I've thought about the same as diamond cut finishes and winter don't mix well at all for starters. I wouldn't want the car to look awful on winter wheels so I may pick up a set of new or cheapish 16" alloys, shed with 195 45 16 winter tyres they would be close enough to the original diameter (582mm vs 587mm).
The Up would appear to have a "tyre pressure loss" warning system. Does this require sensors in the wheels? or does it just work by measuring the rotational speed? Those of you who have changed wheels may know.
The German VW web configurator suggests these as winter wheels (remember they are mandatory in Germany)
These are the German approved winter alloys, as shown on the German configurator. They are not stocked in the UK but my dealer is ordering them from Germany for me, having first checked that they do in fact fit the GTI. They are costing me £514, which seems a lot but I reckon by the time I buy some cheaper used alloys and get them refurbished it would come to about the same, and as others have found, not all 15" wheels are equal. I also quite like the look of them.
I also wanted to try the new "all season" tyres which Continental have just brought out. MyTyres have them on offer at the moment for £80 a tyre, and you can guarantee that as soon as the weather changes they will be harder to get and probably more expensive, so I thought I'd just buy them now. All I need now is a GTI to fit them to!
I do quite like those wheels as they don't look tiny. Agree that it's worth finding winter tyres early on as the winter weather creeps up and arrives in no time. The all season Contis look good can be had on Camskill too for basically £75 a corner all in delivered. Pretty sure they are the same size as what's on our Move Up so on that car they'd be a direct swap which is easy enough. https://www.camskill.co.uk/order.php
I wouldn’t mind getting some winter rims but was thinking of the old style steel rims, from the above assume the usual 15’s are a no, anyone tried other similar?
Why would you buy a GTI and put it on steel wheels? Unless you plan on turning it into a "rat look".
Youve paid a premium for the top of the range motor which looks smart, a second set of cheaper more durable alloys for winter which will still look good would be my choice.
Steels are very popular for winter use for numerous reasons.
You could try these alloys that are the same design as the steels in my pic if you must use alloys.
Only prob they’re around £1,000.
I would be very careful when buying older 15" VW wheels to fit the GTI. Look closely at this picture of the official 15" winter wheel and notice just what a tight fit the calliper is, and how the inner profile of the wheel has been sculpted to fit. I'm no expert, but I'm willing to bet that very few older 15" wheels will have this clearance for the calliper.
My winter wheels wil be Japan Racing jr 18 16x8.
Want to have nice winter wheels to for the money i spent on the Up ?
Don't even have time to drive on my stock wheels if it does get here end of November ?
At the start of the thread I said that using 16” was a safer bet as you would be less likely to have the clearance issues. Yes, there are lots of winter tyres to fit the 15” rims, but until someone has tried particular 15” rim styles we won’t know if they fit. VW do their own 15” rims for the German market but for me it will come down to what package I can get (that will fit) and at what price.
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