rim fitment question

[danman38]

I'm new to the club here and I need to get some snow tires on my passat. Its a 2013 TDI SEL. The current tires are 234/45-18.
I found a set of rims and tires that were on an 2013 Audi A6 Quattro. Tire size is 245/45/18.
My question is about the rims. From what I looked up, the Passat has an offset of 48mm and a backspace of 150mm.
The Audi has an offset of 39mm and backspace of 141mm.
Does anyone know if the Audi rims will work on my Passat?

 

[robertgalka]

Some Audi rims have a larger center bore and you need a spacer. The size difference isn’t drastic, but I have never tried that size personally. I am running Tiguan tires and rims which are a little bit taller and they stick out more. No problems so far.

 

[danman38]

Thank you for mentioning the center bore. It is indeed larger. Passat is 57.1mm and the Audi is 66.5mm.

 

[watatrp]

I just put on a set of winter rims and tires. Why not go smaller? I wanted 16" but had to settle for 17" steely wheels since the 16" were hard to find. Tires cost less and smaller gives you more sidewall.

 

[danman38]

I thought about going smaller, but I like to stick with stock sizing, if possible. I don't want to mess with the speedo being inaccurate, since I drive about 80 miles round trip to work and back.
I'm going to start looking for some 17's now though because the closest 18's I can find are in Chicago(9 hour round trip) or Minneapolis(7+ hour round trip).

 

[robertgalka]

I‘m pretty sure he means a smaller diameter rim and a tire with more sidewall to give you a better ride.

I ended up ditching my 235/45-18 stock tires and am using 215/65-16. It is a slightly taller tire with more sidewall. It doesn’t look as good, but the car rides better. The speedometer is a little more accurate with a taller tire. Mine was over registering by 7-10% with the stock size tires.

 

[NSTDI]

I‘m pretty sure he means a smaller diameter rim and a tire with more sidewall to give you a better ride.

I ended up ditching my 235/45-18 stock tires and am using 215/65-16. It is a slightly taller tire with more sidewall. It doesn’t look as good, but the car rides better. The speedometer is a little more accurate with a taller tire. Mine was over registering by 7-10% with the stock size tires.

I did the same on my 2013, got some 16 inch rims and same 215-65-16 snow tires. No issues with speedo/odometer and the rims were Audi alloys. Using them now on my 2015. The 16’s are tiny bit taller than the stock 18’s and narrower, both better imho for snow tires.

 

[danman38]

Guys,
Thanks for the ideas, guys.
Robert, thanks for pointing out the intended idea about smaller rim, but taller tire. I definitely wasn't thinking about it that way. I've never really tried or heard of anyone doing that.
To be honest, I'm old and stuck in my own head about the tire/rim size, so I decided to stick with the 18" and purchase the Audi wheels. There is a ring/spacer I purchased that will get the rims to fit better. All said and done, I'll have about $315 into all 4 rims with snow tires on them with about 50% life left.

 

[1854sailor]

Too late now, but the main reason to go with taller, narrower winter tires is that the wider tire's larger contact patch will sit on top of the snow/ice, instead of biting deeper...

 

[scrambld]

^^^ exactly. Flotation is not your friend....

 

[740GLE]

I‘m pretty sure he means a smaller diameter rim and a tire with more sidewall to give you a better ride.

I ended up ditching my 235/45-18 stock tires and am using 215/65-16. It is a slightly taller tire with more sidewall. It doesn’t look as good, but the car rides better. The speedometer is a little more accurate with a taller tire. Mine was over registering by 7-10% with the stock size tires.

We also rock 215-65-16 for our winter tires and I actually love the look, the wheel wells filled right out, almost looks like she got a mild lowering. Also so agree that the speedo is actually spot on compared to Waze.

 

[thundershorts]

I think the manufacturers seem to like odometers to be off in their favor, warranty runs out faster.

 

[danman38]

A bit of an update.
So far so good. We've had some snowfall, about 5", and some sleet/ice. These tires are SOOOOO MUCH BETTER than the ones the dealership put on. Very satisfied with the purchase.
These tires also fixed a mysterious and inconsistent vibration that was happening with the other tire/rim combo. I investigated the tires and some said they did cause a weird vibration. It wasn't a balancing issue, because most of the time, the ride was great. Every so often, it would vibrate horribly.
Those tires are Ironman Imove Gen 2 AS. I think the AS stands for Absolute ****! I won't be leaving those on the other rims in the spring.