Steel rims for 2008 1.5dci Megane 5d Hatchback

[whitbyview]

Hi there! I wonder if someone can help me? My car has 205/55 R16 tyres on alloys. It originally came with factory fitted Contis and I recently changed these (25k) for Bridgestone ER300s. I'll have to drive a lot of miles this winter and am considering buying some winter tyres - I'm told these perform a lot better below 7C and of course are far better on snow and ice. If I do this, I'll need to buy some steel rims for my car. I rang a local Renault dealer and the cost of a set of four of these rims (including 4 steel bolts each) is more than £250 before I even consider the cost of tyres. Clearly I could go to a breakers or look on eBay but does anyone know where I could buy new rims of the right dimensions? Can someone tell me even what these dimensions should be, so that I could look online? Did the Megane II steel rims remain unchanged i.e. if I found some on an older scrapped Megane II, would they fit my late 2008 model? Many thanks! Whitby

[joeishmather]

Why not just swap the tyres, n then back after winter?

[whitbyview]

Thanks for replying. To be honest, I didn't really want the hassle! They'll only be on the car four months each year probably and I have the room to store them. I don't know how many times you can put a tyre on a rim and take it off again but even if you can do it again and again, I'm expecting the winter tyres to last at least 4 years, so for the cost of 8 change overs, thought it would be just easier to get them on their own rims.

[joeishmather]

Ah I understand, I think perhaps the best thing would be to buy 4 full size spare wheels from scrap meganes n then take off the tyres n have your winter ones on, that way you'll have 4 hardly used/like new steel rims without the cost, n I got a spare for £15 from a meg so you'd be looking at about 60 for the set, hope that's of some help, Joe

[whitbyview]

Thanks Joe. I guess this comes back to my original question - did the dimensions of the 16" steel wheels on the Meg II change at all? Does anyone know this? As I say, mine is one of the very last ones from 2008 so the question is, how far back can I go date wise and be sure I have the correct rim? I'm afraid I don't really understand these things but I think you have to know more than it has 4 studs at 100mm - aren't there some dimensions or shoulders internally, hidden by any tyre that might be on there? I'm sure if I had the full spec of what the wheel should be, I'd be able to get a generic rim. By the way, it has kubera alloy wheels on it right now ... tried searching the internet for these and found the square root of a small number! Thanks again!

[joeishmather]

Mines a 57 plate with 16" alloys do you revon the alloys will be the same size as the steelies? I will have a look at my spare and see if there the same, if they are should be able to find the sizes if that ok

[whitbyview]

Right - so for reference to anyone finding this post in the future - my spare steel rim has written on it:

24A 61561 MEFRO MADE IN FRANCE 04 07 61/2J16H2F E T 49 10063 (371 - written in a hexagon) RE516010 KBA44544 2

OK, this is pretty meaningless to me (apart from it was probably made in April '07 and is a 6.5J ... OK, I don't really know what that means but I think it is one of the specs I need! At least I have something I can now look up on the internet! If anyone else has an early Megane II (say 2004/2005) with 16" wheels, could you tell me whether this is compatible with what is on your spare? Trying to work out if I can take the steel wheels off a scrap one. Thanks a lot!!