Hello, just joined the forum :)

I've just bought a 2004 Mondeo estate tdi, it came with 17" alloys on it but also a spare set of 16" steel wheels which were the original equipment on the car (the 17's were added later).

I want to use the steel wheels for winter tyres, I've got a set of 225/55/16 winter tyres already but I'm not sure what width the steel wheels are, as stated they were the OEM wheels for the car.

I can live with a difference in tyre circumference it's just the width I'm not sure about.

Any advice appreciated :)

Cheers,

Dunc.

In the past I have cheated, go to a tyre web site and then put your reg in. When I did this they listed all possible tyre size for the car. Don't know if this is still an option. Hope this has helped in some way.

AFAIK all wheels state the dimensions on them. Usually the dimensions are on the inside, somewhere inconspicuous, although the outside is also possible, particularly in an area that might originally have been covered by the wheel trims.

The pan dimension, is usually in 'J's, otherwise known as inches, and will be the one of the dimensions that isn't the wheel diameter (16, in this case) or the ET. The ET will be in mm, and will be probably be somewhere around 40, and will be preceded by the letters 'E' and 'T', which might be considered to give the game away, a bit.

I believe they should fit fine, normally you can get away with a wider tyre as the steel band is fairly flexible.

Hello, just joined the forum :)

I've just bought a 2004 Mondeo estate tdi, it came with 17" alloys on it but also a spare set of 16" steel wheels which were the original equipment on the car (the 17's were added later).

I want to use the steel wheels for winter tyres, I've got a set of 225/55/16 winter tyres already but I'm not sure what width the steel wheels are, as stated they were the OEM wheels for the car.

I can live with a difference in tyre circumference it's just the width I'm not sure about.

Any advice appreciated :)

Cheers,

Dunc.

Welcome!

Its a TDCI - not a tdi (it could be important/ to avoid confusion)

Standard tyres are 205 16s - 225s may be too wide for the rims

In principle, all tyre manufacturers publish the data on their tyres, and the compete data includes the pan dimension for which those tyres are suited.

In practice, I don't know where you get this information, because it used to be in the full information catalogue published by the tyre manufacturer, and I haven't seen a new one of those for some time (they probably still exist, just I'm not sure where you'd get one). In the few cases in which I have looked, there doesn't seem to be any similar table where you'd now expect it; ie, somewhere on the manufacturer's website (but, not having needed this information, I haven't looked very hard).

I'd guess that most manufacturers have some kind of customer support department, and a quick e-mail to the relevant one of those should give you an answer.

Note also that there are differences between different manufacturers and what they will allow for specific tyres, so there is no guarantee that if Manufacturer A allows a certain size, Manufacturer B will also. They are usually very similar, but if you go right to the edge of one manufacturer's recommendations, you might not be in with another.

Cheers Folks,

Took a look for the size on the wheel but if what I think is the size it's not readable. I'll take a tape measure to them this week and that should let me know.

Cheers,

Dunc.

OK, I've looked up some old tyre info (and I've got to emphasise that it is on old tyres, and it may not apply to the tyres that you have), and I have a limited number of data points for you.

In 225/55/16

Min Pan Max Pan

Falken FK451 6.0 8.0

Falken FK 452 6.0 8.0

Kumho 712 6.0 8.0

Yokohama AVS dB 6.0 8.0

Yoko S306 6.0 8.0

So, out of the world's collection of tyres, those are the only ones that I have full data on in your size. I don't think any of them are winter tyres and I don't think that most are still current. But still, it is an indication of what might work (that is, roughly 6 to 8 inches).

I'd still advise sending an e-mail off to the support dept from the manufacturer of the tyres that you have - the information that I have is less reliable than the information that they have, for a variety of reasons.