« Reply #5 on: 20 April 2017, 05:12 »
I'm going to get some new rims for my GTI. Currently got the 18" austins which don't fill the arches for me.
Weird question I'm asking is will a 19inch rim with a low profile tyre be much bigger than an 18" with the standard tyre?
Obviously it's 1 inch bigger but the profile of tyre on the 18 looks bigger than what you'd get on a 19 (might just be my imagination or stupidity though).
Reason I ask is I can't lower my car as my current insurer doesn't cover it (never come across this before!) so I didn't want to get a set of 19's and have a car sitting really high for a year. If it sits about the same as the 18's I might go for it....
Thoughts? I've not seen a GTI on the santiagos up close to have a nose out to compare.
The 19" and 18" wheels will have the same circumference give or take a few millimetres.
The 19" wheels just take a lower profile tyre to keep the gearing identical.
It's the offset that will make the wheels sit better in the arches.
You will need either 8" wide wheels with approx 40mm ET or 8.5" wide wheels with around 45mm ET.
This will bring the shoulders of the tyres pretty flush with the wheel arches and visually improve the looks quite a bit (obviously wheel choice is a very personal matter).
A much cheaper option will be to run wheel spacers and longer bolts on your Austin wheels.
12 to 15mm front and 15 to 20mm rear (12 & 16 works well)
The next dilemma is whether your insurer will allow spacers if they don't allow lowering.
Most insurers don't bat an eyelid at alloy wheel upgrades but spacers might be a no no.
How much would it be just to end your insurance policy early and find another more sympathetic insurer?
Spacers will cost you between £100 and £160 give or take a few quid and alloy wheels and tyres will set you back £1000 upwards. 19" tyres aren't cheap.
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‘25 8.5R, ‘23 8R, ‘20 8CS, ‘19 135iX, ‘19 TCR, ‘17 Ed40, ‘17 GTD, ‘15 7R, ‘13 GTI PP, ‘11 GTI, ‘09 GTI, ‘98 Ibiza Cupra, ‘05 GTI, ‘06 Polo GTI, ‘04 GT TDI, ‘05 Fabia vRS, ‘02 GTI T, ‘03 Ibiza TDI 130, ‘01 Leon 180, ‘89 mk2 16v, ‘99 Ibiza TDI, ‘96 VR6, ‘98 Ibiza TDI, ‘92 VR6, ‘88 mk2 8v, ‘92 Polo G40, ‘91 mk2 8v, ‘89 mk2 8v, 205 GTI 1.9, ‘83 mk1 GTI, ‘80 Scirocco GTI, plus some others I’ve forgotten
