Going from 18" to 16" Wheels

[tristan81491]

Hello,

Instead of buying new tires for my stock 18" wheels, I decided to switch to 16" wheels for comfort and cheaper tire prices. I'm wondering if anyone knows what PSI they should be kept at?

Thanks!

 

[rocky raccoon]

Can't help with the tire pressure but .....
Try to select your tires so that you will still have the same overall diameter. If you don't, it will introduce a speedometer error.

 

[tristan81491]

Thanks a lot for pointing that out! I did look at a tire calculator and double checked by looking at the 2016+ Passat 16" tire size and my 235/45/18 should be 215/60/16 to keep pretty much the same outer diameter.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I got a set of OE 16s from a 1.8T Passat at a wrecking yard to replace the 18s on my son's '15 Passat TDI. Tires are less expensive, ride a lot better. I think he runs around 36 PSI all around. 215-60/16s is what we got.

 

[Rrusse11]

I run 215-55/16s on my Golf, you'll love "em. And you'll likely save some weight on the wheel/tire combo, instant response factor
that hardly anyone pays any attention to. (And yes, they are a touch oversize for the Golf, but man my speedo is now accurate,
)

 

[P2B]

(And yes, they are a touch oversize for the Golf, but man my speedo is now accurate,
)

... at the cost of odometer accuracy

 

[Rrusse11]

P2B,
True, but I'm more concerned with accurate speed than distance travelled.

 

[gforce1108]

I hated 16s on my passat. The stability control kicked on in every corner and it swayed way more that it should have. I should never have dropped from 17s to 16s (I ran 19s most of the time). I ran at least 40psi in all three sets on that car (16, 17, 19). Typically about 90% sidewall rating.

 

[P2B]

P2B,
True, but I'm more concerned with accurate speed than distance travelled.

I have my scanguage where I can glance at it without taking my eyes off the road. The ECU knows exactly how fast the car is going, it's only the speedo needle that lies.

I want an accurate odometer so my fuel economy calculations are also accurate.

 

[Rrusse11]

Well, we have different concerns, , I don't want to get caught.

 

[NSTDI]

My speedo was off 7% from factory on my 2013 and 5% on the 2015, comparing speedo to a steady state gps speed so having an incorrect speed is normal? This was with factory rims and tires.

I’ve been running 16 inch Audi rims on both cars, same rims, for my winter tires. They are narrower and a bit taller than stock, which I prefer for winter. Never had any stability or traction control issues with 16’s. The narrower tire is less likely to hydroplane is rain , snow, and slush.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

German auto manufacturers can incur penalties from the government if their speedometers read low. So they seem to make them read high by a bit. My MKIVs are all 3 MPH fast (stock diameter wheels and tires). MY MK7 seems a little closer to correct. The car that annoys me is the my 335D, which reads 4 MPH fast. And it's difficult to find a slightly larger, run flat tire, that will work on that car. B4s read notoriously high, but I have tires that are about .5" larger diameter than stock, so the error is about 2 MPH.

 

[740GLE]

we run 215-65-16 on our passat for winter treads, gives a mild lift which is nice when there's snow on the driveway coming home. The added sidewall really gives the Buick floatyness of the suspension the chefs kiss, hahaha.

I run the same PSI as the 18", at 40 front and 38 rear.

 

[P2B]

German auto manufacturers can incur penalties from the government if their speedometers read low. So they seem to make them read high by a bit.

That's why I run a scanguage on top of the dash, it reads within 1km/h of GPS speed, speedo reads 5km/h higher at highway speed.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

This really isn't a big deal. I follow a rule of typically driving at 10 MPH indicated over the speed limit, which works out to an actual 7 MPH over. Never been stopped for that.

 

[740GLE]

some areas, even driving 5mph over will get you run off the road, even in the right hand lane.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Agree. If the flow of traffic is moving faster than that, I happily run with them. I've run across upstate NY on the thruway at extra-legal speeds more than once because that's what everyone around me was doing. As long as I have cover I'm good.

 

[tristan81491]

For those curious:: weighed the original 18" wheels with brand new Pirelli P7 tires and it came out to 54 pounds (parents just got new tires on their identical car). Just received a brand new set of OEM VW 16" Beetle/Passat 10-spoke wheels and without tires they come in at 22.2 pounds. Waiting on tires right now and will weigh the 16" wheel/tire combo.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I'm betting you'll save 8-10 lbs. a corner. That's a lot.

 

[MAXRPM]

54 lbs is a lot, I run 17 wheels & tires and I'm at 37lbs,

 

[tristan81491]

54 lbs is a lot, I run 17 wheels & tires and I'm at 37lbs,

Wow! Are these stock wheels?

 

[Zambee500]

Who's talking weight and who's talking PSI?

 

[P2B]

Who's talking weight and who's talking PSI?

lbs is usually a unit of weight

 

[Rrusse11]

My tire/rim combo is just under 34 lbs @. Makes a difference!

 

[MAXRPM]

What size of rims do you have at 34lbs?

 

[740GLE]

5" wide rims off a BMW electric thingy. hahahah

 

[GTiTDi]

I got a set of OE 16s from a 1.8T Passat at a wrecking yard to replace the 18s on my son's '15 Passat TDI. Tires are less expensive, ride a lot better. I think he runs around 36 PSI all around. 215-60/16s is what we got.

Mind if I ask what year passat? 99-05 generation b5.5?

 

[740GLE]

any passat steel wheels from then until now will work, they were all 5x112.

 

[tristan81491]

I did not get an opportunity to weigh the new tire/wheel combo yet but the car feels so much smoother, quieter and overall more comfortable. The steering feels a little lighter and the car feels as if it is accelerating quicker when in stop/go. I originally ordered Pirelli P7 Plus 215/60/16 95H tires for $340 including tax and shipping but they ran out of stock and honored the same price for Yokohama Avid Ascend GT tires in 95H from discounttire.com

Car looks good with the new wheels.

 

[P2B]

That's unfortunate. I liked the Yoko's at first but they got so loud below 50% tread I ended up replacing them well before they wore out.