Going from 15's to 17's

[Fanis1]

Hello everyone! Looking for experiences and opininions. I own a 2015 Golf Bluemotion TDI with a 1.6, 110hp diesel engine and a 6MT. My car came as standard with 15 inch alloy wheels wrapped in 195/65 R15 Michelin Energy Saver+. It's time for a tyre change and I was thinking to replace both tyres and wheels with a set of 17 inch wheels running 225/45 R17 tyres. Here's the situation, I do about 6 to 7 thousand miles yearly, averaging easily 70+ MPG in my current setup. I mostly do highway and country miles, I don't really drive much in city centres. The roads round here are quite rough with quite a few potholes. Truth is, I really like the comfort, lightness and fuel economy perks of the smaller alloy wheels, plus the price of the smaller tyres, although I would like the look of some bigger wheels on the Golf's arches, as the 15's look quite small.

My questions are: Do you think the 17's are worth the sacrifices? How much in terms of comfort, performance and fuel economy am I going to wave goodbye to for the looks of the bigger wheels? Has anyone done a similar transition so as to share with me their experience? Maybe a 16 inch setup is a good middle ground or is it not worth it at all? I should inform that my car came from the factory with 15mm lowered sport suspension, just like the R Line models did.

Thanks in advance for your replies

 

[DerHase]

17s are smaller than what stock GTIs and Golf Rs come with. It'll be plenty fine. The specific tire you choose will have more effect on how much comfort/performance/economy than 15 vs 17in wheels.

17s tend to have a much better tire selection than 16s in my experience but admittedly I haven't looked in a long time.

For what it's worth I run a 215/45R17 on some ugly stock MK5 17x7.5in wheels for rain use in HPDE and daily driving. Those are a bit shorter and narrower than even stock on my GTI (225/40R18).

Running a slightly smaller diameter actually has a very noticeable change in gearing (running a 245/40R17 at VIR is worth a couple MPH per GPS vs 255/40R17, same tire compound etc) so helps the car accelerate faster.

A quick search shows the stock 15s probably weigh a hair under 19lbs:
https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/index.php?threads/2016-golf-15-inch-wheel-rim-weight.378337/

So you could go to a 17x8 Konig Hypergram and save about 3lbs per wheel.
https://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Whe...del=Golf+4-Door&autoYear=2015&autoModClar=TDI


If you choose your tire carefully it'll probably be near-zero downside... unless you're rally-crossing your car.

 

[19birel]

^^ As Derhase mentioned tyre choice will likely have the biggest impact.

Fwiw my sister has a Golf 1.8TSI on 15" wheels with standard suspension, and I have a GTI with factory 18" wheels & aftermarket 17" wheels that is lowered slightly with aftermarket springs and dampers. With the 17" wheels installed my car feels noticeably sportier, but not at all jarring compared to her Golf. I attribute most of that difference to the variation in suspension between the cars and don't think the Golf would ride noticeably worse on the 17s. I can say though that the difference between 17" and 18" is quite noticeable in terms of comfort, the ride starts to go to shit with 18s- not enough sidewall to work with.

I think you're on the right track looking at 17s, if you get a light enough combo wheel/tyre combo and don't go too wide with tread section I'd imagine you're ride comfort and fuel consumptions will remain largely the same

 

[Fanis1]

Thank you both guys! You give me hope!! Special thanks DerHase for recommending a lightweight set! Lightweight wheels is something I'm interested in, and I'm looking forward to your recommendations for wheels and tyres. My type of driving is just highway and country roads along with some mountains. What tyres would you recommend, while keeping in mind I'm looking for a more daily, safe and economic tyre rather than a sporty one?

 

[DerHase]

Thank you both guys! You give me hope!! Special thanks DerHase for recommending a lightweight set! Lightweight wheels is something I'm interested in, and I'm looking forward to your recommendations for wheels and tyres. My type of driving is just highway and country roads along with some mountains. What tyres would you recommend, while keeping in mind I'm looking for a more daily, safe and economic tyre rather than a sporty one?

For the money, Konig 17x8 Hypergrams will be one of the lightest per $ choices available. I have a pair of 17x9s for track use.

The 17x8s weigh 16.5lbs.

Only thing lighter that's "commonly available" is the Enkei RPF1. Available in 17x7.5 and 17x8. Those weigh 15.2 and 15.9lbs respectively. They're also about $40/wheel more expensive. And MIGHT need/want some wheel spacers. Not sure about brake clearance - you'll want to do some searching.

For looking for 17in wheels, searching for a MK6 GTI seems to be the easiest way to find options.
https://www.tirerack.com/wheels/res...agen&autoModel=GTI&autoYear=2014&autoModClar=



For tires, I haven't shopped for an economy-focused tire in a long time... but what I'd probably look at depending on your priorities. You mention safety... not being able to stop quickly or deal with rain IMO is part of what I'd consider a problem with safety.

Conti ECS 02: Awesome tire if you live in a milder or warmer climate/don't ever see below about 45F. They're not supposed to be driven in cold-cold weather... but they do work well enough at lower temps. They're amazeballs in the rain. I run these on a bummy set of wheels for rain on track. Honestly probably not what you're looking for... but if you want to add some fun to driving + have the shortest stopping distance possible, these will do it at the expense of mileage. They should still last 30k miles easily though. Plenty for your driving habits IMO. Admittedly this is probably overkill.

Conti DWS 06: These things are amazing all-around daily driving tires. Not near as sporty as a summer tire, but they ride nice, wear well, and are quiet if you keep them rotated regularly in my experience. Probably will have more grip than anything purely economy focused. Also not sure if it matters, but at full tread depth they're quite good even in snow. Phenomenal in the rain as well. Will last probably near 2x as long as the ECS 02 in normal daily driving conditions. Probably one of the better options for you.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...DWS06PXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

Michelin Pilot Sport AS4: Honestly pretty similar to the Continental above. They are about 2lbs heavier though. Probably won't notice either way in reality. More expensive so I'd gravitate towards the DWS 06 myself.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...7PSAS4XL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

Michelin Primacy MXM4: More fuel economy focused option. Probably not as much grip as any of the above. My wife has an EV version of this on her Kia Niro. They're just OK in my opinion. Not great traction in the wet/damp.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...7MXM4PV3&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes




Realistically any one of those tires would be a huge step up over what you've got currently. Best bet is to read reviews and see what you think might fit best and fits your budget.

 

[19birel]

+1 for the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 4, I run these on my daily driver A4 Quattro and love them. Great performance, and when our winter was just a little to mild to justify putting my snow tyres on, the A/S 4s were competent enough to be safe on the few random snow days we did receive. I've run a number of different all-season tyres over the years, but these have been my favorite by far- currently on my second set.

 

[Fanis1]

You guys are amazing! I'll do some more research and come back to you! I was looking for something like GMP Italia ATOM but I don't have any stats on those, of maybe BBS SX. Are there any opinions on those?