Mk7.5 GTI - Wheels and Tyres Advice

[gfmr89]

Hello All,

I’m a new member and kindly seeking advice on new wheels and tyres.

I have a 2019 Mk7.5 GTI in Atlantic blue with the stock 18s (unsure of the name but diamond cut) and potenzas.

The tyres need replaced and I’ve noticed on two of the alloys what looks like the start of corrosion. Therefore I’ve thought that this might be a good time to change the wheels on the car and put on some fresh tyres.

Here are the options as I see it after looking through the boards and would appreciate guidance to help me decide:

New Wheels

While I love the brescia wheels, I think I want to stay away from diamond cut as the car is my daily. I quite like the Pretoria alloys but I understand a genuine set are very expensive. I know there are after market replica options available, most notably cmwheels or 5 Star Wheels, and cmwheels seem to be well regarded. Are there any issues with going down the replica route I need to be aware of and anything I need to consider or buy in addition for fitting replicas? Alternatively, there is a set of refurbed genuine Santiagos in grey I can get on marketplace. Would this be a better option?

Lastly on the new wheels, what is the ride comfort like on 19s? I don’t have DCC and have a baby on the way so don’t want to have a harsh car ride and the roads where I am are not the best (rural, potholes).

I note you can get the replicas in 18s, would that be a better option than the 19s if I want to maintain ride comfort?

Tyres

What tyres do you recommend for 19s and 18s options?

Apologies if these questions seem obvious but I’ve never swapped the wheels on my car before and want to make sure I do it right.

Thank you! 

[willni]

If you're looking for new alloys that aren't diamond cut, and are concerned regarding quality of originals wheels and replicas. I'd approach VW and see if they have the 18 inch Pretorias available, iirc they come with tyres for circa £1k but it's been a while since I last looked.

Despite my stance on 19s, I'd recommend you go with 18s. Potholes and trying not to wake a newborn would be bad enough, without adding 19s to the mix. Plus if you get distracted an 18 has a bit more rubber should you hit a pothole.

Tyre wise, up in the air at the minute anything Goodyear, Michelin or Continental is a safest bet. My brother got a set of Continental Sport Contact 7's for £360 fitted and I'd probably go with them as they're the current leader in reviews and cost per mile.

[Exonian]

Welcome gfmr 

There are many options available to you as you’ll well know.
Will has detailed some good points there.
19’s do look nicer but a decent looking set of 18” wheels are a great compromise - slightly better ride and significantly cheaper tyres.

If considering non-OEM wheels it would be worth checking out Borbet and similar OEM rated brands aftermarket ranges too. Most of these will be TÜV approved which carries a bit of reassurance.

Personally I’m running a set of CMWheels Reifnitz which started off as a temporary set for winter use yet are still on the car two and a half years later. I’m not used to keeping a car that long never mind a set of wheels!

As for tyres, I’d also go with any of the ones Will suggested. I’d sway towards the PS5 but that would depend on what offers were on at the time too.

[gfmr89]

Thank you both for the guidance!

I'll contact my local VW dealers to see if they can supply the Pret 18s - a genuine set for around £1k is not bad at all.

As for non-OEM, I'll have a look at Borbet. I did see that MAK made the Wolf wheels for the Mk7? Would that be as well regarded as Borbet and a 'L4L' replacement of the stock 18s, even being able to use the VW centre caps and bolt covers? - https://www.performancealloys.com/mak-wolf-silver - A set of them in silver or gloss back would like nice but maybe the offset wouldn't fill the arches as nicely as the cmwheels for example?

@Exonian, I bet the reifnitz look great and keep it OEM+ style! Are you pleased with the quality of cmwheels?

[willni]

Another set I always thought were nice, were the VW rotary's (below) you're lucky with a golf lots of choices and a lot look well. Also a fairly common choice are BBS SR's, usually pop up on Facebook for £600-700.

I'm the opposite of Exonian, I've had more sets of wheels than I've had cars 



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275859908929?hash=item403a882941:g:wakAAOSwiE5kZ6lr&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4NWYZfbvxYgSlHZIvI9eZnbiHeJhyQFpsxyjheh%2FqYsWKTsFpKihMv%2BA9Yc9TuRVQbVKx4zXnnx6QxH1Ehs%2FbXQxV%2FactzSw0xvULRV4vy9FyKTpkTfjK02osFt7GNeY3PFmjBFNL4e4xFHR5MhOFB9DcaIgR1KfWwQG55UxsILHRodEQHBJUP2wjWwGul%2Fjm%2FR57HjCzmEpybw5am1FR5LRlaXav0mJ6wI7HNWkmtOfN6Qt%2B%2Btb7sjgvfhDg5c0QTQ%2B7RnnYKq8sM24pXWnDDhqVvy0ZXUmFVg14hnFfh0T%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-7rsamSYg

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194304469048?epid=9028124396&hash=item2d3d72e838:g:4z0AAOSw-rlh7tu1&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4IzqpMj6W0n1xTU1DcUVosgSEOALAO5o4ghJaqIDHmD6bavjOKgLlb0%2BcdXKlXNoWgjB8TyK10MkOpyRhY8sfTGPOxw9qBkrHQ6hGbQfKYRpqTo18%2FknWc0QBilfTq%2FBP1Sg0vjHe%2BTzaRdXip15%2BSgP%2FSNzmExeLfUQUTqbVWj%2F1rh9RHtne5G9KCZjeXSJtDqWp%2BVv1MoMCAOgH1Lp3Gf3f1H4nnsiLL%2FcrFtWt2HU%2FwuS2ocjdOreCGjIj0Z4mDkPNy0v8ocwwmnMd1DmvByGjAuth5cHzGvX9HkiuhMx%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7S3uKmSYg

[SRGTD]

Another set I always thought were nice, were the VW rotary's (below) you're lucky with a golf lots of choices and a lot look well. Also a fairly common choice are BBS SR's, usually pop up on Facebook for £600-700.

I'm the opposite of Exonian, I've had more sets of wheels than I've had cars 

I had VW Rotary alloys on my mk6 Golf GTD; nice simple design, my favourite colour for alloys and they’re also easy to clean;

[Ceefeesh]

Here’s the style of Borbets I put on my Mk8 but I think they’d suit a 7.5 too. They’re 18s. Look on eBay for Tunershop-Germany. They have quite a few styles around £700 per set for genuine Borbets who make many of the oem VW wheels. They’re supplied with Borbet centre caps or buy VW stickers from eBay. They’re 8j and come in a variety of offsets. Mine are ET 42 and fill the arches nicely. If you have 225 x 40 x 18 tyres  you could swap them or as Exonian said 18s are a fair bit less expensive.



I previously had a 7.5 GTI without DCC and I changed my 19 Santiagos to oem Milton Keynes/Austin 18s as I preferred the smoother ride. Personally,  I found the 19 Santiago’s too harsh and my wife really didn’t like them. If I am honest I liked the look of the Milton Keynes better  but maybe I am odd. Here’s a photo of one of each on the car.

[Exonian]

@Exonian, I bet the reifnitz look great and keep it OEM+ style! Are you pleased with the quality of cmwheels?

The Reifnitz reps have stood up well. I’ve been quite impressed by them.

I’m a huge fan of the MAK Wolf. You can buy them direct from Italy for sensible money and they’ll take the original bolts and VW centre caps. I used to bang on about the Wolfs constantly on here some years ago. They’re well worth considering.

 

I'm the opposite of Exonian, I've had more sets of wheels than I’ve had cars 

Nah, I’ve just got old and calmed down. I generally had two or three sets on a car (and rarely kept a car for as long as 18 months) for years and years. At my worst I had 7 sets (not all at the same time) for my first mk6 GTI back in the day. The following car only had three sets, as did the next… 

[gfmr89]

Some great advice, thank you!

I reached out to my local VW dealer's parts department (not the most helpful and didn't seem to know they could supply OEM wheels and tyres aftersales) and after a painful 10-15 mins of what I guess was them trying to find the 18" Prets on the system, quoted me £485 per wheel/tyre which is more than I can spend. I've reached out to another dealer further away but I suspect their prices will be the same.

I think it's a decision between the CM reps which are tempting for the price alone, MAK Wolfs or the VW rotary wheels (which are really nice, but not sure I can get buy-in from the wife on the cost!).

[SRGTD]

Some great advice, thank you!

I reached out to my local VW dealer's parts department (not the most helpful and didn't seem to know they could supply OEM wheels and tyres aftersales) and after a painful 10-15 mins of what I guess was them trying to find the 18" Prets on the system, quoted me £485 per wheel/tyre which is more than I can spend. I've reached out to another dealer further away but I suspect their prices will be the same.

I think it's a decision between the CM reps which are tempting for the price alone, MAK Wolfs or the VW rotary wheels (which are really nice, but not sure I can get buy-in from the wife on the cost!).

It’s always worth asking for discount if buying accessories from a VW dealership - especially if you’re spending a fairly sizeable sum of your ‘hard earned’ on a quite expensive item like a set of new alloys. If you don’t ask, you don’t get, and the VW dealership I use has always given me 10% discount off accessories when I’ve asked.

I’ve not bought anything from them post-Covid so things may be different now, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.