Replica Decision: 215/45/17 Tyres / 17x7.5 ET35 / RS4 or RS6?

driveforward

driveforward

Member
I've been doing a fair bit of searching on here, reading up on the past experiences of members who have chosen to replace the standard 17's with replicas due to buckling.

As you know, my original wheels are so bent that I hate driving the A2 for long periods (and I've owned the car longer with bent wheels than round ones!). Well, the council look like they're going to pay up after a 3 month 'procedure', and it's just in time for my trip to Switzerland and the Nurburgring in August.

So, as the subject states, I'm looking at increasing the profile of the tyres by 5mm to try and attempt to prevent future buckling, and as the replicas are 1/2" wider than the standard wheels I propose increasing my tyre width from 205 to 215. Finally, the offset of et35 seems from what I've read, to remain to be OK with such wheels - any comments?


My final decision is on the style of wheel, I like the standard RS4's, but do have a thing for RS6 wheels.. anyone got any pics/photoshops of a silver A2 with RS6's?

Please share your thoughts,

Many thanks

Ian
 
I went for the RS4 replicas and swaped over the original 205 tyres. I must admit if I needed to replace all the tyres I would definatly go for 215. The tyres do look vary stretched on the rims and offer no protection.

In a month we have cubed one all the way round and another took a hit from going down a pot hole!!!

I do like the RS6 alloys, the only reason I went for the RS4's was to keep the car looking standard.
 
215/45 R 17 tyres will not fit! Well, they will, but they'll rub.

I went from 205/40 R 17s to 215/40 R 17s on my new wheels after buckling problems on my Sport wheels and I got a set of genuine TT alloys from an Ebay seller (he's got another set up at the moment actually - and the Tank appears in his listing wearing the new boots!).

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....30009630934&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

The wheels have been great and they were brand new. Very good value at what I paid for them.

Now that they've been on a while, I've had a look for rubbing and found only a tiny amount on the front nearside liner. On partial lock, when the rubber is nearest the liner, I can't fit a finger between the tyre and the liner, so I really would urge caution on the 215/45s.

I have noticed a better ride since changing and it's now up there as one of my 'glad I took the plunge' mods.

BTW - the offset on mine is ET 32 which means that with a 7.5J rim, you keep the same inner clearance.

Cheers,

Mike
 
I know what you mean, but do the maths:

17" wheel diameter = 431.8mm
18" wheel diameter = 457.2mm
215/45 tyre height = 96.75mm
215/40 tyre height = 86mm
215/35 tyre height = 75.25mm
205/40 tyre height = 82mm

So, you can see that the standard wheel and tyre combo = 595.8mm
17" with 215/45 tyres = 625.3mm
18" with 215/35 tyres = 607.7mm
17" with 215/40 tyres = 603.8mm

So, as you can see, there's only an extra 2mm per side over and above the 215/40 combo as I have presently on the Tank, if you were to use 18" wheels and 215/35 tyres, compared to 11mm per side if you were to use 215/45s on standard rims. That is a lot and hence why I would be reticent to use them.

Hope this helps,

Mike
 
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