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Below is a whole lot
of info I've collected, cut, pasted and edited plus personal observations,
comments and opinions I've put together over the past year or so about
Passat wheel & tire options. I'm
no expert in particular, I just try to keep updated with the latest info I
run across. I hope all the websites are still valid, I haven't checked
them in a while!
When you upgrade from the OEM 15 inch to a 16
or 17 inch rim, the best fit tires you could mount will have a shorter
sidewall (205/55-16, 215/55-16, 225/50-16, 205/50-17, 215/45-17,
225/45-17). This gives you a
larger patch of rubber on the road and the shorter sidewall makes steering
response faster. There will also be less cornering
wallow and squeal than the OEM 195/65-15 tires you probably have
now. Maybe you know this, but
as an example, "55” means the sidewall height is 55% of the tread
width. But with the shorter
sidewall and depending on the tire you select, you will get a harsher ride
too. Peer pressure aside, a
tire choice should depend on what you want or need in a balance of
performance, wet/dry, high speed stability, cornering, all season
capabilities, treadwear life, & ride comfort.
I suggest that you go to the TireRack (www.tirerack.com)
website and research and compare tires there.
They have loads of extremely comprehensive tire info including
comparative ratings and numerical scoring on all sorts of characteristics
like wet handling, dry handling, hydro planing resistance, cornering,
noise, ride comfort, wear, etc. You
can see which tires have the best performance specs that interest you.
I don’t recommend a specific tire choice....
I know it's very cool to have the widest ultra high performance
sticky tire on your Passat but you might consider taking a step back one
level and look at the "High Performance Touring" tires if you
want a better ride, longer treadwear life and lower noise level.
My own experience is that the lowest profile most sticky highest
performance VR & ZR tires perform extremely well but are often poor in
wet weather and wear out quickly (some at 20,000 miles or less) plus tend
to have a harsh ride, especially at the lowest profiles.
I've owned all types of tires and my current choice is the
"All-Weather Performance Touring" Michelin MXV4+ tire basically
because it fits my driving style. I
don't scream around at breakneck speeds any more like I did 25 years ago -
maybe you do and should look at the more performance oriented tires.
Tirerack has them all well classified.
I might step up a notch in tire performance when these Michelins
wear out. But - that will be
a while because the treadwear rating is 400.
Dunlop has a new all-weather performance "SP Sport 5000"
tire that I'd consider. The
Dunlops, Yokohamas and Pirellis seem to be the most popular but also
consider some of the budget performance tires like Sumitomo, Toyo, Falken
and Nitto. They have come a
long ways in building their reputations.
Falkens are very popular with the Volvo Turbo crowd.
Money issues with wheel/tire upgrades...
Shop around, Tire Rack and Discount Tire Direct on the web have
great prices. I relate below
how I bought my upgrade within a few days of purchasing my Passat and did
a great deal with trading in my new OEM Michelins.
Wheels,
Tires & associated Offset questions come up frequently on VWVortex.
Offset is somewhat complicated. It
took me a while to figure out offset and it's difficult to explain without
pictures.
"Zero offset" means that the mounting face of the wheel (where
the lug nuts are) is exactly at the center between the two outer edges of
the tire rim. A negative
offset number like 45 mm for the OEM means that the mounting surface is 45
mm off center thus moving the entire wheel inward. This negative offset is why most front wheel drive cars have
a rather flat appearing wheel when compared to the wheels of some other
cars, particularly rear wheel drives like BMW. These offsets are important
and only a certain range actually works on a car specifically in order to
clear suspension, fenders, brakes, facilitate turning of front wheels,
etc. Wheel design must be
relatively exact to adjust the fit for wider rims.
About the widest you'll ever see on a Passat is an 8 inch wide rim
on the Passat and the offset may have to be changed to gain the proper
clearances.
PICTURE OF
WHEEL OFFSET (Courtesy of the Tire Rack)
The stock offset for both the factory steel wheels
and the very expensive VW upgrade alloys 45 mm.
All the factory VW alloys are 7 inches wide. It seems that most aftermarket alloys (like mine) are 35 mm
offset, a few are even 30 mm and I've also heard of 38, 40 and 42 mm
offset alloys. The most
common 35 mm offset brings the outer edge of the alloy out farther in the
wheel well when compared to the factory wheels.
According to Tire Rack, Discount Tire Direct and my local Discount
tire shop staff, there's a range of offset within about 10 mm of OEM that
is considered "acceptable"
by the industry. I have this
35 mm offset which is 10 mm off of OEM and my tires were inspected and
rotated at 5000 and 10000 miles with no out of the ordinary wear pattern.
If you are interested in a comparison with the stock 45 mm, there's
an offset calculator at:
http://toy4two.home.mindspring.com/offset.html
What do next with calculations may be a little off, I've heard that OEM
steel rims are only 6 inches wide but haven't confirmed it, maybe they are
7 inches. If they are 7
inchers, the calculations will be different.
Anyway... I've done a few calculations to determine the changes
using my own 35 mm offset 7 inch wide alloys versus OEM. Based on the calculator at the above website, a 10 mm offset
difference (45 OEM to aftermarket 35mm) and from a 6 inch wide stock steel
rim to a 7 inch alloy is 23 mm, almost an inch further out in width.
I you opt for an increased width with new alloys, say an inch wider
at 8 inches, you'll see that your rim edge is out 35 mm further, almost
one & a half inches out further.
At 8.5 inches, it's way out
Where people get into trouble is the worst case multiple when they
go from stock Passat wheels (15x6 at 45 mm offset) to as wide 8.5 inches
in an aftermarket alloy PLUS an offset change of 15 mm (stock 45 to
aftermarket 30 mm) AND THEN put on the fattest tires possible like a
225/50 (adds over an inch in tire width alone). They end up with wheels/tires obviously sticking out of the
wheel well! More than one
VWVortex posting in the past has expressed lament after doing this kind of
combination. Thanasi "One Bad Greek" found a unique solution to this problem -
he had the inner mounting surface of the wheel machined to change the
offset for the better. All
these factors are why a tire dealer who knows his(her?) stuff might tell
you a certain combo of wheel/tire just won't work even though you think it
might. The larger the offset,
the less likely you can satisfactorily mount the widest advisable tire,
like the 225/55-15, 225/50-16,
225/45-17 or 225/40-18 variety. By
the way, all these tires I've mentioned are upgrade fits off a
compatibility chart you can produce at:
http://toy4two.home.mindspring.com/tire.html
From what I read on the forums, a lot of people have upgraded to 16 inch
alloys between 7 & 7.5 inches wide and mounted 205/55-16 rubber of
various brands. This really
seems to be the most sensible upgrade.
But there are a fair number of 17x8 and even 18x8 or 8.5 inch
upgraders with 225 wide tires. And… like I said above, some have related clearance and
appearance problems with offsets too far off OEM.
Supposedly Neuspeed has 19 inch alloys on their Passat project car!
A best fit for the widest tire just might be with a VW factory
alloy. Going to the widest
tire (225) on a 7 inch wide factory alloy with 45 mm offset would probably
be a near perfect fit. Remember,
the further you go from stock specs (rim width, rim diameter, tire width,
offset, lowering springs, etc.), the more clearance and bulge out the
wheel well problems you might encounter.
Here's my personal experience.... I bought my Passat in November 1998
purposely with stock steel wheels because I intended to immediately mount
16" alloys and 205/55 tires. I didn't look long because I saw exactly the type of wheel I
was looking for in a Discount Tire Direct ad in European Car magazine.
They were 16x7 Audi A4 replicas made by an Italian company named
"MiM". The price
was VERY right at $129 each for 16x7 inch.
They also have the same wheel at 15x7 for $109 each which some have
purchased as a bargain upgrade by keeping the factory tires.
I didn't want the very expensive VW upgrade alloys and I considered
some of the other wheels available to be too flashy for my taste.
I’m not a kid anymore and I wanted a conservative look, not the
"Hey, LOOK at my Car!" appearance.
I didn't have to pay shipping because I dealt with my local
Discount Tire (also known as American Tire in some areas) shop here in San
Diego. They ordered in the
alloys from the corporate warehouse as part of my wheel/tire deal.
I had an ulterior motive, I wrangled about 70% trade-in value for
my brand new factory Michelins towards the new 16" tires.
You can't get a deal like that on the internet!
The alloys came with matching color lug nuts and plain flat center
caps and little "MiM" stick-on disks which I chose not to
attach. Both Discount Tire
Direct and Tire Rack carry this replica alloy although I've heard maybe
Tire Rack is dropping the replica alloy.
The one that Tire Rack sells (if they still have them) is called
the "ATP A5". If I
remember correctly, Tire Rack's ATP A4 replica is German made and they
sell them for the exact same price as Discount Tire.
Here's an interesting sidelight to this story...
When Discount Tire Direct first in ordered these alloys in last
fall, they advertised them as A4 snow tire rims for the folks in the
frozen north and they intended to stock them only in the fall &
winter. I was told by their
rep that to their amazement, they flew out of the warehouse to places like
Arizona, California and Florida and were sold out in less than a month.
I hit the window just right with my purchase in mid-November.
They were sold out from Dec 1st to Feb 1st when the reorder
shipment arrived. Now they
are stocking them year round.
Another great private website I know of has a gigantic display of wheels
that will fit both the Audi A4 & Passat (same specs), check it out:
http://www.webspan.net/~nsw/Wtpage/
Lots of choices there but I don't think there are any links to where to
buy them! You'll have to do
your own search for them once you identify a brand and/or style you might
like. The website also
links to Tire Rack & Discount Tire and they have loads to chose from:
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