Upgrade Alloys

[hastd2]

Guys a few valid comments been replied, which I have taken in to account
Going into the dealer 2moro to finalise the extras and have decided to give the 19" alloys a miss, due to the price and forking out for tires and the good chance of the wife kerbing them!!!

So will stick with the 18" which will fit the set of winters I have in the garage which came off my Beemer X1

Cheers

[Gnasher]

Put it this way - I've just sold my astra VXR with optional 19" alloys (235/35 R19 tyres) and much as I think the santiagos look much better than the austins, I still didn't spec them due to the cost, both of the option and the tyres.

Bare in mind the upgrade from 18's to 19's on the astra VXR was £500 when I got them!

[matchboy]

They are worth every penny IMO - look the nuts 

[monkeyhanger]

I think Santiagos is the one option you've got a chance of seeing half your money back on, in a private sale or maybe swap out with someone who has Austins/Nogaros and is willing to chuck you some money - the most obvious external option. But as always with optional equipment - buy them because you like/want/need them. It's a steep option - almost a grand and only about £200 of that is in the tyres (about £50 a corner more for 19" instead of 18").

[simonpolly]

I choose the Santiago`s because I changed from a mk6 with Monza shadows to a mk7 IMO the Austin's look too much like the Monza's. How much extra are the tyres on the 19" compared to the 18" Austin's ?
Both types of wheels look really smart.

[dubber36]

I think the 19's are hugely expensive for an upgrade. I also think that the 18" Austins are a much nicer wheel.
 
For a similar amount of money, you could buy a set of 19" BBS's in a few months time, then keep them packed away until your oriinal tyres are down to about 3mm. Then buy a set of tyres for the 19's and run them on the car. When you come to sell the car you've got the option of selling the car with the Austins back on with still usable tyres and the 19's to get some money back, or sell the Austins and leave the 19's on the car. Either way you'll have a set of wheels to sell. Spend nearly a grand on 19's from the factory and you'll never be able to recoup any of that money.

[simonpolly]

Just looked at prices
Pirelli P Zero 235/35/19  (£190.80 each)
Pirelli P Zero 225/40/18  (£127.00 each)
Good job I only do about 4000 miles a year

[linc-dub]

Instead of buying the 19" Santiago's I've ordered a set of BBS 18" to put a set of winter tyres on!

[Geomets]

I'm glad that in my place the standard equipment for the GTI PP is the 17" ones. I'm going for a swap to 18" sometime in the future (I don't have the car yet ). Saw some tasty nuespeed rims which could be fitted with a BBK without the use of spacers.

[lew321]

I wasn't sure about the 19's until I saw a GTI with them on at the dealer. They do look nice but I didn't like the idea of keeping them clean so I kept with the standard Austin wheels, which still looks great