Hi. Purchase a secondhand Elegance in December. Quite happy, except for tyre size 215/45 R17 on aluminium rims. Expensive, and now the nearside front is wearing rapidly from outside whilst the offside one is wearing evenly.
Got through MOT without comment, despite local tester being very keen on tyre wear, so I can only think he must be accepting the >2mm over >3/4 of tyre width rule.
Anyway, got the thing booked in for 2 new front tyres (Pirellis or Yokohamas I think) when I had the idea of digging out the spare. Imagine my surprise when I dug out the spare to find it absolutely new and unused (but 3 ½ years old, of course).
Had bright idea of putting it on nearside, despite steel rim on spare, but halfway through this operation, discovered it was 205/55 R16. Despite smaller width specification (205 v 215) it seems wider BUT also about an inch taller.
This would help my suspicion that the previous owner put a set of non-standard alloy rims on, but how do I stand legally. Can I put it on as a spare, on the front or back?
(Of course, this makes a mess of my intention to fit spare and one new tyre, and relegating best of front tyres to the spare.)
Also, is it legal to sell a car with a spare you cannot legally use
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205/55 16 is just 3.3mm bigger radius than 215/45 17, that's about half the difference between new and worn tread depth - some manufacturers do fit different size spare wheel/tyre if the well isn't big enough for full size.
You can use this steel spare in the same way as a space-saver, ie "get-u-home"
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Hi there. I have a mark I Octavia vRS. This has 205/50/17 tyres and the spare in the boot is a "full size" fifth alloy, of the same style as the rest of the wheels. I would therefore imagine that the spare in your car is of the size originally fitted to your car before the previous owner fitted non standard alloys.
I've found the following website an excellent resource for all things Skoda: www.briskoda.net/
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Thank you both. I am aware of the Briskoda site, and have asked the same question there.
Like you, I suspect the alloys are non-standard, and now plan to chase the original owner in case he retains the originals. Unlike most users, I would prefer the 55s as the ride on 45s is quite harsh at times in the cobbled streets (may as well be) of Staffordshire.
Are you sure only 3.3mm difference in radius, ie 6.6 mm Diameter? It seemed more like 20-25mm against the part worn 215s. I will recheck when I get it out again (quite a pig of a job in the estate, as it means emptying the back, and then the underfloor storage, and climbing in to manhandle the tyre out. like new, and although 3½ year old, has never been in sunlight or ozone.
I was worried in case the difference in rolling diameter caused the ABS to detect a difference enough to trigger an error,
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205/55 R16 is the tyre size on my 52 plate diesel Octavia Elegance estate and they're the original ones.
I really ought to get the spare out on mine, as it's sat there for 4 and a half years untouched. I know what you mean about it being a pig of a job, every time I go on a long journey with a fairly full boot I dread getting a puncture!
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Soupytwist !
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Thanks. I have now contacted Skoda UK to see if they can confirm the original tyre size. Looking more and more like a set of non-original rims, and cheapest size tyres.
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If you use this tyre size calculator, the difference is 6.6mm as RT says: www.alloywheels.com/tyrecalc.asp . 215/45/17's are the suggested size on that website for 17" wheels on your car.
Think yourself lucky you have not got a 145mm wide spacesaver spare like the one supplied with my car!
;o)
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I take your point, but spares are only used very occasionally, and getting the monster out from under the estate boot is not something I would want to do in the rain on a cold night
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