16" or 15" vs. stock 17" wheels?

Has anyone tried smaller wheels on their Golf TDI?

Mine has the standard 17" wheels and the ride can be a little jarring. Would smaller wheels calm the ride and improve economy?

Would 16" alloys from a jetta V or Rabbit (golf V) fit on a golf 6?

Smaller wheels would definitely improve the ride. As far as economy others might chime in here, but if the overall weight of the wheel/tire combo is reduced, then yes economy should improve as well.

Fordcougar said:

Smaller wheels would definitely improve the ride. As far as economy others might chime in here, but if the overall weight of the wheel/tire combo is reduced, then yes economy should improve as well.

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Reduced wheel size will help with your fuel mileage, less from the weight and more from the reduced rotational inertia.

The increased sidewall size will make the ride softer. I'm sure you could find someone who would swap their 16"s for your 17"s easily. If you were near me, I would do it in a heart beat.

@corvette, well I wasn't going to get into the rotational mass, so I simplified it to "weight"

While the 17s are nice, I made the mistake on my last car of upgrading, I love the 17's but I hate buying tires.. the cost differential can be substantial.

I have Audi RS4 19" on my JSW and would gladly trade for some 17's!

lrpavlo said:

I have Audi RS4 19" on my JSW and would gladly trade for some 17's!

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Which 17"s are you looking for? I still have my brand new portos.

I put 15s on my '12 Golf for the same reason.

I found some take-offs from a 2.5 with 1500 miles on them, also with Conti tires. Car rides better, less tire noise, and MPG may be up. The car's new enough that it's hard to tell what's affecting MPG, wheels or break-in.

If I decide to keep the 15s I'll probably seek some 15" Passat alloys and use the steelies for winter tires.

I've seen some ads on a major internet auction site for brand new 16" VW OEM wheels and tires for around $600 plus shipping.

That's less than the cost of four new 17" tires!

When my JSW needs new tires I'll be looking around for a deal like that. My JSW came with 17", which I really didn't want or need. I've noticed that most highly rated 17" tires come in for around $700-$800 per set, which isn't cheap!

I'd gladly shell out the same cash for brand new 16" wheels / tires!.

My new JSW originally came w/ 17" wheels but I made the dealer switch to 16s & credit me the $495 difference. I'm glad I did. The car rides very well & it will cost me a lot less to replace the tires when the time comes.

15 inchers won't fit any JSW, brakes are oversized - same as GTI - and calipers are in the way.

I'm running 16x6.5 wheels with 195/55-16 snow tires. Looks great, works well for the winter. Looking forward to swapping back to the summer wheels, though. It's great to have a change 2x a year!

I put the 17s back on my Golf yesterday. I noticed the Konis had broken in some and that as it got warmer out the ride was less harsh. The 17s are still firmer than the 15s, and on a long drive I may decide I don't like them, but so far, so good. And the car looks better. I'd still like to find some good aftermarket or good-looking OE 16s.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

I'd still like to find some good aftermarket or good-looking OE 16s.

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I think I'll try to find some OEM 16s for winter rims. I don't want to do the steelie route. Will anything from VW 2006 forward work?

b1jackson said:

I think I'll try to find some OEM 16s for winter rims. I don't want to do the steelie route. Will anything from VW 2006 forward work?

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Not from any VW, but from any jetta/golf/jsw yes.

Browse the 5x112 lug pattern section, should help you decide if you want OEM.
http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/wheels/oem-vw-audi-wheels-gallery-database.htm#5x112

Indigo > those 15's did look rotten but I bet the ride was cadillac sweet lol !!! The ride on my 17's is still pretty great even at 45 psi

I wanted to switch back to the 17s to see, and the difference is noticeable but not as great as you'd think. And I agree on the appearance: they made the car look cheap.

Maybe it's just because I've always had low profiles on every vehicle I have owned for the last 20 years, but I just don't get the "harsh ride" complaint everyone on this forum makes. My 68 had 195/50/15s, my 95 had 205/40/17s, my 2004 had 225/40/18s and my 2011 has 235/35/19s and the only time the car is even the slightest bit rough is the first day or so after airing them back up to 40psi.

Somewhat surprised; but my 2012 Golf TDI Comfortline model came with 16" alloys.
I checked the specs on VW Canada website and 16" alloys are specd for the Golf.

I've heard that. US TDIs all came with 17s.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

I've heard that. US TDIs all came with 17s.

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17's are optional(I think now part of a package too)

We have 16's on ours

Sorry, should have said Golf TDIs. All Golf TDIs in the US have 17s.

I will be sticking with my 17s but I believe 16s are the best compromise between look, performance, comfort, and economy (tire prices not mpgs).

15s - too much side wall will reduce handling, great comfort, cheapest tire prices, cheapest look

16s - increase tire size to 215/55R16 (best selection), about $20 more a tire, better handling, good comfort, good look

17s - expensive tires ~$30 more than 16s, good handling (not stock contis), good look, stiffer ride

Note: 15/16 inch wheels comes from experience on 2005 Jetta Wagon, 17 inch experience comes from 2011 golf tdi.

b1jackson said:

I think I'll try to find some OEM 16s for winter rims. I don't want to do the steelie route. Will anything from VW 2006 forward work?

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I'm in luck! Picked up a set of OEM 16" alloys off a 2008 Rabbit today. Decent looking rims actually and thinking I may plastic coat them for my winter tires. More for a sort of different look.

lrpavlo said:

I have Audi RS4 19" on my JSW and would gladly trade for some 17's!

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I'll trade you some 17" salamanca's for your audi wheels

mr.shooty said:

I'll trade you some 17" salamanca's for your audi wheels

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Going to be in Florida anytime soon?

I'm a new Golf TDI owner in Vermont. I have 17" wheels and have been looking for 16" wheels for this coming winter. FYI...my local dealer has Passat steel wheels, 16", for $68 apiece (will fit 195-55-16 snows). Accessory 16" Golf wheels are $120 each. The dealer is going to make packages of wheels and snow tires a little later on. My hubcaps from my winter wheels off my old '04 Golf should fit! Anyone looking for 16s should ask their parts guy to look up the Passat wheels.

I just switched from 16" to 17".

16" Stock Bioline Rims and stock Hankook 725A Optimo's 205/55R16
17" VW Goal Rims and Michelin MXM4 Primacy 225/45R17


I have three tanks of fuel now on then 17". Looks like the average is 42.0 mph, accounting for the tire diameter error. The average I had with the Hankooks, not including a long trip, 42.0 MPG (for local driving). My actual all time average with a long trip is 42.5 MPG.

It seems I lost 0.5 MPG? Well not really. The fact is the 17" Michelin has a slight larger diameter than the 16" Hankook, about 0.36%. However the Hankooks had about 5/32 tread removed or 5/16" smaller diameter. If I include the tread loss, the difference is 1.6%.

Lets say it is 1% difference in Diameter/Circumference. So my MPG is pesismistic by 1% because I am reading lower milage. That means I am reading about 0.4 MPG lower on my miles/fuel calculation.

With that said I am not seeing a big change in mileage.... I have been avoiding using the AC to match the Hankooks, simply because I got the car in Dec and changed tires in May. So I did not use the AC the whole time I had the Hankooks. I do use AC with because I have to, it is hot out there. This of course skews the results and not a fair example. I will have to compare the mileage month by month this winter and spring next year.

lrpavlo said:

Going to be in Florida anytime soon?

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Darn it... no, sob sob.

Twinz said:

I'm a new Golf TDI owner in Vermont. I have 17" wheels and have been looking for 16" wheels for this coming winter. FYI...my local dealer has Passat steel wheels, 16", for $68 apiece (will fit 195-55-16 snows). Accessory 16" Golf wheels are $120 each. The dealer is going to make packages of wheels and snow tires a little later on. My hubcaps from my winter wheels off my old '04 Golf should fit! Anyone looking for 16s should ask their parts guy to look up the Passat wheels.

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Cool! I've been looking for a set of steelies to mount winter tires on. Are those listed as 2012 Passat wheels? Thanks!

Instead of starting a new thread, I decided to revive this old thread and add to the conversation.

I am certain that there are more TDI owners out there concerned with improving their fuel economy yields.

My annual commute is about 21,000 miles and the main reasons why I purchased the TDI were: fuel economy, practicality and torque I also love long distance road trips!

As the tires on my factory 17 inch Portos wore down I started looking for alternatives. I realized that a high ranked set of 225/45/17 or similar size tire will set me back anywhere between $700 and $800 (before any rebates) installed locally in the SF Bay area.

I found a set of reasonably priced steel wheels from a 2013 Golf in 195/65/15 with around 5000 miles on them and bought them from a fellow VW Golf owner.

The emergency spare that came with my 2011 TDI was 15 inch in the same 195/65/15, but with a lower T speed rating. I installed the 15 inch steelies in an effort to avoid spending so much on new tires for the 17s.

What was immediately noticeable:
- improved ride (likely due to the taller tire side wall)
- less steering effort while parking
- less tire noise (but I attribute this to worn out Conti Extreme Contact DWS vs near new Conti ProContact)
- a noticeable amount of dive in spirited cornering (also due to taller and more flexible side wall)
- significantly better fuel economy (initial test over 600 miles yielded 4mpg better than same route on the 17 inch Portos).

By the numbers:

The 15x6 inch steel wheel, stock hub cap and Conti ProContact tire ticked my bathroom scale at 33.6 lbs. This tire in this size is listed on tire rack to weigh 18 lbs. That leaves 15.6 lbs for the steel wheel and plastic hub cap.

The 17x7 inch Porto wheel and 225/45/17 Conti ExtCont DWS ticked the scale at 42.8 lbs. This tire is listed on tire rack to weigh 21 lbs. That leaves 21.8 lbs for the Porto wheel.

Roughly I saved 9.2 lbs per corner or 36.8 lbs all around.

I will keep tracking fuel economy on fuelly.com (sig link) to see if this wheel/tire swap will result in consistent long term fuel savings.

I checked a couple of tire size calculators and they all suggest that the 195/65/15 tire/wheel combo is practically identical in total diameter to the 224/45/17 tire/wheel combo so there will be no odometer and speedometer discrepancy.

Here are the photos for reference:
"Before" (from factory):
20150321_175727

"After" The previous owner of these steel wheels spray painted the hubcaps black. I have no desire to pay $40/piece to replace them with silver ones so it rolls in this fashion:
20150414_160242