Dropping wheel size for winter wheels - 16" to 15"?

[raveydave76]

Hi folks,

I've recently picked up a 14-plate 1.2 TSI Ibiza FR ST. It has the 16" cartago alloy wheels but I'm considering getting a 2nd set of steel wheels to fit winter tyres.

In the past I've always dropped a wheel size when doing this (to make things a bit more economical price-wise and also to increase the sidewall height in case of the inevitable potholes in the dark). I've done this with a Fabia and Octavia.

My question is can I drop the rim size to 15" for the new motor? For the Octavia there was an issue with caliper clearance for some VRS models in that the larger calipers on those cars didn't allow for a drop in rim size. I'm hoping this isn't an issue here.

Can't seem to find the info myself in the manual. Hoping someone here can point be in the right direction.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[camelspyyder]

The spare wheel to fit your car is a 15 inch steel, so I guess a set of 4 of those would fit too.

The 1.2 doesn't come with enormous brakes does it?

 

[camelspyyder]

Or you could put winters on the 16s:

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Search/Size/215-45-16/Season/Winter

 

[RUM4MO]

As you are thinking about buying steel wheels, I'd think that there would be no problem as the material is slimmer, I've even got away with fitting 15" VW alloys to my wife's 2015 6C Polo 1.2TSI 110PS - which has the bigger, ie 288mm front discs.

Edit:- I agree entirely about going down one diameter size at least for winter tyres, I always have done that.

 

[raveydave76]

Great shout on the spare wheel. Should have thought to check!

 

[RUM4MO]

Yup, that would point out if 15" were okay to use, which I'd think they would be, I've fitted 185/60 to my wife's August 2015 6C Polo 1.2TSI 110PS, maybe you could even go as far as 195/?? X 15 is "look" was more important than outright safety/grip in winter.

Certainly I'd expect that you will find the advised winter size is 185/60 X 15.

Have you checked up prices on Mytyres.com ?
The steel wheels that I bought for my wife's previous 2002 9N Polo came from Mytyres fitted with Alpins, my this time I fancied getting VW alloys 2nd hand from Germany and buying the Alpins from Costco as we tend to keep the wheels/tyres on the cars for 6 month each type.

 

[raveydave76]

Hi RUM4MO. I think the 185/60 R15 on a 6J rim will be the solution for me. Good intel on your wife's Polo too. I'll need to get in quick as prices are climbing by the day on mytres.

The last piece of the jigsaw will be the load rating and whether they need to be re-inforced or not. There's nothing in the manual or online that I can find in the way of guidance. The current tyres are 90V XL which have been on the car since new - Dunlop SP Sport Fast Response. I'm currently looking at the Continental WinterContact TS 860 185/60 R15 88T XL or the Vredestein Snowtrac 5 with the same fitment. I've had predecessors of both in the past and would rate them both highly.

 

[RUM4MO]

88T XL is what I picked for my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS for winter tyres, the summers that came new with are 86H.

I can't remember why I chose XL for these winter tyres, maybe I checked the Michelin website or went with what Costco, how are a Michelin outlet said was correct for that car.

I initially left that info out as your car is an ST so it might want a higher load rating than my wife's hatchback, but if any places like mytyres says otherwise I would go with what they suggest as I've found them to be very reliable in the past on correctly listing tyres for my cars.

Get in quick, as you say, prices start moving upwards quickly at this time of year.

Edit:- yes these 15" VW alloys I bought for winter use are 6J rims, I think that the offset for Ibiza is usually the same as for same age/version A1, the offset for Polo is same as same age/version of Fabia.

Another Edit:- I've checked the wheel for your car in 15" normally used as a spare (as most cars have alloys), listed in a VW Group parts cat is P/N 6R0 601 027 S and the same with out the "S", these steel wheels are 6J X 15 ET38 5/100 - also, the steel spare for the later 6C Polo is P/N 6C0 601 027 which will be exactly the same wheel physically, ie all dimensions are the same, so for these smaller steel wheels, the offset is the same for Ibiza 6J and Polo 6C.

 

[raveydave76]

By way of an update for anyone else looking to drop a rim size... the spare wheel in the boot is a 14" rim with a 165/70 (R14) 81T tyre on it. While I haven't had it on the car to check, that should mean that you can drop from a 16" all the way to 14" without issue.

 

[RUM4MO]

That is what my older daughter's late 2009 Ibiza with the 1.4 16V 86PS petrol engine has as a spare as it has got the "small" front brakes, ie 256mm, it seems that SEAT is a cheap in as much as it waits for a bit higher up the engine output range to fit the "bigger" 288mm front brakes - or your car has the lower output version of the 1.2TSI petrol engine?

Just a reminder, the 256mm brakes use a calliper with FS111 on its outer face, the 288mm front brakes use a calliper that has an anti rattle spring on its outer face.

 

[raveydave76]

Thanks again for the info.

According to the sticker in the front of the maintenance record the engine code is CBZB. Wikipedia says this code is for the 1.2 TSI Inline-4 OHC 8 valve 105 PS which I think is the higher output version of the 1.2 (max hp 104)? The CJZC code is also a 1.2 TSI produced from 2015-onwards with a max hp of 89.

I've managed to find myself a set of 4x15" steel wheels with the right specs from "a guy off facebook" for £30

 

[RUM4MO]

That is interesting, maybe have a look through the spokes of your wheels to see which brake calliper you have on that car - using my descriptions given earlier today, it could be that SEAT are just being a bit cheap about which size of discs they use, as far as I know, VW start fitting the bigger 288mm discs and corresponding callipers when the engine output approaches 100PS, and from my way of thinking, when you add in that your car is an ST so it will be slightly heavier and maybe even have a bigger payload, I would have thought it would make more sense to equip that car with the bigger front brakes. They really are a lot better than the smaller 256mm brakes with the FS111 callipers - my previous 2000 VW Passat 2.8V6 4Motion had the same front brakes as my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS - now that was not too nice to live with on that car, at the face lift VW wised up and fitted 315mm front brakes to these Passats!

The other thing is, if your car really does have the bigger front brakes, will that spare fit if or when you need to use it?

 

[raveydave76]

Hi RUM4MO. It looks like I missed your last message. I've still to get to this (moving house got in the way) so will need to check. I'll see if I can see which calipers are fitted.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Mr Pig]

Just an asside here. If you keep your winter wheels the same size as your alloys and get winter tyres that have the same speed rating, you do not need to tell your insurance company every time you swap wheels as you are not altering the specification of the car.

 

[RUM4MO]

I wonder if you are still expected to phone your insurer each time you over the wheels/tyres - I'd hope not both me and wife have informed our insurers that we change wheels sizes and use winter tyres in winter time.
I can see that it is safer to keep phoning at each change - better to be safe than sorry I suppose, maybe I need to contact my insurer again to check what they say about this for once and for all.

 

[Mr Pig]

Our insurer, Direct Line, asked us to tell them every time we put the winter wheels on and off. This year I said 'Look, do we really need to call you about this twice a year?' and the guy went and asked and said 'No, you don't have to'. Like you say, better to be safe than sorry so you have to do what they say.

 

[raveydave76]

Hi folks,

On whether you need to inform your insurer when you switch to winter tyres - this might be of use...

https://www.abi.org.uk/globalassets...-driving---the-motor-insurance-commitment.pdf

 

[Mr Pig]

On whether you need to inform your insurer when you switch to winter tyres - this might be of use...

Nice find, thanks.

 

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi,
If anyone does ever have any issues with insurance at all for winter wheels / tyres then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.