Bigger rims and tires? Calibrate new size/circumference?

Hi all.

I love my new 2016 e-Golf SE, but the wheels are just so tiny.... I guess one could fit some used GTI wheels, but what to do with calibration of the new and bigger size? The circumference is definitely different...

Best,

Oystein

What size are the stock tires on the 2016 e-Golf SE?

For 2015 the LE and SEL had the same size tires, but steel wheels with covers on the LE and the aero alloys on the SEL. Mine has 205/55R16 with 91H rated Conti ProContact TX M+S.

You will increase rolling resistance and decrease range with heavier rims and bigger tires. Really, not worth it. German cars are best left stock... buy them from the factory the way you want them, everything on them is integrated together, you start making modifications, and it will, sooner or later, destroy the weakest link.

Yes, I know the drawbacks. I just wonder if it is possible. the 2016 tires/wheels are 205/55/R16, so the standard GTI wheels and tires are much bigger total. About an inch bigger diameter. My dealer said they could calibrate it, but reminded me about the drawbacks.

It's definitely possible. Over at VWVortex someone temporarily put the rims from his Golf R onto his new eGolf, and they look fabulous. Unfortunately he took a massive hit on "fuel" economy, and range was considerably shortened. As in 1 or more miles per kWH economy hit, which is 20-25%. It's the first post in this thread: http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?7132365-What-did-you-do-to-your-eGolf-today

Unfortunately "performance" tires and "low rolling resistance" tires are an oxymoron at this time. LRR's optimized for EVs are also available in a very limited range of sizes, and generally not in low profile.

osaebo said:

Yes, I know the drawbacks. I just wonder if it is possible. the 2016 tires/wheels are 205/55/R16, so the standard GTI wheels and tires are much bigger total. About an inch bigger diameter. My dealer said they could calibrate it, but reminded me about the drawbacks.

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You are not understanding the tire sizes correctly. The WHEELS on a GTI are larger in diameter, but the tire section height is smaller, so the overall DIAMETER (and therefore circumference) of the tire is the "same" (close enough to not matter). To increase wheel diameter but keep overall tire height the same, any size offered as a factory option on a MkV, MkVI or MkVII Golf will work. For some reference, the same height in 17" is 225/45-17. The same height in 18" is 225/40-18. Both of those are factory VW sizes. That answers the question of will they fit. You shouldn't need to recalibrate anything if you swap all 4 wheels.

As to the other part of the question on this car, changing wheels and tires will most likely only negatively effect your range. As has been said (here or somewhere else) there is limited availability in LRR tires. Wheel weight and wheel inertia will play a part. Factory wheels are typically heavy. You could get some lightweight aftermarket wheels, however. The other thing to consider is that the e-Golf wheels have been designed to have less aero drag. Now, if you rarely exceed 40mph, this wouldn't be a big deal. However, if you do a lot of highway driving, this could be a factor.

Thanks for your reply. I do understand the math, but I checked against my wife's 2012 Beetle. I thought as it shares the same platform as the GOLF, that the GTI had the same size as the Beetle. Seems like the Beetle has much bigger overall diameter on the 19 inch wheels.

So in other words - if I go with GTI wheels, I do not have to calibrate anything - just lose range. I see other people have tried very light rims and not lost a lot of range. But is the cost worth it really on a car like this?
If I go with big Beetle wheels I would need to calibrate for sure.

I know 1st gen New Beetles used the same tire sizes as the MkIV Golfs they were based on, but it sounds like the new new beetle uses larger sizes, even though it is still Golf based. I wouldn't want to put 19" wheels on anything, and certainly not an e-Golf.

I feel your pain, though. The only negative first impression I had about the e-Golf was about the wheels.

VW, and german car companies, in general, build completely integrated packages in their cars. As such, they don't recommend making changes to the car, in terms of modifications, as it will cause failures sooner, rather than later, in some other system on the car. Buy the car exactly as you want it, and leave the modifications to the Ricer boyz, especially if you care about the residual value of your car when you want to trade it in or sell it.

It's been this way for a long, long time, a stock VW is worth more than a modded one used. Dealerships and new owners don't like cars that have been tampered with to get more performance, because if you did it in the first place, you certainly used that added performance, which shortens the life of everything else on the car.

True, I think I will just leave the wheels as they are. Paint them black or something.

JoulesThief said:

VW, and german car companies, in general, build completely integrated packages in their cars. As such, they don't recommend making changes to the car, in terms of modifications, as it will cause failures sooner, rather than later, in some other system on the car. Buy the car exactly as you want it, and leave the modifications to the Ricer boyz, especially if you care about the residual value of your car when you want to trade it in or sell it.

It's been this way for a long, long time, a stock VW is worth more than a modded one used. Dealerships and new owners don't like cars that have been tampered with to get more performance, because if you did it in the first place, you certainly used that added performance, which shortens the life of everything else on the car.

Click to expand...

Sure, that's one way to look at it, if you buy your car just to be a boring appliance.

ALL car companies design and spec their cars to a set of requirements and cost targets, not just ze Germans. They optimize the car for parameters that are most important to them. If as a buyer I have different priorities, I can choose to modify my vehicle to better suit my taste. I do that full well knowing that it may negatively impact other aspects of the vehicle.

VW optimized the wheels and tires on the e-Golf to maximize "fuel" economy and range. If some people find them aesthetically unappealing, changing them is one of the simplest updates one can do to alter the appearance of the vehicle to better suit their taste. Everyone understands that there will likely be impacts to range as a result. And you know what? They can just as easily be taken back off, sold, and replaced with the original wheels.

We are all adults here and we are the ones making the payments on our cars. As such, we get to choose if and how we want to modify them to better suit our priorities.

2doors said:

JoulesThief said:

VW, and german car companies, in general, build completely integrated packages in their cars. As such, they don't recommend making changes to the car, in terms of modifications, as it will cause failures sooner, rather than later, in some other system on the car. Buy the car exactly as you want it, and leave the modifications to the Ricer boyz, especially if you care about the residual value of your car when you want to trade it in or sell it.

It's been this way for a long, long time, a stock VW is worth more than a modded one used. Dealerships and new owners don't like cars that have been tampered with to get more performance, because if you did it in the first place, you certainly used that added performance, which shortens the life of everything else on the car.

Click to expand...

Sure, that's one way to look at it, if you buy your car just to be a boring appliance.

ALL car companies design and spec their cars to a set of requirements and cost targets, not just ze Germans. They optimize the car for parameters that are most important to them. If as a buyer I have different priorities, I can choose to modify my vehicle to better suit my taste. I do that full well knowing that it may negatively impact other aspects of the vehicle.

VW optimized the wheels and tires on the e-Golf to maximize "fuel" economy and range. If some people find them aesthetically unappealing, changing them is one of the simplest updates one can do to alter the appearance of the vehicle to better suit their taste. Everyone understands that there will likely be impacts to range as a result. And you know what? They can just as easily be taken back off, sold, and replaced with the original wheels.

We are all adults here and we are the ones making the payments on our cars. As such, we get to choose if and how we want to modify them to better suit our priorities.

Click to expand...

Until VW pulls your files, sees the loss in miles per kwh, and voids your battery warranty, due to the exessive load... Fine, have at it, I know how VW works when you make modifications, like chipping... oops, TD1 in your scan, warranty void, no battery warranty. And so it goes.

We are adults here, and you gotta pay to play. You make mods, adios warranty.

what the heck? carrying a passenger around all the time would create more of a load than bigger wheels.

bizzle said:

what the heck? carrying a passenger around all the time would create more of a load than bigger wheels.

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agreed, op wasn't specific but i don't see any harm running a lightweight 17"-18" wheel with LRR tires. td1 over aftermarket wheels would be a joke. VW is in so much hot water to burn a customer with that type of claim would not be in their best interest.

erwheezy said:

bizzle said:

what the heck? carrying a passenger around all the time would create more of a load than bigger wheels.

Click to expand...

agreed, op wasn't specific but i don't see any harm running a lightweight 17"-18" wheel with LRR tires. td1 over aftermarket wheels would be a joke. VW is in so much hot water to burn a customer with that type of claim would not be in their best interest.

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Go ahead and be the first guinea pig for us, then.

Honestly I think the stock OEM rims and tires are as good as it gets for this incredible eGolf 2016 SE.

At first I thought they would be too bulky (tires) and was afraid that the rims would be a bit too big but after owning it for 3 weeks so far I've been convinced that those Germans are known for their engineering excellence and have scoffed at myself for even considering to go aftermarket for both rims and tires.


As the good old saying goes... Don't fix what's not broken!

Enjoy the ride and be happy!

JoulesThief said:

Go ahead and be the first guinea pig for us, then.

Click to expand...

No one needs to be a guinea pig for anything. There is a post on the first page of this thread linking to other places where people already HAVE changed the wheels on their cars and are quite happy with the results. This car is a VW Golf. One of the most popular cars in the world. This one just happens to have a bunch of batteries and an electric motor. It's not magical, it's not special or unique in any way. It's a car. Some people choose to modify their cars for their own personal reasons. Why is the status of their warranty any concern of yours? By the way, the scanning and finding lower "mileage" as a result of wheels is a weak argument. How do they know my driving habits didn't change and now I'm getting less range? Wheel and tire swap does not equal modifying the ECM parameters of an ICE car.

Oh, and all this German Engineering worship sure is amusing. Remember, these are they guys why tried to game the systems on diesels and are now left with thousands of un-sellable cars and are hemorrhaging money.

2doors said:

JoulesThief said:

Go ahead and be the first guinea pig for us, then.

Click to expand...

No one needs to be a guinea pig for anything. There is a post on the first page of this thread linking to other places where people already HAVE changed the wheels on their cars and are quite happy with the results. This car is a VW Golf. One of the most popular cars in the world. This one just happens to have a bunch of batteries and an electric motor. It's not magical, it's not special or unique in any way. It's a car. Some people choose to modify their cars for their own personal reasons. Why is the status of their warranty any concern of yours? By the way, the scanning and finding lower "mileage" as a result of wheels is a weak argument. How do they know my driving habits didn't change and now I'm getting less range? Wheel and tire swap does not equal modifying the ECM parameters of an ICE car.

Oh, and all this German Engineering worship sure is amusing. Remember, these are they guys why tried to game the systems on diesels and are now left with thousands of un-sellable cars and are hemorrhaging money.

Click to expand...

I have the 2015 e-Golf and I don't like my continental pro contact tires on them, they just have real bad grip on metal bridges, even on dry road sometimes a wheel slips cornering, don't even want to imagine being on snow with those tires, but lack of range keeps me out of that situation anyways

I do love the car otherwise, and don't regret having traded my Jetta 2.5 with the potenza tires that were awesome, because I enjoy the e-Golf so much more with its fast acceleration, fully charged and warmed up in the morning in the garage, bluetooth plays my music when I enter the car without selecting anything, just automatically picks up where it left off, etc pp lots of cool stuff, but as soon as these continental pro contact tires are worn down I will find a better replacement.

While I believe that chipping a car may void the warranty, changing tires can't possibly as long as they are reasonable choices in terms of geometry and load...

Skryll said:

2doors said:

JoulesThief said:

Go ahead and be the first guinea pig for us, then.

Click to expand...

No one needs to be a guinea pig for anything. There is a post on the first page of this thread linking to other places where people already HAVE changed the wheels on their cars and are quite happy with the results. This car is a VW Golf. One of the most popular cars in the world. This one just happens to have a bunch of batteries and an electric motor. It's not magical, it's not special or unique in any way. It's a car. Some people choose to modify their cars for their own personal reasons. Why is the status of their warranty any concern of yours? By the way, the scanning and finding lower "mileage" as a result of wheels is a weak argument. How do they know my driving habits didn't change and now I'm getting less range? Wheel and tire swap does not equal modifying the ECM parameters of an ICE car.

Oh, and all this German Engineering worship sure is amusing. Remember, these are they guys why tried to game the systems on diesels and are now left with thousands of un-sellable cars and are hemorrhaging money.

Click to expand...

I have the 2015 e-Golf and I don't like my continental pro contact tires on them, they just have real bad grip on metal bridges, even on dry road sometimes a wheel slips cornering, don't even want to imagine being on snow with those tires, but lack of range keeps me out of that situation anyways

I do love the car otherwise, and don't regret having traded my Jetta 2.5 with the potenza tires that were awesome, because I enjoy the e-Golf so much more with its fast acceleration, fully charged and warmed up in the morning in the garage, bluetooth plays my music when I enter the car without selecting anything, just automatically picks up where it left off, etc pp lots of cool stuff, but as soon as these continental pro contact tires are worn down I will find a better replacement.

While I believe that chipping a car may void the warranty, changing tires can't possibly as long as they are reasonable choices in terms of geometry and load...

Click to expand...

There's just a ton of cars that weigh 3400 pounds in that tire size, and can handle that type of load. Yet many in the north east swear that skinny tires grip and drive better in the snow.

I'm looking to add a set of 18" Austins to my e-Golf and get some Winter LRR tires. Anyone know if these should bolt right up? Seems like they will.

Oh and JoulesThief - VW will not "pull your file" and "audit" you for modding your car in such a minor way. Stop causing so much drama on here dude, I've been reading your posts and in almost EVERY thread you fly off the hook and start spouting wild claims. Take a chill pill man.