Alloy refurbishment 18'' Monza's

[hmeah]

I need to get 3 or 4 of the alloys refurbished, any recommendations for London or South East?

I been reading that the ride of a GTI is better with 17'' alloys, are they common to find for sale? anyone downgraded on size? what's the drive like?

[Mortimer Hill]

for the refurb, use these guys:

http://www.spitandpolish.co.uk/

for 17 inch wheels, try classifieds here, ebay

[jaydubveedub]

I've got a set of both 17" and 18" Monzas.

The ride is marginally better on the 17" wheels, it seems a bit less fidgety but there is not much in it. Also the steering seems a bit different (i.e. not as good) on the 17" but again this is VERY marginal.

Just stick with the 18" and put some good quality tyres on there (like Michelin PS3). This seems to make more of a difference to the ride quality!

[AlanD]

All this bollock$ about it being a better ride is crap in my book, its a plecebo effect, the diffrences are so small you wouldnt be able to tell I dont think. People say they ride better because they have 17s and wish they had the 18s lol

[jaydubveedub]

You might be right but I having tried both wheel sizes on my car, I genuinely believe the ride to be better on the 17" wheels.

It could be psychological, but you do have taller sidewalls on the 17" so they SHOULD ride better.

Like I say, the type of tyre thay you are running (i.e. the stiffness of the sidewalls) probably makes more of a difference.

[AlanD]

I had the 17 Monzas and now have 18 LMs and cant feel any diffrence.

[rotor]

The ride is massively better with 17" wheels. With my 18" Monzas hitting a pothole would make a sound more like a *bang* (not quite, but basically there is less rubber between the edge of the pothole and the rim), whereas with the 17"s it's more like a muffled *thud*. Hard to describe, but the difference is truly incredible. After a couple of weeks of owning the car I was starting to feel buyer's remorse as the ride was so much stiffer and jarring than I'd envisioned. Having swapped to 17"s I am super happy and love my GTI. I also put on brand new Michelin Pilot Sport 3 tyres at the same time I swapped (my 18" Monzas had Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tyres), so this may have had an effect, but I find it hard to believe the tyres alone would make such a difference. Maybe it's a combination of the two things, and if I'd put new PS3s on my 18" wheels I would've been happy with the ride. Who knows?

This is obviously a personal issue as several people have stated that they have noticed no difference. But given that my whole purpose of switching from 18" wheels to 17" ones was to improve the ride, and even though this has reduced the resale value of my car, I am extremely happy with the result, so take my opinion for what it's worth.

Visually, the 17" wheels are very very sad compared to the 18" ones, for sure. But for me comfort vastly outweighs the aesthetics of wheel size.

[iwilkins]

I've got the ed30 18" on my motor.  Only had it 4 weeks or so now so was still getting used to it.

I've just changed 2 of the tyre's that we're running near the legal limit and can say tyre choice certainly does affect how the car rides.  I bought ULTRAC SESSANTA's and they ride very well indeed.  The road noise is very low and the 'bumps' in the road are much smoother on the car.

I'd stick to your 18's and buy decent rubber..... Just my 2peneth !

[AlanD]

Visually, the 17" wheels are very very sad compared to the 18" ones, for sure. But for me comfort vastly outweighs the aesthetics of wheel size.

Really!? are you mental !

[Velsheda]

The ride is massively better with 17" wheels. With my 18" Monzas hitting a pothole would make a sound more like a *bang* (not quite, but basically there is less rubber between the edge of the pothole and the rim), whereas with the 17"s it's more like a muffled *thud*. Hard to describe, but the difference is truly incredible. After a couple of weeks of owning the car I was starting to feel buyer's remorse as the ride was so much stiffer and jarring than I'd envisioned. Having swapped to 17"s I am super happy and love my GTI. I also put on brand new Michelin Pilot Sport 3 tyres at the same time I swapped (my 18" Monzas had Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tyres), so this may have had an effect, but I find it hard to believe the tyres alone would make such a difference. Maybe it's a combination of the two things, and if I'd put new PS3s on my 18" wheels I would've been happy with the ride. Who knows?



What have you done with the 18's? Please say you haven't sold them already - been looking for a decent set of OE 18's.....