General looking for some 15" or 16"s

[AndyK]

The 17s on my GP sporting are really wearing me out on the commute to work, the suspension is just too stiff and basic to cope with the thin tyres on knackered roads, so i'm looking for some 16s or maybe even 15s to fit instead.

I see there's a few wheels in the classifieds, but do any other models wheels fit the GP?

If anyone has anything knocking about, let me know. I'd prefer genuine fiat stuff, and if they have good tyres on, so much the better.

 

[puntoevogp]

what 17's u got on atm m8ty, a pic would be nice with the tire treads, we could do a swap

 

[AndyK]

The standard sporting alloys. Need refurbed though

 

[GymJunkie]

there are loads of lightweight 15/16 inch alloys on ebay, get some O.Z or Team dynamic. The lower unsprung weight the better it should handle

 

[steveo19388]

If you are looking for alloys for your gp the pcd is 4x100 make sure you check this before you buy

 

[AndyK]

Well, making some progress!

After getting sick of seeing Fiat 15" alloys go for £200 on ebay, I had all but given up getting some winter (and smaller/more comfortable) wheels for the Punto. But then a mate at work tipped me off that there was a punto in a local scrapyard with 15" alloys on it.

So, a quick visit and a mere £40 later, I had a set of TSW alloys with knackered low profile tyres on. A couple of them had some big kerbing, so I thought i'd give them a bit of a DIY refurb. Amazingly, the first one has come out ok, so i've started on the second (so I can have each side of the car the same colour! :lol: ).

Also purchased some new Dunlop Wintersport 3D's with a nice comfy 60 profile from Camskill for about 65 each I think.

Pics!

Bit Chavvy, and kerbed up:

Break out the wet+dry. Didn't have any filler, but managed to remove 90% of the scratching just by sanding.

Masked and primed, then left to dry overnight:

Flatted down primer with 1500 grit and sprayed up with silver. Was never going to pick the right colour by chance so randomly settled on Rover Quicksilver! :lol: It's a really nice slightly satin silver actually. Much more modern.

Finally clearcoated. Doesn't look too shabby:

New versus old:

 

[TJEToates]

Have u test fitted them?. Calipers are big on the sporting you know..

 

[AndyK]

Clear the calipers no problem.

As a side note, I hesitated buying them in the scapyard because of the 98 Vs 100mm PCD issues, but I took a punt anyway and once I got them home I've measured them and they're 4x100 despite having come off a mk2 punto!

 

[TJEToates]

Thats good then ..if you found that they were 4x98 just a set of wobble bolts would do the trick

 

[AndyK]

Sorry for the huge gap in this update, TJEToates - yes they were fitted to the mk2 with wobble bolts, i found the bag with them in again!

Quick pic fitted too:

I fitted my winter-shod wheels at the start of november, and I'm really pleased with them so far. Wet weather performance in particular is excellent, partially due to the massive tread depth and the fact these wheels are the same width as my 17s despite the smaller diameter.

Ride comfort has also increased greatly (thank god!), and although some stearing softness has been introduced with those big sidewalls, overall commuting comfort is much better, the suspension still struggles with sharp impacts, but that would need a damper change to solve.

One more thing to note is that when pushing on, you can really tell how the car is affected by that big diesel lump up front. Stiff braking on downhill runs really does remove a lot of weight from the rear axle, sometimes leading the ABS to trigger well before any actual lock up point. A decent amount of fuel onboard helps, and I think I might toss one of the old 17s in the boot as a spare. Adding weight isn't ideal, but it does help the balance slightly.

Phew! That's all folks!