Second set of wheels for snow tires ?

I thought I could save twice-yearly mounting expenses by buying a set
of steel wheels for my snow tires. My mechanic tells me steel rims are
not available for the '03 Allroad... can this be true ? It doesn't
seem cost effective to buy alloy rims... What do others of you do ?

Allroad writes:
\
>I thought I could save twice-yearly mounting expenses by buying a set
>of steel wheels for my snow tires. My mechanic tells me steel rims are
>not available for the '03 Allroad... can this be true ? It doesn't
>seem cost effective to buy alloy rims... What do others of you do ?

I bought Rondal alloys for my RS6. However, if you don't care what they look
like, check your local wrecking/junk yard. In a previous life, I used to buy
used Audi wheels from a local junk yard and they were more than atequate.
Cheap too. Make sure the ones you buy have the same bolt pattern and off-set.
The junk yard (if it's a good one) should be able to help you with this. And,
who knows, you may find a wrecked Allroad in their cemetary.

Dave

"Allroad 03" wrote
>I thought I could save twice-yearly mounting expenses by buying a set
> of steel wheels for my snow tires. My mechanic tells me steel rims are
> not available for the '03 Allroad... can this be true ?

Possibly. First, there's the brake clearance issue. Second, there the
unusual offset that Allroad requires. Hence, there are very few aftermarket
rims available for it, and probably even less so when it comes to steelies.


> It doesn't
> seem cost effective to buy alloy rims... What do others of you do ?

Look for used OEM rims, like Dave suggested, or maybe new replicas, which
should be much cheaper than OEM yet good enough for winter. I'm running on
16" alloys (replicas) on my A4 during winter. I bought them new from
Discount Tire for about $85 a piece.

Cheers,

Pete

Allroad 03 wrote:
> I thought I could save twice-yearly mounting expenses by buying a set
> of steel wheels for my snow tires. My mechanic tells me steel rims are
> not available for the '03 Allroad... can this be true ? It doesn't
> seem cost effective to buy alloy rims... What do others of you do ?
>
I bought a cheap discontinued set from tirerack.com. I ended up liking
them a lot.