Replacing alloys with steel rims?

Hello,

I got me a 2015 Citroen C3. And she has 17" alloy wheels.

The wheels do look cool. However, tyres are due for changing soon - and new ones cost a fortune, with anything except admittedly-crappy (C/E rating) budget tyres costing over 100/piece fitted. Also, I can sometimes clip a kerb etc - alloys are not easy to repair properly.

I'm thinking of getting a set of steel rims from a breaker. I can store the alloys securely, and when the time comes to sell the car on, I'll have a set of shiny unworn alloys. This was my own idea, but the men at the tyre shop think I should go for it. (I was clear I'm getting the rims from a breaker so this is not about the shop trying to sell me a set of rims).

So, questions:

- Apart from the car looking less cool, what are the downsides of getting steel rims from a breaker and replacing the alloys with them? (I'm not really worried about trims, if they are needed at all and the breaker does not have them I can get them from a cheapo shop). Should I expect the car to handle *much* worse? The steering is not very sharp as it is, just because it's a Citroen C3. I sometimes understeer a little, but am getting used to it.

- If I do that, should I go for 15 inch or 16 inch? The current tyres are 205/45R17; the tyres to use to keep the diameter more or less the same are 195/60R15 or 195/55R16. The R15 ones are cheaper, but would the handling be significantly beter with R16?

Hi

The smaller side wall gives less flex so cornering is improved but the cushioning ride can suffer.

So a taller sidewall can improve comfort from road surface but affect extreme cornering.

Are you an extreme driver where its all on the red line or prefer a more sedate drive?

But the difference is so small that you would have to be pushing the car to its cornering limits to see much difference, if any.

Hi
Alloy rims are actually easy to repair but it might not be economical to do so.
Steel rims can buckle. Alloy rims will fracture. It's not easy to say which is "stronger".
Steel rims are heavier, adding to the total weight of he car.
Steel rims are cheaper.
Tyre prices are usually dependent on their popularity I.E. if it's a common size.
The lower the profile the more expensive the tyre.
You will be limited by the stud pattern on the rim as to what size/types of rims you can get and then what tyres are available to you.
I do not know if they check the tyre specification during a MOT. It might fail if it's the incorrect wheels.

Upon more research I have two Citroen-specific questions.

- Would the economy become significantly worse if I put on steel rims? This seems to depend on whether the Citroen alloys are much ligher than steel.

- Would 15 inch rims be sure to fit, or might the brake pads etc on this car require at least 16 inch rims? From what I could find, in that year all versions of the C3 had 16 inch options but only a few had 15 inch options.

I wouldn't worry about increased fuel consumption. Although theoretically a heavier car will return worse fuel consumption, the difference would be insignificant. Would you, for instance, expect noticeably worse fuel consumption travelling with two occupants rather than one? And that difference would be far greater than the difference in weight between alloys and steels. If you are wooried about consumption your choice of tyre brand could be more significant.

It looks like I'm going for brand new 15 inch steelies from TyreLeader, guaranteed to fit the vehicle, and also Michelin CrossClimate+ tyres for a quiet ride (the car lets in a lot of road noise) and extra performance in cold spells. Hope to make it a nice comfortable drive which is what this lower-midrange-engine 82 bhp C3 was designed for.

So here is how it went.

I ordered the steelies from Tyres Pneus Onine. Sadly they took nine days to arrive. But at the end of the day. I now have the car done up. Four new 15 inch steelies and Michelin CrossClimate+ tyres on them. (Also new Textar brake pads and Mintex brake discs as part of the same job).

The "bare" shiny black steelies look really good. Sadly I don't think I can keep that look. The valves look really vulnerable, and also the paint could be scratched, endangering the steel. When I said to the tyre man that I like the black wheel look but probably need hub caps, he said go order black hub caps So these have been ordered. They do not have fake nuts, so I'm keeping my "proud steelie" look as best I can.

(I never actually see black hub caps out on the roads - but I did encounter another car with bare black steelies today, a 2014 Dacia Sandero. Still, whatever others do, I just can't help fearing that if I side-bump a hedge, a valve could be torn out, turning a minor incident from which one drives away into a destroyed tyre).

The ride is markedly softer over uneven surfaces, like unpaved roads and speed ramps. There seems to be somewhat less road noise at motorway speeds. I did not notice any difference in how the car handles, though I don't tend to do any fast cornering (for which larger alloys are supposed to give an advantage); normal-speed turns seem to happen as before.

So far fuel consumption appears to have stayed the same, but I really did not drive enough to judge. Anyway, it did not seem to me that the 15 inch steelies were heavier than the 17 inch alloys (I did not actually weigh them, though). So I guess there is no reason for economy to get worse. With slightly narrower wheels (195 vs 205) it might even get better, in theory. I did not max this effect out, though, as I opted for 195/60R15 and not 185/65R15 tyres.