Change to 14" wheels for comfort & MPG?

[MPG Lover]

I have owned my A2 for a while now and think it is a great car. One of my few bugbears is the ride quality over bumps and holes. I now drive permanently on the look-out for speed bumps and sunken man hole covers...

I am now considering changing my 16" wheels with slimline 185/50 Dunlops to 14" wheels with 165/70 Bridgestone B391's. This is for two reasons - firstly to have a thicker tyre to absorb more of the bumps and secondly to improve my MPG with narrower & lower rolling resistance tyres. I know the Bridgestone B391 is a great MPG tyre from my Honda Insight days, where owners would take a 5 MPG hit if they switched to a different tyre. The difference in diameter between 185/50/16 and 165/70/14 is only about 0.2" or 0.8% on the speedometer. I am aware that handling could be compromised with narrower tyres but I am not a boy racer.

Advice would be welcomed on: Are any 1.2 TDI 14" wheels available? Would there be any technical problems with switching to 14" wheels? If I can't get any 1.2 TDI wheels, can anybody recommend other wheels?

Perhaps one for discussion on the 14th....

 

[ianjohnsonws14]

You need to check with Audi that you will not affect warranty by doing this, Should also check with your insurer since if the tyre size is not approved for the car they may not cover you.

you may also have technical problems eg smaller tyre gives less adhesion and braking distance rises and cornering ablity falls - I uses to drive a Morris Minor on skinny Cross Plies, if you did not drive like a granny it would spin!

 

[spike]

Hi MPG Lover
You can't use the 1.2 TDi wheels as they have 239 dia front discs with a 4 x 100 pcd bolt pattern for the rims. All other A2's have 256 dia front discs with 5 x100 bolt pattern for wheel mounting. The larger brake dia means you would need to check inner rim clearances carefully. Having said that, a friend in Sweden told me that due to poor availability of correct size winter tyres when the A2 was first released over there, many owners fitted 14" Skoda wheels.
Have you considered the polished 15" alloys with 185x60 tyres. These give almost the same sidewall depth as 165x70 tyres and could be less of an issue from an insurance standpoint.

Cheers Spike