16" wheels that fit on a 2015 GSW

freewheel

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 9, 2003
Location
off course ... in the upper midwest
TDI
'15 Golf Hatch SEL (wife's); '15 GSW SEL (me)
Here's my story. I sold my 2011 JSW TDI back to VW last spring and - after driving a Toyota for a few months - I ended up getting a 2015 GSW TDI late in the summer. (I’m very happy to be back in a TDI again.) Over in the shed, I still have a set of Bioline wheels (6.5 x 16, ET +50) with snow tires (205/55) that I used on the Jetta, and I did a “test fit” of the Biolines onto the Golf yesterday. Everything seems to fit fine - at least for now, but here’s my concern. The clearance between the outboard side of the front calipers and the inboard surface of the wheel spokes is minimal … maybe 4 or 5 mm at the narrowest point. I’m worried that when it comes time for new brake pads, the outboard side of the caliper will move out just far enough towards the inner surface of the spokes for the wheel to no longer fit.

Am I “overthinking” this? Has anyone been using 6.5 x 16, ET +50 wheels (Bioline, Sedona, etc.) on their 2015 Golfs without any issues? VW will happily sell me 6.5 x 16 Corvara wheels with a +42 offset that they say “fit” on a 2015 GSW. I’m not interested. (And I’m not interested in spacers to move the spokes farther away from the calipers.)

Anyway, if you have any input on this I’d appreciate it. Thanks.
 

mopower

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2007
Location
Midwest vandweller
TDI
15 GSW
I don't have specific info for those wheels or offset, but am running some Audi 16x7 +45 without issue. And the brake pads are very fresh.
 

freewheel

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 9, 2003
Location
off course ... in the upper midwest
TDI
'15 Golf Hatch SEL (wife's); '15 GSW SEL (me)
Well, thanks for the encouragement, mopower. Maybe this is one of those situations where I'll have to put on a fresh set of pads and see if everything fits back together again without any problems. I was sure someone on here with a 2015 Golf TDI would have done the experiment already, but maybe I'm the guinea pig. (Hey, maybe someone will post something today.)
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
Here's my story. I sold my 2011 JSW TDI back to VW last spring and - after driving a Toyota for a few months - I ended up getting a 2015 GSW TDI late in the summer. (I’m very happy to be back in a TDI again.) Over in the shed, I still have a set of Bioline wheels (6.5 x 16, ET +50) with snow tires (205/55) that I used on the Jetta, and I did a “test fit” of the Biolines onto the Golf yesterday. Everything seems to fit fine - at least for now, but here’s my concern. The clearance between the outboard side of the front calipers and the inboard surface of the wheel spokes is minimal … maybe 4 or 5 mm at the narrowest point. I’m worried that when it comes time for new brake pads, the outboard side of the caliper will move out just far enough towards the inner surface of the spokes for the wheel to no longer fit.

Am I “overthinking” this? Has anyone been using 6.5 x 16, ET +50 wheels (Bioline, Sedona, etc.) on their 2015 Golfs without any issues? VW will happily sell me 6.5 x 16 Corvara wheels with a +42 offset that they say “fit” on a 2015 GSW. I’m not interested. (And I’m not interested in spacers to move the spokes farther away from the calipers.)

Anyway, if you have any input on this I’d appreciate it. Thanks.
I run Biolines on our Alltrack that has larger brakes (same as your old 2011 JSW), no clearance issues. Send it!

No issues running them stock (other than they are tucked like a mofo and look rather ridiculous without spaces.)
 

freewheel

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 9, 2003
Location
off course ... in the upper midwest
TDI
'15 Golf Hatch SEL (wife's); '15 GSW SEL (me)
740GLE: I was hoping someone, somewhere had tried running a set of set of old 6.0 or 6.5 X 16 ET 50 wheels on a 2015 or later Golf … maybe if for no other reason than they just had the wheels sitting around. I’m glad you have had no problems. It makes me optimistic I’m not going to run into any brake caliper issues down the road by using the Biolines for winter wheels on my GSW.

It’s going to be in the 40s here today, so - being a belt and suspenders kind of guy - I’m going to crawl around on the garage floor one more time, test fit the wheels again, check the clearances, and take another test drive. Yeah, the Biolines will look like “sunken treasure” sitting deep inside those wheel wells, but there’s no point in letting a perfectly good set of snow tires go to waste. And if I do run into any problems, I'll be sure to let people know.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
Agreed, I kept them from my 2010 Jetta. I was going to try and sell them and get wheels that were a bit more fashionable for winter use, i did the math, I just couldn't justify spending the extra coin just for looks (prob would have been a good 3-500 out of pocket).

If I powder coat them a darker color my love for the heavy guys would prob double, but again at $90 a wheel for powder coating, i just can't dig into my wallet like that.
 
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