A6 SE with 17" alloys upgrade to 19" alloys - Would you?

[Divingonthereef]

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Hi people....... Just joined the forum and just bought a secondhand A6 c7 SE which has standard 17" alloys running 255/55/17 tyres. The car looks like it needs bigger wheels than 17" to fill the arch. As my alloys are scuffed with tyres only have a few thousand miles left on them it would appear to be a good time to investigate bigger wheels.

A friend has an A7 and we swapped over a wheel onto mine to have a look what it might look like.......he was running 255/35/19 alloys which are 9j but had the Sline so I believe they sit 20mm lower anyway. Once I put the wheel on my car I still had a big gap above the arch and it generally looked a bit weird. I would prefer a thicker profile so was hoping I could put on 255/40/19 or 255/45/19 tyres and hopefully this would also reduce the gap. I think the only problem then is that it would mess with the clock/speedo...... Is it every inch you add you need to take off 5mm depth ?

This is my first post so please be gentle but I would like to know

will 255/xx/19 9j work on an A6 c7 SE ?
if anyone has upgraded from 17" alloys to 19" on an SE model and if so any pics?.....
Any does and don't
Can you alter the ride height in anyway without major expense

thanks for any response and advice

[wja96]

The cheapest way to drop the car is to get the S-line springs fitted. They are £50 each plus labour, so probably £400 all-in and you might need to get the car aligned afterwards as well, so it go to £600 depending on who does the alignment.

The wheels and tyre sizes are pretty standard and as long as you get the right alloys with the right offset there will be no clearance issues.

The standard tyre sizes do all give similar rolling radii, so the speedo will read roughly true and assuming you buy genuine Audi wheels there is no need to tell your insurers.

255/45/R18 , 255/35/R19 and 255/35/R20 seems to be correct for non-allroad A6's (mine is an allroad so apologies if those are not the right sizes). In the UK I wasn't aware that 17" wheels were available unless you wanted Winter wheels. I think yours look quite nice actually!

[Splash]

Welcome Diving.

I took delivery of my allroad in December and it came with 10-spoke 19" wheels. I immediately fitted some 18" wheels over winter, but I have a set of 17" wheels with winter tyres that are shortly to be removed from my older allroad. I'm not entirely sure they will fit, but would be grateful if you could measure the radius to the nobble on the top of the rear brake caliper on your SE. It's about 190mm on my allroad, but I just wonder if it's the same disc/caliper setup on your SE. I know it depends on the internal dimensions of the 17" wheels I have, but is at least an indicator.

Of course, I could try the wheels myself, but the logistics of getting the two cars in simultaneously are a bit awkward given that they're normally miles apart.

Thanks.

[Scott K]

I think you need to check the centre bore first as the old A6 was 57.1 and the new ones are 66.6. I think the Allroad is the same.

Welcome Diving.

I took delivery of my allroad in December and it came with 10-spoke 19" wheels. I immediately fitted some 18" wheels over winter, but I have a set of 17" wheels with winter tyres that are shortly to be removed from my older allroad. I'm not entirely sure they will fit, but would be grateful if you could measure the radius to the nobble on the top of the rear brake caliper on your SE. It's about 190mm on my allroad, but I just wonder if it's the same disc/caliper setup on your SE. I know it depends on the internal dimensions of the 17" wheels I have, but is at least an indicator.

Of course, I could try the wheels myself, but the logistics of getting the two cars in simultaneously are a bit awkward given that they're normally miles apart.

Thanks.

[Splash]

Thanks Scott. I probably should have said that I'm using some aftermarket wheels so have spigot rings for both sizes. The different offset might be my stumbling block.

[wja96]

The allroad is pretty tolerant on wheel offsets.

standard offsets are ET37 for 17" and ET43 for 18", 19" and 20".

all the wheels are 66.6mm centre bore and none are wider than 8.5" with the two 18" options being an identical looking wheel in 8" width for summer and 7.5" width for winter (easier to get the snow chains on!)

allroads have bigger rear brakes than standard A6's but I think the fronts are the same as any other A6 in the range. In Germany they offer a 16" winter steel rim so I reckon most 17" wheels will fit.

[Splash]

Cheers W.

Wasn't sure if your 313 would have bigger brakes than the humbler versions. The 17s are indeed 7.5" but if the internal radius was a non-starter, I wouldn't even entertain testing the offset. Looks close when comparing the two on different vehicles with my rough-and-ready tape measure, but all I need is a mm or two clearance in both height and depth for heat expansion.

Different weights (e.g. Tip-Top vs Apaseal) might make all the difference at these tolerances.

[Divingonthereef]

The cheapest way to drop the car is to get the S-line springs fitted. They are £50 each plus labour, so probably £400 all-in and you might need to get the car aligned afterwards as well, so it go to £600 depending on who does the alignment.

The wheels and tyre sizes are pretty standard and as long as you get the right alloys with the right offset there will be no clearance issues.

The standard tyre sizes do all give similar rolling radii, so the speedo will read roughly true and assuming you buy genuine Audi wheels there is no need to tell your insurers.

255/45/R18 , 255/35/R19 and 255/35/R20 seems to be correct for non-allroad A6's (mine is an allroad so apologies if those are not the right sizes). In the UK I wasn't aware that 17" wheels were available unless you wanted Winter wheels. I think yours look quite nice actually!

Thanks for the comments and advice........ I have located a set of genuine Audi j9 19" (so not 8.5j) wheels and am thinking of putting 255/40/19 tyres..... however might have to use 35 profile to keep the clocks true and correct. If I am understanding wja96 correctly, if get s-line springs fitted then the car will drop by 20mm meaning snug look under the arches using 19"rims. Hope I have understood correctly an thank again

[JimC64]

Loads of info here for you mate, I done the exact same thing myself some years ago........

A6 C6 Stance & Picture Thread

Lowering my A6 SE

Hope it helps some

Good luck

Jim

[wja96]

If I am understanding wja96 correctly, if get s-line springs fitted then the car will drop by 20mm meaning snug look under the arches using 19"rimshot. Hope I have understood correctly an thank again

Yes, that's correct. The springs are a straight swap. Again, because the sport suspension is an option on the A6 you don't have to declare them as a modification to your insurers.