diameter between two opposite studs.

ET 37-43 (i think)
this is the offset of the wheel and the lower the offset, the further the wheel is moved away from the hub.

wheel diameter
this one is really upto you and depends what sorta size alloys you want! most people with the mk5 get 15s or 16s. 17s will fit but they look slightly big in my opinion.
once the size of the wheel is decided, you can then choose tyres to fit.

usual figures for tyre sizes are something like this

15s.........195/45/15
16s.........195/40/16

"195" denotes the width in mm of the tyre
"45" denotes the profile of the tyres where "45" is a % of the width
"15" denotes the diameter of the alloy wheel

when choosing alloys and tyres, it is best to try and keep the rolling radius as close to, or the same, as what you already have otherwise it will mess up your speedo!

hope some of this helps, any questions just ask!

[MaxZ]

also make sure the centre bore is correct as I have found to my fault at once. The VW Centre bore is 57.1mm which is the "hole" at the back of the wheel, where it sits on the hub of the chassis. There's a centre bore chart on clubpolo if you wish to buy original manufacturer's alloys. Aftermarket alloys are most likely to come with spiggot rings, make sure you get some that fit the 57.1 size

[vdubit]

Very good run through dan, only one thing you've missed.

Wheel width's. This is denoted by a 'j'. eg 7j, 8j etc. The number means the width of the wheel between the sidewalls measured in inches. The sidewalls on alloys are usually 1/2" each side, so a 7j alloy will actually measure 8" wide.

In order to have tyres that fit comfortably, you need some that measure around the same as the overall width. So a 7j wheel requires a tyre measuring around 200mm, eg 195. You can 'stretch' fit smaller tyres on wide rims, although it is questioned as to how safe it is. I run 8j (so 9" wide) front wheels, with 195/45 tyres. My rears and 9j (so 10") and run 215/45 tyres. So going by these measurements the tyres are stretched.

Car tyres are only available in measurements (in mm) that end in 5. eg 195, 205 etc. Whereas motorbike tyres end in a 0, eg 190, 200 etc

[nrtnm]

You can stretch 165/50/15 tyre up to 8j afaik. 7j definitely is not a problem

[PD]

hey cheers for the info, really helpful - will defenitly help me with buying my new wheeels

thanks

[h4r1s]

Should stick this at the top as part of the FAQ section somewhere