15" steel wheels - what to look for

Reviving this thread with a silly question. I have 4 ET34 15" (5.5Jx15) steel rims on my car. Can I have the steel ET43 15" (6Jx15) as a spare for my car (taken from a 9N3 Polo)? Will it be safe to drive my car with three ET34's and 1 ET43 - if I ever were to have a puncture?

All advice welcome :)
 
From my calculations - not sure whether they are correct, there is a discrepancy of 2.6mm in terms of the position of the exact same tyre fitted onto the different size rims. Doesn't sound like much, but then again I am a noob at these things...
 
I have 4 ET34 15" (5.5Jx15) steel rims on my car. Can I have the steel ET43 15" (6Jx15) as a spare for my car (taken from a 9N3 Polo)? Will it be safe to drive my car with three ET34's and 1 ET43 - if I ever were to have a puncture?

Why bother? Steel rims are cheap enough, just buy another one that matches your existing rims. Then you can swap them over as often as you wish without problems.

Fitting an ET43 6Jx15 may have too much offset to be confident of maintaining a safe clearance regardless of the legality.

You should definitely discuss this with your insurance company before going ahead.
 
I *think* it should be OK. The 6J rim projects 6.25mm further out from the tyre centreline both inwards and outwards than the 5.5J rim. With ET43 that centreline will sit further inboard by 9mm than with ET34. So the inside of the spare tyre will be 15.25mm closer to the suspension but the outside will only be 2.75mm inboard from the standard tyre position. I'd probably be inclined to run the spare on the rear in the event of a puncture though, and swap the original rear wheel to the front if that's where the puncture was.
 
Thanks for all your advice. I will stick to the original plan - I picked up a 15" 5.5J ET34 alloy from @slumdog today, which he was so kind to donate to me. I will fit a matching tyre and that should be more than fine. Saves me the hassle of having to buy a new spare tyre for the polo as well.
 
Back
Top