Cupra MY19 winter tyres & wheels

[servicepoint]

My alloys and winter tyres from my Leon FR, 205 55 16 clearly aren't going to go on my Cupra but I can't find information on what size of wheel and tyre is recommended, can anyone advise on what size they are using on their Cupra?

Shame really as the alloys and tyres that I had for the FR are excellent and hardly used.

 

[Adrian300]

I have 18s on my cupra 225/40/18 winter tyres

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[servicepoint]

I have 18s on my cupra 225/40/18 winter tyres

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Any information on the wheels like offset?

 

[Adrian300]

They are actually skoda wheels. I had a mk3 superb sportline, these wheels are skoda oem off an sel superb so offset is diff to the cupra ones they are ET50 8J

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[RUM4MO]

If you are looking for winter 18" wheels, aim for 7.5J with ET51, though my daughter bought 8.0J with ET45 but with Goodyear Ultra Grip Performance Gen1 fitted to these 8.0J width there are no rim protection, but maybe that varies with tyre brands, though these Goodyear tyres do have a good rim protection band, it is just that the extra 0.5" of width has "lost" that protection with that tyre. Though as mentioned above even 8J with ET50 works.

From my recent "experience" of trying to find suitable used 18" SEAT alloys for use with a 2019 Leon Cupra in winter, it seems that more people are selling their 19" alloys than selling 18" alloys, which was a nuisance and not what I had expected.

 

[Adrian300]

I would have got oem seat leon alloys but as i already had a set of 18s with right pcd i opted just to sell the winter tyres i originally had on these alloys, as they rubbed on all 4 corners! Lol. Now on 225 40 18s and no rubbing at all with ET50 8J so all good and ready for winter and snow lol.

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[RUM4MO]

One suggestion that I would add, if buying any aftermarket alloys is, aim to buy only brands that already supply VW Group, like Borbet, Ronal and Speedline, and also make sure that any brands offered are considered/classed as OEM, but doing that you should end up with wheels that have the core centre bore and wheel bolt seats that are the same as the wheels the car came with.

One other thing that I discovered was that at least some aftermarket non VAG OEM wheels have wheel bolt counterbores that are maybe 2mm smaller in diameter than VAG wheels - so you can't fit and remove the bolt caps - small things but something else to consider.

 

[Carbonara]

235/40 18 Contis (225s are cheaper) on ET45 8x18 Team Dynamics ProRace 1.2 with 3mm spacers (and longer M14 x 1.5 x 30mm tapered bolts) on front to clear PP Brembos. All declared to insurer. (Edited M14 to correct in case you don't read on...)

ET40 same design wheels would clear without spacers.

I'm using all-seasons (AllSeason Contact) as I drive the other car if it snows.

 

[RUM4MO]

235/40 18 Contis (225s are cheaper) on ET45 8x18 Team Dynamics ProRace 1.2 with 3mm spacers (and longer M12 x 1.5 x 30mm tapered bolts) on front to clear PP Brembos. All declared to insurer.

ET40 same design wheels would clear without spacers.

I'm using all-seasons (AllSeason Contact) as I drive the other car if it snows.

Wait a minute, not M12 but M14 X 1.5 tapered or 60 degree tapered bolts, standard bolt length of 27mm seems okay if not using spacers, which is exactly what you did by adding 3mm and using 3mm spacers.

I just suggested 225 to stick to what SEAT fitted as an option, though at the end of the day insurers see this as a modification so fitting wider tyres should not cost any more, though sticking with slightly narrower tyres in winter can make more sense grip wise.

 

[Carbonara]

Well spotted - M14. Trying to input info too quickly while typing illicitly at work. Just edited original to correct and avoid confusion.

My 19s are 235 so I didn't consider a decrease in section width when calculating the conversion and only found out the 225s were cheaper after I'd fitted the 235s.

 

[RUM4MO]

Well I do have time on my hands being retired - and all that info is fresh in my mind from sorting out my daughter's Leon Cupra.

Out of interest were you able to fit the black plastic bolt caps onto the bolts on these wheels, or maybe the real question is, "can you still fit the cap remover tool to these caps on these wheels - or did you go down the road of buying chemi blackened bolts and buy black lock bolts?

 

[Mr Pig]

I put winter tyres/wheels on and for years I had to phone up the insurance company and tell them when I was changing them over. Last year they said I no longer have to notify them. Don't know why.

All I'm saying is check with them so that you keep yourself right. I imagine they differ in policies but you don't want to get caught out.

 

[Adrian300]

Yep some insurance companies apparently dont like it. Doesnt make sense to me. Im with direct line and they are fine with it and have been for years

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[RUM4MO]

I too have used winter wheels+tyres for many years and still not sure which way our insurers are playing it. Our daughter phoned up her insurer as this was her first time changing wheels+tyres, she was advised that she should let them know when she changed back in springtime and that they would charge her each time she swopped them, she said that this was not okay and it would influence her decision at renewal time - they said okay that had been noted and she would not get charged! (Admiral)

 

[RUM4MO]

Yep some insurance companies apparently dont like it. Doesnt make sense to me. Im with direct line and they are fine with it and have been for years

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There is or was a list of "willing" motor insurers that were okay with people in UK using winter tyres in winter time - and at that time, a few years ago, most of them had signed up to this.

 

[Mr Pig]

Yep some insurance companies apparently don't like it. Doesn't make sense to me.

When I first called them years ago I got the impression they were unfamiliar with the idea and were talking about it as if it were a modification. It's weird. In some countries you have to use winter tyres by law yet in the UK it's treated with suspicion. I wonder how many icy crashes might be avoided if things were a little more proactive here.

 

[Carbonara]

Well I do have time on my hands being retired - and all that info is fresh in my mind from sorting out my daughter's Leon Cupra.

Out of interest were you able to fit the black plastic bolt caps onto the bolts on these wheels, or maybe the real question is, "can you still fit the cap remover tool to these caps on these wheels - or did you go down the road of buying chemi blackened bolts and buy black lock bolts?

To be honest I've kept with silver to match the standard length bolts on the rear. These have seen service on 3 cars so are more grey than silver, like the graphite wheels. I haven't tried caps as I don't think they'd fit, and the winter look is a bit more "functional" than aesthetic anyway.

 

[RUM4MO]

To be honest I've kept with silver to match the standard length bolts on the rear. These have seen service on 3 cars so are more grey than silver, like the graphite wheels. I haven't tried caps as I don't think they'd fit, and the winter look is a bit more "functional" than aesthetic anyway.

As this was the first time for me to need to source new bolts, I just bought a set of silver bolts, discovered luckily while testing/checking this out of these wheels before they went on the car, that while the SEAT caps fitted okay, once you dropped them into/through the holes in the wheels, you could not fit the cap remover tool over them - a lucky discovery! So, I sprayed the heads of these new silver bolts satin black and ordered in a set of chemi blackened lock bolts made by Brimecc as they seem a proper wheel bolt company. If the bolt caps had fitted okay and could be removed after fitting, I had planned to buy in a set of McGard lock bolts, the standard version, and hope that the heads were the same dimension as the SEAT supplied McGard original lock bolts, then maybe even buy in a set of grey Audi bolt caps as my S4 already has them and I could have checked which colour worked best.

Bottom line though, as you say, winter wheels+tryes are functional mainly so what I've done works okay. If I did this another time, starting from scratch, I would have bought Brimecc branded chemi blackened bolts and lock bolts as they are far cheaper than trying to find a suitable set of McGard chemi blackened wheel fitting kit - and Brimecc are a well thought of wheel bolt manufacturer. Another thing is, if you buy chemi blackened taper seat bolts, then hopefully no one will get confused about what to use when, and I also bought a set of 4 normal wheel bolts and painted their heads bright yellow - for use only with the steel space saver wheel, in my case, it would not be me that would need to change wheels, so I had to make sure that there was a good chance of her, her BF or some breakdown service person not messing up.

 

[Carbonara]

I like the Belt & Braces approach. Bimecc supply/supplied Team Dynamics/Rimstock with their fitting kits, and as TD/R are an OEM I was happy enough using their products too.

Running VW group cars for over 25 years I've acquired plenty of sets of wheels - to the point that my garage is half full (but it's a bit narrow to drive into anyway), so finding a compatible spare isn't normally a problem. My conundrum is normally the succession planning of which wheels will go on which current or future car and which will be sold with the car when it goes...

 

[RUM4MO]

Yes, I currently seem to have 3 sets of summer wheels stealing space, I bought a couple of dollies for moving stuff around, from Costco so 2 sets can be moved around if I need to, the 3rd set should move into my daughter's BF's new garage - if and when the builder gets round to putting a roof and door on it! Last 2 sets I had, one set was sold on with the car (VW Passat) and that same guy bought the steel winter wheels+tyres from my wife's previous VW Polo, his plan was to fit the Michelin Alpins to his daughter's car (completely the wrong size for that, but for him they were at least winter tyres) and rendering in the proper steel wheels to a scrappy, if he had tried I'm sure that he could have got more for these proper VW steel wheels elsewhere, but I got a small amount of money and rid of these wheels, so I was happy.