For those that like this sort of thing here are some piccies of my 5 door with my "new" wheels. The wheels came bare from fleabay for £30 odd. They were pretty roughed up so I decided to refurb them. Cue many days of sanding, cutting and priming trying to get a vaguely flat finish for painting on. I can recommend filling primer for this .

When the wheels looked straight (plenty of dremmel action on the rim lips ). Then used my brother's compressor and airbrush to chuck masses of paint on the faces of the wheels. I had planed to keep the insides of the rims primer coloured but the crappy masking tape I used got blasted off by the airbrush immediately :bang: . As I only had enough paint for the faces I had to buy aerosols for the insides (2 x 300ml cans just about did it).

Then bought some Falken 512 (205/55R16V) via Blackcircles for £230 (fitted etc). Finally finished them off with some Abarth centre caps (how hard are centre caps to find!) off fleabay.

Car seems to ride soooooooooo much better than on the 15s. Still a bit floaty over transverse bumps but otherwise very good. You got to really try to get it to understeer (in the dry) as opposed to the 15s which would understeer all over the shop if provoked. Very good grip from the Falkens in the dry though they are poo in the wet. Always feel nice but wet grip is poor though breakaway is very easy to predict and the car moves well.

Crappy pictures from my camera phone:

they dont look to bad

did you put any laquer on it to protect the paint, as they look like a matt finish?

how about lowering it?

They look top not a wheel i'd have thought would look any good on a stilo but love it.. as above though, have you lacquered them, would be a shame to see them start flaking straight away!!

Didn't bother with laquer.

It's my daily driver so I'm assuming that I'll kerb them etc so wanted to make touching up easy.

I did a set on a GTIR the same way a couple of years ago and they lasted OK so we'll see.

I should add that the finish is a bit rubbish (the wheels were in shocking condition originally). But once I drive the thing (back roads everyday) they get covered in ****e in no time so you don't really notice.

I was thinking of lowering it originally with the Eibach springs from the Abarth GP+ Schumacker F1 2.4 etc etc etc etc. But I'm not so sure now. The difference between this set-up and the stock 15s is night and day and it might be 'enough' as it stands.

I decided fairly early that I didn't want 17s or 18s as they'd be too stiff eek: ) in the sidewall and cost too much. I'm trying to keep the ride nice and plush. My drive to work includes a number of South London/Surrey's best speed bumps and I'm almost grounding on them now (especially if I'm not careful). 30mm less ride height would probably spell the end of my sump!

Style wise I originally wanted the Coupe four spokes with the slimmer "arms". But these ones were so cheap I couldn't pass them up. I also have a 15" set which were on my Tipo so I knew what I was getting.

I also think that the alloys have a hint of Volk TE37 to them in the way the "arms" meet the rim.

Errr... been there and done that on the 1.6! Still doing it now with the JTD...

Look good in black. Increased off set of the Coupe wheels certainly helps out in the handling stakes, less roll / tuck under and understeer reduction Was going to have mine refurbed in smoked chrome but they look like that naturally when there dirty!

Think in case of spring breakage 30 mm drop is about the maximum I would go as I wouldnt want to stiffen the ride too much. The tyre size 205/55x16 was another factor as they are plentiful and reasonably priced. Win / Win situation, as long as you can find coupe alloys that aren't buckled on the inner rims...

wotnowarninglight said:

Errr... been there and done that on the 1.6! Still doing it now with the JTD...

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I saw your pics when I was thinking about sticking the wheels on mine. It helped to convince me that it was worth doing

wotnowarninglight said:

Errr... been there and done that on the 1.6! Still doing it now with the JTD...

Look good in black. Increased off set of the Coupe wheels certainly helps out in the handling stakes, less roll / tuck under and understeer reduction Was going to have mine refurbed in smoked chrome but they look like that naturally when there dirty!

Think in case of spring breakage 30 mm drop is about the maximum I would go as I wouldnt want to stiffen the ride too much. The tyre size 205/55x16 was another factor as they are plentiful and reasonably priced. Win / Win situation, as long as you can find coupe alloys that aren't buckled on the inner rims...

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Looks good that WNWL well it is a 5Dr after all

Cris said:

I saw your pics when I was thinking about sticking the wheels on mine. It helped to convince me that it was worth doing

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Cool Thought if Audi fit very broad 5 spoke alloys to the A3... was sure very broad spoke 4's would work on the 5 door Stilo Easy clean too

For those interested due to the quality springs FIAT fit as stock I now have a set of Eibachs on my Stilo: