Ultralight 15" wheels for Citroën/Peugeot owners

[Arragonis]

So its really down to extremes of temp then, thats OK. I wondered if I was missing something here. The Gulf Stream is lovely

[Piwoslaw]

You're lucky, Arragonis: I have to switch between summer and winter tyres every few months, sometimes I have to put on snow chains, while all you need is a good set of rain tyres. Oh, and I don't know if you've heard of sunglasses? Drivers on the Continent sometimes use them

[Arragonis]

The sun is called 'The Elusive Fiery Ball' in my house.

There is a reason for this

I have to tap though I got Rainsports on the front of my VRS after I got fed up of missing my exit on roundabouts due to understeer on Paradas in the wet. Superb tyre given the 'applied from a roll' nature of the low profile tyres I have to use.

Now I need a pair on the back - Helga gets a little twitchy sometimes...

[Piwoslaw]

I got a set of these wheels

I found them for 85 PLN (30 USD) each, and no shipping since I picked them up myself yesterday. Two of them still have tires on them - they were thrown in for free since the owner couldn't get them off. The tires are worn down close to the markers, so my tire guy will get a present.

The first thing I noticed was how light they are, I was expecting more when
I picked the first one up. From looking at two of the wheels in the daylight this morning I noticed that one is slightly bent, but my brother-in-law says that can be fixed.

The guy I bought them from said that he used the wheels for only 3 months, that the previous C5 wheels were recalled and replaced with these shortly before he had an accident (that may be how one wheel got its dent), so these are the goodies I asked for the screws and he looked but couldn't find them. He promised to look again this week and send them (for free!) if he finds them.

When I find some free time I'll clean the dust off and post a picture. I wish my summer tires were worn down more so I could put new LRR's on these wheels, but I'll have to wait another 2-3 years for that...

[Piwoslaw]

I put one of the new wheels on the bathroom scale (Don't tell the Wife!) and it showed 5kg, but this is an analog (dial) scale, plus it always shows too much when I'm on it Wheel+tire registered around 12.5kg, so that's about 7.5-8kg for the tire. A normal 15" steel wheel weighs something like 6-7.5kg, correct? The Wife's nephew got a set of 18" alloys with wide low profile tires for his coupe and they weigh in at 22kg each!!! No wonder he's always driving his dad's car saying he's low on cash for gas

Here's a picture:

They look like steelies, huh? Well, that's good, because hopefully it'll reduce the risk of theft. I checked that I can't get my OEM hubcaps on the new wheels, even though they are so similar to the original wheels. It may be something with the rim's hump profile, which is H2, compared to the original H2M, whatever that may mean Not that I'm worried, since I have piece of ABS that's been waiting in the garage for almost two years to become a set of flat wheel covers...

I can tell from the dust (the one's on the pic have been wiped, but there is still a mess of dried mud on the other side) that the wheels have been sitting in a garage for a few years, no rust (they are aluminum, remember?) but some white corrosion on the surface of scratches. I wonder if I should paint them, say grey to match the car? Svietlana looks really awful with black wheels...

[Piwoslaw]

Small update.
I got that wheel straightened out and summer tires fitted. Before they get put on the car I need to:

1. Buy bolts,
2. Get some work done on the brakes and steering,
3. Wait until it's a little warmer outside (still getting -8°C nights).

As for the bolts, from what info I've found they can't be any old nuts, but a special type made by Citroen for these wheels. The part number is 5405.72 for one bolt, with a price of 17.5 PLN (6.1 USD, 4.5 EUR, 3.8 GBP). This is about 280 PLN for a set of 16, but there is also a kit (part number 5406.08) with all 16 bolts, plus a spacer and key, for 210 PLN.

I saw somewhere that in the UK this kit costs only 12 GBP (plus VAT tax), about 55 PLN (4 times cheaper!). I'd love to get that kit so cheap, but apparently Citroen wants to make more money on much poorer Poles. Maybe I can find a Citroen dealer that will find the kit for less? I doubt it

[Piwoslaw]

I called around some and found out that in the UK the kit costs 34 GBP, not 12 GBP, but that's still cheaper than here. In fact, a Citroen dealer told me that the kit is no longer available in Poland, so I'll have to keep looking

BTW, the wheel with my summer tire weighs 12kg. I'll compare that to the steelie with the winter tire once it comes off.

[Arragonis]

How much would shipping be, I'm in the UK...

EDIT : A quick check on Voovit (?) suggests a large suitcase sized box from the UK is £120. :O

[Piwoslaw]

Yeah, I figure that kit will weigh at least 1.5kg, if not more than 2kg, so shipping would be a killer. Gives me all the more reason to visit Scotland this year

I got that brake work done today, and weighed the steel wheel with a winter tire on it - 15kg. Compare to 12kg for alu wheel with summer tire. Even allowing for the scale being off, that's at least 2.5kg (or 17%) less on each corner. I read somewhere that losing 1 kg on a wheel is like losing 5kg in the rest of the car, but this probably regards acceleration.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

I called around some and found out that in the UK the kit costs 34 GBP, not 12 GBP, but that's still cheaper than here. In fact, a Citroen dealer told me that the kit is no longer available in Poland, so I'll have to keep looking

Do you want me to ask a price at a local dealer ?