Snow / Winter tyres for Leon.. What size?

[sony78]

Hello everyone, just wondered if i could get some views on the right size of tyres for my Leon (mk2). It currently runs on 18" wheels however having got stuck last year with the bad weather i am looking to put some snow/winter tyres on for a couple of months. I am been offered some new 15" tyres that are really cheap, so my questions are:

1st - Will 15" be ok on my leon.. know it wont look so good, but any reasons for leaving these alone

2nd - any other size i need to look at? would like 18" but they cost so much money

3rd - Any other advice would be great

Thanks

 

[predo]

What car?

 

[sony78]

It's a Leon Reference Sport with a btcc body kit

 

[Fishy]

I fitted some old 17's but couldnt go any smaller due to the Cupra brakes I'd fitted.

You should be able to go down to 16's, not sure about 15's though.

Fish

 

[sony78]

Thanks fish. Don't suppose you have any idea on what stud pattern i'll need for the wheels? It's a 57 plate, once again any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Craig Senior]

Thanks fish. Don't suppose you have any idea on what stud pattern i'll need for the wheels? It's a 57 plate, once again any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

From memory it's 5x112 ET54 for the leon (same as my Altea)

 

[eltawater]

1) Don't think you can go down to 15"

2) Steel wheel / tyre combination for winter tyres on an FR is 205x55xR16, quite a common size which makes tyres cheaper.

3) Fit winters to steels, if you bang them in the ice then you won't care as much

 

[noktoto]

2) I've 205/50 R17 winter tires with standard FR 17's. Such setup looks and handles much better then any 16's and is much cheaper then 18's.

 

[sony78]

Thanks for the advice. Thinking now 16's are perhaps the best option.

 

[jh1]

http://www.alloywheels.com

I find this handy.....

Just fill in number 1, 2 and 3 with original spec / model details.

Look down about 4 lines and there it is everything you'll need to find suitable wheels for your model - I hope.......



(Dont forget to factor in your brake caliper / disc sizes (As Mr Fishy says)

 

[sony78]

Thanks jh1...your a star. Thats exactly what im looking for. Cheers

 

[GainfulShrimp]

I successfully used 16" steel wheels for winter tyres on my FR TFSI, but there was hardly any clearance - 15"s would have been impossible. I use the same wheels now on my Ecomotive, which comes with 16" alloys as standard anyway.

I think you need to use at least 17" wheels on the Cupra due to the larger brakes.

You're sensible to be buying winter tyres in summer and garaging them until you need them - they're much cheaper at this time of year because the demand isn't there.

I can't recommend ContiWinterContact TS830 highly enough - it's an absolutely fantastic winter tyre. In my car's size (205/55 R16 91V), it cost me £80 a corner, from memory.
Before that I had some Michelin Primacy Alpin PA3s and they were also good: a tad quieter, maybe slightly better in the dry but not nearly as good in the snow (compared to the TS830s).

 

[Leodis]

Mytyres have some good deals on steel wheels with winter tyres fitted.

I used Marangoni Meteo HP's last winter and they were a revelation compared to "summer" tyres.

 

[coggie]

I've just bought some Avon Ice Touring ST in 205/55/16 H for £80 each (delivered) from camskill...

I have read some good reviews and for the same price as my insurance excess I think it's worth it.

 

[Stealthy]

Last winter (and for this next winter) we are running 205/50/R17 Hankook Ice Bear tyres on the original 17" FR alloys. What a transformation over the P Zero Rossos that were on there! (even though there was about 6mm of tread). I would highly recommend them as we didn't get stuck once - even helped to pull some people out of trouble on two occasions during January. When we had the Pirellis we suffered for 2 days of sliding around before I had the Hankooks fitted so the difference was very evident.

For the summer months we are using 225/40/R18 Falken FK452 on R8 alloys which gives us a bit of 'bling' when the weather's nice and improved handling and ride.
The only problem is storing the damn things all the time!!!

 

[sony78]

thanks for all the input. cheers

 

[FR_Flavoured]

3) Fit winters to steels, if you bang them in the ice then you won't care as much

^ This is also a good tip, often overlooked. If you are looking for a complete set of 2nd wheels and tyres for the winter months, best not splash out on an expensive set of Bling wheels when the car might have the odd impact with a curb in slippery conditions! Experienced first hand (thanks to an inconsiderate driver) ! Plus you have to consider the salty slush eating away the delicate lacquer of a nice set of Alloys.

My car has 18" Alloys - With the snow at the beginning of the year, clumps of snow built up like snowballs on the road, between car tyre tracks - front bumper bottom lip still caught on these... sounded like driving through little boulders !

Therefore, with a set of 16' wheels, on an already lowered car, front bumper would take a good deal of punishment, impacting thicker snow and ice!

 

[xlray]

Hi.

Over last winter I had some 15" rims fitted to my 2.0L TDI XL Altea. I have the original 16"
rims for the summer but bought 4 new rims and Goodyear Ultragrip 7 from Mytyres.

While the looks were obviously not up to alloy standard, the ride was better, and quieter with the added bonus it was practically unstoppable through some deep snow and on hills. I did approximately 2000 miles and the wear on the front tyres was about 0.6mm, so to me that was quite acceptable.

They are a tight fit on the 2.0L Tdi but I think the narrow width makes them cur through the snow more easily, and also had the added bonus of more grip on cold mornings when the road was greasy.

With the DSG box and normal tyres I was going nowhere before!

xlray