Winter wheels

[Jules Winfield]

VW have a winter wheel programme, which is a good place to start.  The 2012/3 brochure is here:

http://www.volkswagen-zubehoer.de/fileadmin/pdf/prospekte/2012/WKR_2012_engl.pdf

As it's the 2012/3 brochure, it only covers the "normal" Mark 7s, along with all of the Mark 6s, so you'll need to wait until the 2013/4 brochure comes out to see what it recommends for Mark 7 GTIs and GTDs.  You can see what sort of tyres they suggest and the range of alloys that are available.

I used to run a set of 16" VW steel wheels on my GTD, together with Continental TS830s.  The tyres are excellent, and there's not much wear after three winters (you can still get them from mytyres, along with their successors, the TS850s).  The wheels started to go a bit manky, so I got rid of them and changed to a set of the "Aspen" alloys as shown in the winter wheels catalogue.  My local dealer ordered them for me and they arrived in a couple of days.  They look so much better than the steel ones.

If you go for a smaller set, the tyres are cheaper and the alloys are cheaper (and lighter).  It doesn't really matter about appearance, so long as the car gets through the mush.

[mcmaddy]

no real point putting 18” winters on. kind of defeats the object really. 17” would be better and cheaper.

How so?

I run 18" winter tyres on both my Mk6 GTI and Mk5 GT TD...and manage just fine, in conditions where the standard tyres (Goodyear Eagle F1s) wouldn't get the cars off the driveway.

17" may give you more protection...but the point of winter tyres is the compound and tread design...not the size.

But if you are driving through slush and snow the narrower tyres are much better. Im well aware of the temperature issues but when it comes to slushy snow you are better of with skinnier tyres.

[mackandmark]

Anyone know anything about the PP callipers over the standard ones?

As far as I am aware (someone please correct me if this is untrue)
The red calipers for the PP option have the white 'GTI' stamped on them.
Standard one's are just red with no Text

[CraigW]

Anyone know anything about the PP callipers over the standard ones?

As far as I am aware (someone please correct me if this is untrue)
The red calipers for the PP option have the white 'GTI' stamped on them.
Standard one's are just red with no Text

Hi Pal,

I think he was asking more about the size of the callipers on the PP compared to standard to determine the size of wheels required. 

[mackandmark]

Yes I did know that, just wanted to make those aware of this though as I think a few people may be disappointed when they receive their's without the PP to find out they are not stamped with the GTi logo

[Movi]

I use 6x16" steels with goodyear ultra grip 7+ 205/55/16.

These will fit the mk7 GTI (Non PP) and GTD and only cost £75 a corner.

If you have PP GTI VW recommend  6 J x 17 wheel with 205/50/17.

[mcmaddy]

I think I'll go for the 17” winters when I can find some.

[ROO1]

I think I'll go for the 17” winters when I can find some.

Selling mine on here

[firefly125]

? So with me ordering my gti with pp , I will need minimum wheel size of 17" , and with me wanting to keep costs down , steel wheels would be just the ticket , but can u get a 17" steel wheel ? Quite like flash motors with steel wheels in winter , I reckon they look quite cool , plus if I do get a bit cocky in the snow I'm not likely to destroy £400 of decent alloy and tyre

[Buck]

no real point putting 18” winters on. kind of defeats the object really. 17” would be better and cheaper.

How so?

I run 18" winter tyres on both my Mk6 GTI and Mk5 GT TD...and manage just fine, in conditions where the standard tyres (Goodyear Eagle F1s) wouldn't get the cars off the driveway.

17" may give you more protection...but the point of winter tyres is the compound and tread design...not the size.

But if you are driving through slush and snow the narrower tyres are much better. Im well aware of the temperature issues but when it comes to slushy snow you are better of with skinnier tyres.

The difference between the two tyres in terms of footprint/width is so small as to be negligible. What would the 17s be? 225/45s?  My 18s are 225/40s so no width difference only the tyre wall

I ran 18s with winter tyres for the last two years and they were amazing and I didn't feel as though the car was running on 'second rate looks' for the winter months.

I did lots of research before going for the 18s as these are on a separate set of alloys and the only advantages that the 17s had was a bigger side wall that might prevent damage to the alloys with kerbs etc and the fact that they are cheaper.

It's horses and courses but look at the long term view (you could easily get 3 even 4 winters out of a set) and the looks and performance of the 18s for me made a few pounds per year more definitely worth it!