C30 Tyres/Wheels : 16" Steel wheel supplier

[2.4TSE]

The Nokian WR G2 NO 205/55x16 tyres and steel wheels have arrived from mytyres.com and been fitted today. I couldn't quite get my caliper gauge perfectly straight (it was a handful of degrees out as the arm was j u u u u u s t touching the wheel rim, but the spigot hole size I got was 63.35mm.

Each assembly was individually protected with cardboard and static wrap and apart from the delivery time it took – thanks to demand driven shortage – I’m very impressed. The steel wheels are of high quality and look identical to the Ford Focus standard fit 16” items that I nearly bought (but were £15 more, each, than the mytyres "derived" cost after removing tyre and delivery charges). Include that the mytyres cost includes valve, fitting, and balancing, and the saving is even greater.

The tyre balance is spot on and even the pressures were spot-on for the fronts, leaving me to bleed off a few PSI on the rears. Steering is still sharp, if not quite so sharp as on the P-Zeros, and on roads I know well the ride is a smidge bouncier, but the cold grip increase is impressive; second gear took nearly full throttle on a damp road with zero deg C air temperature whereas the still-plenty-of-tread P-Zero Rossos had scrabbled on barely half throttle an hour earlier on the same stretch of road.

Braking too is hugely better even before the tyres are bedded in; I had the car pretty well stood on its nose before ABS kicked in whereas that hour before it did so much sooner on the same road stretch.

Although I already knew that standard fit alloys are usually heavier than a same-size steel wheel would be, I was really struck by how much the difference actually was. I didn't weigh the wheel and tyre assemblies but it felt like the alloy assembly was a good kilo heavier.

[PTB]

tyres and steel wheels have arrived from mytyres.com and been fitted today.

Hi there, I'm new to your forum but have owned Volvos for last 12 years.

I am expecting delivery of steel wheels and winter tyres from Mytyres in next few days, and wondered if you can confirm that the use of the existing alloy wheel nuts is OK on the steel wheels? Searching the forum seems to give one or two different views?

Many thanks and HXmas.

Phil

[GroupCaptain]

Originally Posted by PTB

can you confirm that the use of the existing alloy wheel nuts is OK on the steel wheels? Searching the forum seems to give one or two different views?

Your driver's manual should reassure you about the wheelnuts.

[2.4TSE]

Yes, you can use the alloy wheel nuts with your steel wheels; as well as otherwise not being possible to use steel space saver spare wheels, that you can do this is confirmed on page 152 of my wife's C30 manual.

In the end though I (the original poster of this thread) chose to buy a separate set. When the "summer" nuts come off they are polished up and kept ready for the end of winter.

The thread size is 12 x 1.50 and I purchased mine from http://www.mistertee.co.uk
Admittedly, unlike with the alloys, I am not using a locking wheel nut but nothing would stop me doing this if I wanted to.

The Mr T part number is 5406-2 and at a quid each plus a fiver for p&p, the total cost was £25. As well as the closed design keeping the stud thread protected, they fit easily inside the wheel trims fitted with the steel wheels (makes the car look rather less like a taxi).

I have no connection with Mr T other than being a (several times) happy customer.

Note the nuts in the first picture are not the ones referred to above; they are plain nuts of the correct size (12 x 1.50) that I fitted before buying the ones described.