Winter wheels...

pol · Nov 30, 2011

does anyone run winter wheels on their trophy?
thinking about doing it this year to protect the trophy wheels but mostly to ensure i've got tyres more suited to the wet and cold conditions found over winter.

15" seems like the best option for winter tyres, they are all typically a larger profile so 16"s would look daft! i was maybe thinking about a set of renault 15" steel wheels powder coated in white which would take inspiration from the 205 and 106 rallye.

j333evo · Nov 30, 2011

I run 15x7" Fox Racing alloys which i got for free off a mate who only paid £80 for them with tyres off ebay a couple of years back as trackday wheels. I gave them a minor rubdown and sprayed with Halfords wheel paint which is not a million miles away from Trophy OEM colour. Fitted with 195/50/15 Hankook iCept EVO winter tyres on my Trophy. When I left for work Mon morning at 0730 after scraping the frost off the windows, the car was showing -3degrees & you only need to be at 7 degrees to see the advantages on winter tyres.

j333evo · Nov 30, 2011

Forgot to add my father-in-law runs 195/45/16 Continental winter tyres on his 500 Abarth, so you don't need to go for a bigger sidewall smaller tyre, but you will pay for them if you can find them anywhere, as his came from a friend who is a tyre test engineer for Conti based at MIRA.

aucky · Dec 1, 2011

I will be on 195/50/15 Dunlop m3 sport winter tyres. Looking forward to trying them but the temp hasn't really dipped below 10degC yet

pol · Dec 1, 2011

my mate runs his own tyre company so he can get decent rates on tyres and can get any brand. he advised 15" as there is more choice and prices are cheaper than 16". theres also more wheels out there in 15". really tempted by a set of white steels. does anyone know if the 15" clio versions clear the brakes ok?

aucky · Dec 1, 2011

pol said:
my mate runs his own tyre company so he can get decent rates on tyres and can get any brand. he advised 15" as there is more choice and prices are cheaper than 16". theres also more wheels out there in 15". really tempted by a set of white steels. does anyone know if the 15" clio versions clear the brakes ok?

The clio steelies are 14'' ( i think, its been a while since I've handled one) and won't clear the brakes.

power ranger · Dec 1, 2011

You can get Clio II steel wheels in 15" but come in around £66+ but at that price may as well go for alloys, not sure if they clear the calipers though?

Carbon Chaos · Dec 1, 2011

what about the scenic steels in 16's ? may be incorrect offset.

pol · Dec 2, 2011

it would be the clio ones i would go for in 15". i would probably get some used ones and get them painted up for less than the cost of a couple of new ones!! just not sure if they will clear the brakes though. i would post on cliosport but that forum annoys my happiness. even more so when i can't check the classified to see if there are any suitable wheels being sold unless i pay £12!

Luke335 · Dec 7, 2011

Guys, I have 15 inch steels for mine. They came from a German tyre company as I had my Trophy in Munich for a while. I had a look at them today and they are built by KFZ model number 8175. They are 15 x 6.0 et 43 built to fit Clio and Megane and clear the caliper fine.
I have to say though despite all this publicity of winter tyres being better below 7 degrees I don't think that applies when you go down to skinny 185 section tyres. I normally only use them in the worst of the winter as they have nowhere near as much grip above freezing conditions, and that's with continentals. I'd be tempted to get some wider alloys like j333evo and some 195's. I love winter tyres though. Driven all around The UK on them in the snow so they have paid for themselves many times over (contractor). I also managed to tackle some pretty stupid conditions in Austria, Switzerland and France on the odd 500km mission!

slippy · Jan 29, 2012

you can pick up a set of standard 172 wheels for about 200, might be worth getting somthing like that.