Alternatives to Richmonds

[Millzy68]

Hi, please help a confused, soon to be, Mk8 GTi owner.
I am due to collect a mk8 GTI in the next couple of months (fingers crossed). It is a standard car in white with the Richmond alloys, which I'm not a huge fan of, so I am looking to buy some replacements and use the tyres that come with the car, then put the Richmonds back on when I hand the car back in a few years time. I have looked at previous conversations on this forum, regarding alternative alloys on the market, which has helped a lot, but I'm still not sure on a few points. I'd rather not shell out for any of the OEM alloys and I really like the gunmetal Pretoria replicas on the CM Wheels website but I'm a bit concerned/confused by the the ET numbers. Does this relate to the offset/how far into the arch they sit? The CM site quotes them as ET45 so is this an issue compared to whatever the ET of the factory fitted Richmonds is, or will I simply be able to swap the factory fitted tyres straight onto the CM Pretorias and will they sit and look fine in the arches? Will the VW centre caps fit the CM wheels and, if not, are there VW replacement caps available on the Internet? Any other advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I have been reading this forum for a good few years, having previously owned a MK1 and a MK2 before falling into the trap of the more family friendly Tiguan, but having recently retired, it's time for a bit of fun. Thanks for any help in advance.

[Ceefeesh]

There are many owners on this forum who have CM wheels.I had a set of their Reifnitz 18s. The VW centre caps will probably not fit the CM wheel. They come with a shiny plastic centre cap and you should be able to get a VW sticker from eBay which will be close enough in size to be acceptable. I think the standard VW centre bore (hole in the middle) is 56.1mm and the CM wheels are slightly bigger. You will probably need a set of spigot rings, usually plastic but can be aluminium, which fill the gap, between the wheel and the hub which would otherwise exist between the two. I believe CM wheels will supply their rims with suitable spigot rings if required.

The tyres from the Richmonds rims are probably 225 x 18 x 40 and will fit on the CM rims. The Richmonds are probably 7.5j (inch) rim width and the CMs are 8j and the tyres will stretch across and can be fitted on your rims. The ET 45 of the rim will probably sit reasonably well in the arches too and will be within a few mm of the Richmonds. Hope this helps. Others will no doubt respond with further advice.

There are websites which will show you the two sets of wheels and tyres and how they will sit on the car.

https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/

[Mk8Clubby]

https://www.volkswagenpartsuk.co.uk/parts/18-pretoria-alloy-wheel-galvano-grey-metallic/

Think these are made by Ronal (might be wrong) and approved by VW. Best thing is they come with VW centre caps and existing wheel bolts will fit. Quite tempted by these or the gloss black, but would rather see them fitted on a mk8 before buying.

[bogwoppit]

I've got a set in dark graphite grey, on our mk7.5. Ours our made by Ronal but I think some other manufacturers also made them.

If you trawl through Autotrader, I've seen a few mk8 GTi's in the past with genuine 18" Pretoria's

[Guzzle]

Orange = OEM setup
Green = CM wheels on your existing tyres

https://willtheyfit.com/index.php?width=225&aspect=40&diameter=18&wheelwidth=7.5&offset=50&width2=225&aspect2=40&wheel_size=18&wheel_width=8&offset2=45

[Exonian]

A new GTI isn’t a bad retirement present to yourself 
Congrats on retirement you lucky devil!!

I have CM replicas in the same width and offset albeit in 19” diameter.
I went for TCR Reifnitz replicas as they look a bit stronger than Pretorias (having owned genuine VW sets of both wheels I can confirm OEM Pretorias like to bend!), are a more GTI wheel, are rarer and have a little bit of dish to their shape.
However I’m a huuuuuge lover of Pretorias. One of my favourite ever designs of alloy wheel.

Yes, they will fit fine in that size and offset plus fill the arches better.
Yes, you will need new centres but only the badge caps that are easily available on eBay for not much money as per Ceefeesh’s very comprehensive post.
Yes, you can still use your original bolts, lockers and nut caps.
Yes, the standard 225 tyres will fit fine but there will be a tiny bit less kerb protection than 235’s and the wheels themselves will sit slightly further out and thus nearer kerbs.

After several decades of buying expensive higher end wheels for my cars, I went for the CM replicas as they were well rated by other owners, plus at £500 a set I wouldn’t be massively upset if I bent one on a pothole.
After two years and circa 17k miles they seem to be holding up just fine (touch wood).

[SRGTD]

https://www.volkswagenpartsuk.co.uk/parts/18-pretoria-alloy-wheel-galvano-grey-metallic/

Think these are made by Ronal (might be wrong) and approved by VW. Best thing is they come with VW centre caps and existing wheel bolts will fit. Quite tempted by these or the gloss black, but would rather see them fitted on a mk8 before buying.

There’s a white mk8 Clubsport in the YouTube video at the link below with what looks to be 18” Pretoria’s in a Gunmetal (or similar) Grey colour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VJOpYf9unI

[Mk8Clubby]

Those alloys look quite good imo. Tempted. Thanks for posting.

[BillSan]

Hi Millzy68

You are in exactly the same position as I was 18 months ago.   I'd just had a Mk8 (albeit a CS) in white on a 3 year lease and wanted to replace the Richmonds.   Wanted to use the same tyres (why spend more!) and wanted gunmetal.

The thread is here (it runs to 21 pages) and I got a lot of help from forum members.

https://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=287446.120

In the end I paid a bit more (c.£720 if I remember correctly) but I did look at CM Wheels Prets.

[Ceefeesh]

Here’s what I fitted. Borbet Y 18s in titanium. 18 x 8 ET 44. They were circa £700 for the alloys.

https://postimg.cc/LqJ4Xd7s