Steel wheels

[sasha320]

I know most will think I’m mad, but I quite fancy using a set of matt black steel wheels with winter tyres for the winter season.

Does anyone think this is possible given that there isn’t an OEM recommended set to buy?

The recommended OEM winter wheel looks horrendous in the wheel arches.

Steel wheels can be made to measure relatively cheaply but I’m not sure of the impact on the suspension and drivetrain from having heavier steel wheels?

Why you might ask? Well, I think they would make the car look a bit more ‘prototype’ and I quite like to idea of having ‘indestructible’ wheels for winter.

Any thoughts / ideas?

[MikeFish]

Personally I'd go for the winter wheels with spacers so they don't look so lost.
And unless I moved to somewhere that gets a lot of snow then I don't see the need for the skinny winter wheels and would just get a full size set of winter tyres on a spare set of normal wheels. But it sounds like you want to do it for the looks as much as practicality so go for it. The biggest issue will be the clearance for the front calipers. You can probably get an Audi spare wheel to fit the rear and maybe even the front (possibly with a spacer) but these wont be full width and you'd be compromising a lot of the cars abilities. So custom wheels sound like your best bet; probably copying the OEM wheel widths and offsets would be a good place to start.

[Markp]

Buy Mike’s 20s and out winters on them

[sasha320]

Buy Mike’s 20s and out winters on them

Already got some

[sasha320]

Personally I'd go for the winter wheels with spacers so they don't look so lost.
And unless I moved to somewhere that gets a lot of snow then I don't see the need for the skinny winter wheels and would just get a full size set of winter tyres on a spare set of normal wheels. But it sounds like you want to do it for the looks as much as practicality so go for it. The biggest issue will be the clearance for the front calipers. You can probably get an Audi spare wheel to fit the rear and maybe even the front (possibly with a spacer) but these wont be full width and you'd be compromising a lot of the cars abilities. So custom wheels sound like your best bet; probably copying the OEM wheel widths and offsets would be a good place to start.

Yes, it would be a custom set of steel wheels that mirrored all the relevant dimensions of the alloy wheels.

I just wonder what impact it would have on the drivetrain and suspension of having heavier steel wheels hung off each of the four corners.

That said, replicating the exact dimensions in order to clear the front callipers etc. would still leave me with an identically low profile tyre - part of the continental winter steel wheel look is about a (much) higher sidewall profile. Thinking about, a low profile steel wheel may not be what I’m after...

[zzz]

Increasing the unsprung weight on your car will increase the wear on the drivetrain, as the heavier, the harder to accelerate. Also, the suspension takes a bit of a beating as the springs need to work much harder to keep the tyre fully engaged with the road and therefore the less consistent the grip level but the quieter the ride.

I'd be sticking with OEM.