OT: Car wheel sizes

tgotb

I need to buy some Winter tyres for the family jalopy.

Once I have them, I can either get them swapped with the Summer tyres twice a year (which will cost money and be a hassle) or buy a set of cheap steel wheels, and swap them myself. This obviously depends on the cost of the steel wheels, but we're planning to own this car for some time, so there's a while for us to amortise the cost.

Question is: How standardised are car wheels? Do I need to buy wheels specifically for my model of car, or is it just a case of figuring out what size they are and popping out to the nearest scrapyard? I figure there must be a huge oversupply of second-hand car wheels, and it surely can't be that hard to find ones in decent condition...

Kieran_Burns

Your big problem will be the offset of the wheels, whether they are 4 or 5 stud and how far out the studs actually ARE (PCD). Your best bet is to find out the actual wheel dimensions and simply buy a cheap set of alloys / steelies with the same numbers.

Paul E

PCD and offset need to be the same or the handling and braking will be screwed and make the car feel very odd

WisePranker

Wheels from some different manufacturers are compatible with one another.

What car is it?

stuartturbo

Yes most manufacture wheels fit ie Vauxhall all have the same offset bolt pcd etc but differing is 4 or 5 bolt mounting.

On a side note just put new winter tyres but the front have been on the car all year since last November so lasted 10months and about 14000miles. I noticed no great loss in the summer and the wear rate was no worse if not better the the previous all season tyres. Now have a full set on as prior to this i had the front set on and you knew the rears were not up to the front when pushed " read playing" in the snow

Chrissz

If the PCD is wrong the wheels won't even bolt on.

If the offset is wrong they may foul the outer edges of the wheel arches, the inner arch liner and/or the caliper.

If the centre bore diameter is wrong the wheels may not sit correctly on the hub (resting instead on the studs) or may not fit onto the hub at all.

All in all not a simple process - you will need toget manufacturer/model specific rims!

tgotb

Thanks for the advice guys, I thought it might be a bit more complicated than it looked!

Car is a Mazda 5 (MPV thingy)...

veronese68

Winter tyres are usually narrower than summer tyres. Slightly thinner rims may be in order. Does the lowest spec version of your car has steel wheels? Get some of them if you can find any.
Otherwise get the tyres swapped on your wheels, just make sure you get the right size. £5 a corner to change and balance should cover it. Is the little tyre place still there just off gasworks roundabout on the A316? First left after the roundabout heading towards Richmond. He'll do it for cash I'm sure. Can't remember his name. He should be able to advise you on tyres and sizes too.

bails87

I bought some winter tyres last week. Had them fitted to my alloys. Over the winter I'll find some steel wheels the same size as the alloys, then get the winter tyres put on those, and new summer tyres put on the alloys. That way I can swap them over myself, and the only extra cost will be the steel wheels (hopefully get some cheap from a breakers yard) seeing as I'll only be wearing out one set of tyres at a time.

meanredspider

Yup - there are a few sites about that list PCD, centre and offset values but even that isn't straightforward. I was hoping to use the winter wheels off my old E Class Merc on my newer-model E Class Merc - all of those values matched but the bolts are now a size larger diameter! Your best bet is to find a breaker or set of wheels on eBay exactly for your model. And be aware that steel wheels are likely to take a set of different length wheel bolts and bolts aren't as cheap as you'd expect so buy those from the source of the wheels if you can too.

An alternative is to buy full sets of tyres and steel wheels from MyTyres.com - they work out quite reasonable once you take into account tyre costs, fitting, sourcing steelies etc etc.

I ended up really surprising myself by buying an alloy wheel & tyre set directly from Mercedes. By the time I'd weighed up the individual costs, the Merc option only worked out £150 more expensive and, for the peace of mind and resale value, that seemed like the best option.

veronese68

Comment about bolt size reminded me of something else. You have to have the right type of seat for the bolts. If it's the wrong angle, or radiused instead of tapered the wheels will come undone. That'd be a bit scary if it happened. Being overtaken by your own wheel is never a good thing.

CiB

Tried to take my old Land Rover in once to have the knobblies replaced with the not so big knobblies for the summer, and was told by the half-witted orang-utang cum tyre fitter that he couldn't do that as it's illegal to put used tyres back onto a rim. By jove you're something of a buffoon, I recall telling him.

Anyway. Winter tyres might be a good idea in practice but in the real world a waste of money unless everyone fits em, otherwise you end up in a perfectly drivable vehicle being stuck behind some dimwit who thinks cold or a layer of slush on the road = 5mph and has most of Buckinghamshire seething behind him as he goes about his business making the world a safer place as there's no-one ahead of him for the next seven miles so no chance of an accident occurring. S'wat happened last year whenever I was hoping to get somewhere. All attempts thwarted by idiots who don't get it, the idea that reasonable progress is easy & safe. Gah. Have we still got a rants thing going on?

gtvlusso

I have 2 sets for the ML: Road Tyres: 255 x 17 60 and Light Trail Tyres: General Grabbler 255 x 17 by 60.

I got both sets with the vehicle, but have never used to road tyres, the light Trail ones are still legal after 2 years and 35k miles! So, I am happy enough with them.

To be honest, do you really really need winter tyres?

In other news, you will need to know the BCD and offset of the stud layout....Mazda may be quite specific. Luckily, Merc, Audi, VW and BMW are pretty much the same aside some special models.

I would look for Mazda MX5 wheels as there will be allot of scrapped ones about and they should be a generic Mazda fit.

tgotb

Fair point; I wouldn't bother with Winter tyres for the UK, for exactly the reason CiB described, but we're also planning to drive to the Alps. I'll probably leave them on for the whole Winter anyway, but it's the ski trips which are the real driver...

gtvlusso

As a chelsea tractor owner (it is actually okay as a 4 x 4!) - I would say, that if it is compacted snow or ice, then no matter what tyre you have it is going to be dangerous and I would not risk injuring people, or the damaging the car.

last year we had about 6" of snow in Bristol - most roads were compacted snow and ice. On my way to work, cycling, I pushed maybe 10 cars, a few of which were rear wheel drive BMW's, that once pushed immediately got stuck again. It was a pointless exercise on behalf of the idiot driving...but they had to get to work because they are so important......

Even in a 2.2 ton 4 x 4 with permanent 4 wheel drive and lots of stabilisation electronics and a big, torquey diesel engine, it was still a nightmare. Fair enough, I could move off pretty quickly, but going around a corner or stopping was were the problems really started - Trail Tyres (pretty much what winter tyres are!) made very little difference, ABS still activated and I still drove about like an old lady.

So, my advice would be: Save your money and work from home if possible. Or buy a good snow bike or MTB with big tyres!

If our winter lasted 3 to 4 months of solid snow and ice, I would be inclined to buy a set of specific tyres - but it usually last a week or 2 weeks.

**Doing trips on winter tyres can be tricky - they will heat up allot, even on the most modest of cars, so you have to watch your speed. I would use normal road tyres and take tyre socks or chains to the alps with me - in fact, the last few times we have been I did this with no real worries.

tgotb

Proper Winter tyres are now mandatory in most (if not all) Alpine regions; because of this, I suspect that if you had an accident with Summer tyres, your insurance might not be valid.

This new commuting bike for snowy weather (CX) is nearly complete; may even be finished tonight :-)