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D2 - Wheels and Tyres Refurbing, center caps, tyre brands, tyrefitters - discuss it here

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  #1  
Old 6th December 2019, 08:29 PM
Ronin Ronin is offline
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Default 195/55R16 instead of 245/45-18 on A8

Hi as the title says i want to use 195/55R16 instead of 245/45-18 on A8.
Specifically instead having the 18" Sport Alloys i want the 16" Sportline alloys from a6/a4 just so i can increase the ride comfort and not change the look of the car.

Any thoughts? Surely this has been done before?

18"


16"
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Old 6th December 2019, 09:29 PM
tintin tintin is offline
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Not sure what it'll do to the ride comfort, but I'd imagine it'll definitely change the look of the car - 16" rims will just look waaay too small (but I admit I'm a 20" rims fan, so I may be biased... )
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Old 6th December 2019, 10:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tintin View Post
Not sure what it'll do to the ride comfort, but I'd imagine it'll definitely change the look of the car - 16" rims will just look waaay too small (but I admit I'm a 20" rims fan, so I may be biased... )
Visuals don't really matter to me so much I just don't want to feel like sitting on a bag of nails 18" are a bit much for me I used to have 15" wheels on an octavia before the a8.
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Old 7th December 2019, 11:20 AM
ainarssems ainarssems is offline
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I put 205/55R16 on my before sending it to scrapyard, they were very small, car very low on out of 2 designs only one just about fitted over front brakes, other would not. If you go 16" make sure they will fit over brakes and tyres will need to be something like 225/60R16 and in that size they will be either 4x4 or van tyres. Or you could go to 17" 225/55R17
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Old 7th December 2019, 12:43 PM
tintin tintin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronin View Post
Visuals don't really matter to me so much I just don't want to feel like sitting on a bag of nails 18" are a bit much for me I used to have 15" wheels on an octavia before the a8.
Apologies then, I thought you didn't want to change the look of the car.
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Old 7th December 2019, 04:54 PM
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Adrian E Adrian E is offline
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Check the load index of the tyres you have on the 18s now. If they were over-specced that 'may' result in a harsher ride. Don't go below the spec for the car in terms of load index, however. Some tyre designs are more compliant, if the tyre manufacturer wants to make them that way. From memory Dunlop tend to be quite forgiving.

I wouldn't go down to 16s. It'll look daft on such a big car, and as mentioned if they're designed for vans due to the size it is VERY likely they will have a high load index and actually be harsher on ride than the 18s!
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Old 7th December 2019, 10:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Adrian E View Post
Check the load index of the tyres you have on the 18s now. If they were over-specced that 'may' result in a harsher ride. Don't go below the spec for the car in terms of load index, however. Some tyre designs are more compliant, if the tyre manufacturer wants to make them that way. From memory Dunlop tend to be quite forgiving.

I wouldn't go down to 16s. It'll look daft on such a big car, and as mentioned if they're designed for vans due to the size it is VERY likely they will have a high load index and actually be harsher on ride than the 18s!
That is something I haven't considered. I think ill run these tyres to the end of their life and just try and buy something same size but softer instead of trying to fix something that isn't really broke.. thanks!
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Old 8th December 2019, 12:13 AM
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Buy 245/50 R18 tyres.
They are more comfy than 245/45 R18.
I had used them on D2 for many years.
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Old 8th December 2019, 01:37 PM
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Wouldn't doing this put off the speedo readings and gearbox ratio's etc?
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Old 8th December 2019, 02:41 PM
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Your speed will match GPS speed exactly.
On standard tyres speed shown is about 3% higher than actual GPS speed.
Gearbox is not affected
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