GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk8 => Topic started by: Millzy68 on 31 January 2023, 21:14
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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.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Wb3mSdS1/Screenshot-20230127-140950-com-android-chrome-edit-938508786803142.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/xqwb1TWw)
(https://i.postimg.cc/j2jf81HF/Screenshot-20230127-140933-com-android-chrome-edit-938519973014078.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/qh9gqjZs)
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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/
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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.
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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
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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
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A new GTI isn’t a bad retirement present to yourself :smiley:
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).
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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
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Those alloys look quite good imo. Tempted. Thanks for posting.
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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.
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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
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Not long after getting my car I was tempted by a set of genuine 18" Prets in gloss black, at the time they were around £1000, then a few months later there was a VW dealer on eBay selling new sets for £1300, same dealer has now sold out and it seems they have gone up to £1600 from VW!
So wish I had bought them earlier...
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For £1,600 you can do a lot better than VW 18" Prets even in black. Go aftermarket, you'll struggle to spend that much and get a lot more for your money.
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What a brilliant forum this is. Thanks for all the help and advice so far, it's much appreciated 👍🏼
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(https://i.postimg.cc/nr7qsx8s/ABE671-F9-4458-4-B47-9-FC1-74-A1-B9-E00804.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/9wmDSvQV)
I went for these from CM Wheels for when mine eventually arrives , thanks to Exonian’s pictures sold me in these .
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^^^ a man of taste V_A!! :afro:
I hope they don’t remain ornaments for toooo much longer.
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But they make great coffee tables! :grin: :grin:
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But they make great coffee tables! :grin: :grin:
You’d know all about that! :grin:
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I had the same thing….
Perhaps this thread helps:
https://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=287446.0
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And if you’re interested in Brescias :)
https://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=289257.0
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Beware of non-OEM wheels. I bought a set of Prets for £800. brand new and 2 of them were slightly buckled.....they were replaced but lesson learned.
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I had a set of new rep wheels before also 1 cracked 1 buckled both within 6 months never again OEM only for me.
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Beware of non-OEM wheels. I bought a set of Prets for £800. brand new and 2 of them were slightly buckled.....they were replaced but lesson learned.
I had a set of new rep wheels before also 1 cracked 1 buckled both within 6 months never again OEM only for me.
IMHO it can largely depend on who the manufacturers of the aftermarket alloys are. Companies such as BBS, Borbet and Ronal have an extensive range of aftermarket alloys. They also make many of the OEM alloys for VW so I’d have no hesitation in buying a set of aftermarket alloys from one of those manufacturers. There are other reputable aftermarket alloy wheel manufacturers too.
As with any purchase, it pays to do your research and with alloys I’d want to know who the manufacturer is and ensure their alloys are TUV, ABE, JWL (or similar) certified, so will have gone through thorough quality and structural safety testing procedures.
OEM alloys can also have their problems - e.g. there’ve been quite a few instances reported on forums of genuine OEM VW 19” Pretoria alloys being susceptible to cracking and buckling.
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Beware of non-OEM wheels. I bought a set of Prets for £800. brand new and 2 of them were slightly buckled.....they were replaced but lesson learned.
I had a set of new rep wheels before also 1 cracked 1 buckled both within 6 months never again OEM only for me.
IMHO it can largely depend on who the manufacturers of the aftermarket alloys are. Companies such as BBS, Borbet and Ronal have an extensive range of aftermarket alloys. They also make many of the OEM alloys for VW so I’d have no hesitation in buying a set of aftermarket alloys from one of those manufacturers. There are other reputable aftermarket alloy wheel manufacturers too.
As with any purchase, it pays to do your research and with alloys I’d want to know who the manufacturer is and ensure their alloys are TUV, ABE, JWL (or similar) certified, so will have gone through thorough quality and structural safety testing procedures.
OEM alloys can also have their problems - e.g. there’ve been quite a few instances reported on forums of genuine OEM VW 19” Pretoria alloys being susceptible to cracking and buckling.
Agreed I was referring to replica wheels BBS Ronal etc are good quality wheels.
Ref Prets I know 2 people who have both had issues with them cracking too.
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(https://i.postimg.cc/nr7qsx8s/ABE671-F9-4458-4-B47-9-FC1-74-A1-B9-E00804.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/9wmDSvQV)
I went for these from CM Wheels for when mine eventually arrives , thanks to Exonian’s pictures sold me in these .
Those look great! Considering a set myself. Do you think they're worth the buy? Do the oem rim fittings work? Assume that's a new centre isn't it? Mind linking me to where you got it please?
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Here’s the link to CM wheels. You will need spigot rings, which I think they include and a set of stickers from eBay to place on the blank plastic wheel centres they supply.
https://cmwheels.com/product-category/vw-audi/vag-5x112/19/page/8/
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Here’s the link to CM wheels. You will need spigot rings, which I think they include and a set of stickers from eBay to place on the blank plastic wheel centres they supply.
https://cmwheels.com/product-category/vw-audi/vag-5x112/19/page/8/
Great, thank you. The satin 18s I want are OOS currently, so I'm waiting on an eta from Liam for them. He said they do supply spigot rings, and told me to get vw stickers from ebay also.
He mentioned I'd probably want new black bolts, to go with the alloys. He's right. Noob question, but could you tell me which ones I'd need to buy please?
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They do come with spigot rings, not sure about the bolts but the original bolt covers fit as far as i am aware.
Still waiting on my car to confirm (Sitting waiting on a boat)
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They do come with spigot rings, not sure about the bolts but the original bolt covers fit as far as i am aware.
Still waiting on my car to confirm (Sitting waiting on a boat)
Sorry to hear your's is taking so long to arrive! Bloody VW. The backlog really is crazy.
Right, okay. So the bolts do fit. Mine are silver, but the bold covers are black, so you're saying those will still over the top? That may do me if I don't have black replacements.
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I bought a set of 18” gunmetal Reifnitz from CM wheels. You don’t get wheel bolts. The originals fit and you can buy black or silver replacement nut covers off eBay for a few pounds.
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I bought a set of 18” gunmetal Reifnitz from CM wheels. You don’t get wheel bolts. The originals fit and you can buy black or silver replacement nut covers off eBay for a few pounds.
Awesome. Thank you. Don't happen to know the size of their centre cap do you? So I can buy vw stickers on ebay ready.
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I think the centre bore of the CM Reifnitz are 57.2mm and you can buy VW stickers from eBay which are 56mm and look okay. It might be wise to have someone else confirm this.
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I think the centre bore of the CM Reifnitz are 57.2mm and you can buy VW stickers from eBay which are 56mm and look okay. It might be wise to have someone else confirm this.
Great thank you. Much appreciated.
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Just in case it helps, I bought a set of 19” Reifnitz in gunmetal from CM two and a half years ago and they’ve been on the car ever since.
Quality wise mine have been pretty good, they’ve survived some impressive potholes (I do try hard to avoid them but it can’t always be helped) with only one massive one putting a slight dink in the nearside front which is good going really. I seriously thought the car was going to break in half such was the impact (collapsed manhole cover filled with water on a NSL stretch of road) but the tyre and wheel survived it ok. In fact only a few weeks later I needed new front tyres as they were down to 3mm so I asked the fitter to check the wheel over, he said all was good and it was holding air just fine plus balanced up no problem. I seriously doubt an OEM Pretoria would have survived without a crack.
They seem tough enough as part of my commute is over some badly surfaced coastal roads and they’ve done twenty odd thousand miles now.
The original VW bolts and bolt caps fitted fine.
They come with blank centre caps which take a domed 56mm sticker type badge easily available on eBay for under a tenner a set. Mine have the older VW logos as they were the only style available at the time.
As above, they come with spigot rings as the centre bore is slightly larger than 57.1mm.
(https://i.postimg.cc/8Pn5bxPg/IMG-8636.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/zVK8ztgx)
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Anyone had experience with Torque Wheels before? I can't see much about them online.
I've had a chat with them and the chap over there answered all my questions about their rims and fittings etc.. so I've placed an order for their satin black 18" GOLF R REIFNITZ STYLE ALLOYS.
They look exactly the same as the ones CM had, same spec too. They include VW badges as well, which is a nice touch. Work out about 5% more than CM, but they're OOS and don't have an ETA on a shipment, so I decided it was worth it.
(https://i.postimg.cc/ZnRPW3SS/24-57.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/JDfHgs06)