ZX wheel selection

timbo · Post by **timbo** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:35 am

anybody got any ideas if a 15 inch wheel will fit a Citroen ZX. I have read that they do but will it throw the speedo out and possibly scrape the inner wheelarch?

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:58 am

Shouldn`t be too bad Timbo, I`d be very suprised if it throws the speedo out by anything noticeable. 17`s will do but 15`s should be ok. Also if you opt for,say, 5.5 or possibly 6J width then I wouldn`t imagine they`ll rub either.

timbo · Post by **timbo** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 10:08 am

thanks cavmad. The ZX is nearly ready for the raod and I wamt to get a good set of wheels for it before the onset of winter. Any suggestions as to what brand would be most welcome as well. Coming from OZ there are a number of brands I have never heard of... Should I stick with Michellin?

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 10:19 am

They are the best to be fair but there`s plenty of other, cheaper quality brands about. I recall a few on here like Pirelli`s and on top of that you have people like Dunlop and Goodyear to contend with.
As ever shop around and see what prices you can get, there`s probably hundreds of on-line tyre centres now where you`ll see prices printed on their website hopefully.
Failing that eBay throws up a suprising number of new tyres (and alloys) at discount prices once you know what tyre size to go for. I`d be tempted to got a 5.5x15 wheel with 195 series tyres. A decent wheel/tyre supplier will be able to tell you the best combination.

Cornishbx16v · Post by **Cornishbx16v** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 10:43 am

Timbo, 15's will bolt on fine matey! any cit / pug 4 stud alloy will fit (stud pattern 4x108, central bore 65, offset et 15-20), 17's will also bolt straight on too within the same pattern!! same fitment sa the xsara!! 15's wont affect your speedo at all mate! the rolling radious of a 15 on 195 50 15's is the same as a 185 60 14!! only when you go up in size over the std rolling radious does the speedo come closer to true speed! speedo's are all set to over read by any think from 5 -12% ( cit / pug's tend to be about 7% overread! the old vaux digi dash were shocking! some as bad as 15% over read! - am sure cavmad will know about that! and the mk2 ford rst were around the 10% mark too!!!) and the bigger the wheels fitted the closer to true speed you become!! Get a hand held gps and drive a long a flat preferably straight section of road at a constant speed and check the gps reading! then increase the speed a bit more and check again to get the difference between speed and display!!)
as an example, on the 14's my car would over read by 6mph through out the range, with the 17's it was 1.5mph!
195 50 15's are prolly your best bet as cavmad said! common tyre so prices should be cheap! but i am affraid i always like a good name tyre on my car! dotn care if there made by dunlop pirrelli or michelin for ambassador or barron or cooper etc, if they were that pleased with them they would have there own name on hey!! i always think to a point you get what you pay for with tyres!!
really only repeating what cavmad has said but there we go hehehe loL!

timbo · Post by **timbo** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 1:29 pm

cheers for the advice guys. The tyres need replacing and I think the little 14's that are on there look weird. I think I have a larger wheelbarrow tyre around somewhere hehe ... I hope with the larger wheel, handling might be a tad better and certainly safer in the snow and wet.

tom · Post by **tom** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:10 pm

If you are increasing the width of the tyre

then it definitely won't be safer in the snow or the wet. Completely the reverse!

timbo · Post by **timbo** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 3:33 pm

Hehe .. not to the extreme though... the ones on it at the moment are about as cheap as what was put on my BX. They are new tires but "NO" grip. I was looking at tyres that were wider with water clearing ability. The smaller tyres all seem to have a very basic tread pattern. I thought a slightly wider tyre with higher quality/ability would be better ...

Kitch · Post by **Kitch** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:39 pm

The width won't help you in the wet, but the chances are the sportier tyre will be a better one, like an Eagle F1 or Sp9000. And you can't get those in std bicycle widths that these cars come with.
Unless you get something budget like Kuhmos or Hankooks.....only your god can help you there.

(And seeing as there are loads of different ones apparently across the globe, I wouldn't hold out on him either)

timbo · Post by **timbo** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 4:26 pm

back again... so does anybody know the maximum increase in rolling radius that the ZX can be fitted with? I throw the question wide open for anybody to answer

Cornishbx16v · Post by **Cornishbx16v** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 6:11 pm

there is a chap down here that i have seen (and had a wee race with!!:D) thats running 18's on his zx 16v!

Kitch · Post by **Kitch** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 7:06 pm

I ran 15's with a 195/50/15 tyre with no problems, other than scrubbing at the back. It was a was door though.

I know someone who popped 17's on a 16v model, they were 215/45/17. I wouldn't recommend it, but they wouldn't be too much hassle to get to fit right.

Cornishbx16v · Post by **Cornishbx16v** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:39 pm

i have to say 17's are quite common place on zx's down this way! there are quite a few volcanes on 17's! both petrol and deisel!!

timbo · Post by **timbo** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:30 pm

can you give me the full specs for those wheels please

I'll check out the prices around town. Oh .. hehe ... anybody know of a good tyre shop around Swansea

Baldbazza · Post by **Baldbazza** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 10:18 pm

timbo wrote:anybody know of a good tyre shop around Swansea

Have you tried http://www.blackcircles.com/ ? You buy the tyres from their site, choose a fitting centre local to you from their list; they supply the tyres direct to the fitting centre who then fit them. Their prices are all-in. It works well.