16" Biolines on 2012+ Passat

Has anyone here used 16" Bioline wheels from Jetta on their Passat? From what I can tell fitment should be OK but the ET 50 concerns me. Maybe I'm over thinking this any comments would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I'm about to put 16" Biolines on my 2014 NMS. I don't think the offset will be an issue. I'm going to be using 205/65R16 tires, which I believe will reduce the inboard tire clearance by 0.081 inches when compared to the stock 17" tires. However, the clearance between the wheel and the brake caliper is pretty tight on the front wheels. When I test mounted the wheels the wheel weights rubbed on the calipers, so you will have to be careful about where to position the weights.

I was thinking of going this route to, definitely 16" not sure if they will be Biolines yet. I am not sure if I want to go 215/60-16 or 205/65-16 but from what I am finding there are more 215 options over the 205.
If you go 205/65 can you post pics and what you purchased? I am curious what they will look like on the car.

I think that's the wheels I picked up on craigslist for $100 bucks, they do fit but one must move the weights out of the normal channel and move them inward to clear the caliper- in this picture you can see how close they are, and yes at speed they do hit and make terrible noise- but no damage other than a tiny scrape on the outside of the caliper. Go with 215's as the 205's from the jetta make the Passat look short and silly, plus the speedo was nearly 10mph off and it caused me to rack up many more miles than what I actually did.






Here is the scrape on the caliper :

there won't be a speedo difference between 215 and 205 tires!

8mph off between my stock 18's and the above pictured 205/55/16 I think even 205/60's would still be shorter? I read somewhere that the with still plays a role in the sidewall height ?

Also make sure the weight rating of the tire is adequate for the Passat.

jrm said:

8mph off between my stock 18's and the above pictured 205/55/16 I think even 205/60's would still be shorter? I read somewhere that the with still plays a role in the sidewall height ?

Click to expand...

8 mph doesn't sound right, I posted a thread about this when I switch from my 18"s to 16" snow tire and the difference was less than 1mph. My 18's had a circumference of 82.7in and my snow tire 16's have a circumference of 82.2in. I went from 235/45/18 to 215/60/16. My resulting % difference was -0.65%. Meaning when my speedo reads 70mph, I'm actually doing 69.54. My GPS speedo app on my phone confirmed the above speeds.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=400456&highlight=calculator

I used the calculator from a difference site, but then confirmed my results with this calculator
http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/tire-wheel-gearing-calculator.htm

Not entirely relevant to this thread, as I am not running biolines on the Passat. However I do run 16" rims with my winter tires, and the recommended size is 215/60R16 (this is the size available on the Passat S); the difference in size is pretty much the same as stock 17". Clearance is very tight with the calipers, but I have not experienced any rubbing issues.

pparks1 said:

8 mph doesn't sound right, I posted a thread about this when I switch from my 18"s to 16" snow tire and the difference was less than 1mph.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=400456&highlight=calculator

Click to expand...

This is because the poster is running 205/55R16 tires, which run around 837 revs per mile; whereas the 215/60R16 tires will run about 795 revs per mile. The 215/55R17 tires run about 792 revs per mile.

pparks1 said:

there won't be a speedo difference between 215 and 205 tires!

Click to expand...

That depends on what the aspect ratio is, as sidewall height is a percentage of the width. For example, the height of a 215/55 tire is 55% of 215mm, while the height of a 205/55 tire is 55% of 205mm. Combine that with 2" smaller wheels, and you could have a pretty significant difference.

jrm said:

I think that's the wheels I picked up on craigslist for $100 bucks, they do fit but one must move the weights out of the normal channel and move them inward to clear the caliper- in this picture you can see how close they are, and yes at speed they do hit and make terrible noise- but no damage other than a tiny scrape on the outside of the caliper. Go with 215's as the 205's from the jetta make the Passat look short and silly, plus the speedo was nearly 10mph off and it caused me to rack up many more miles than what I actually did.






Here is the scrape on the caliper :

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting the pic that is a very tight fit. I dont know what the relationship between the width of the wheel and caliper are but thought the wheels were wider than the calipers. I assume you cannot move the tape weights further to the inside edge of the wheel avoiding the caliper?

I am still not sure if I will do this if the clearance is that tight, this will actually be permanent for me not just the winter. I currently run 215/55-17 and wanted more sidewall due to the crap roads. The car is only a year old and I already have to replace a rim due to a pothole.

As far as size goes from what I have found 215/60-16 will be a touch small as pparks1 mentioned but acceptable to me. The 205/65-16 would be a bit larger however I have not found too many tires in that size.

tdiatlast said:

Also make sure the weight rating of the tire is adequate for the Passat.

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I had not thought about that, I figured most 16's would be ok to use.

Passats through 2005 have a 25" diameter tire
Passats 2006-2011 have a 25.3" diameter tire
Passats 2012+ have a 26" diameter tire

Jettas run a 25" diameter tire

So if you throw on a stock Jetta tire, it will be an inch smaller and thus the 8-10 mph error on the speedo.

Weight ratings are important also as mentioned.
The 2012+ passat has a 94 weight rating in the 18" tires and a 95 weight rating in the 16" tires, forgot to check the 17" ones

The Jettas run a 91 weight rating, at least on my wife's 09

Narrower are better in snow, so a 215 is a good winter width.
You need to look at what width you want (205-235) in what rim diameter needed (16-18) and then select the aspect ratio ( 45-60)that equals as close as possible a 26" overall diameter.
Then make sure it meets the weight rating, a 94 should be the minimum.

Tire rack is a good place to look at general specs of the tires. Just select the stock tire for the car and then look at the spec tab, it will show stock specs and also you can compare the different aspect ratios and see the difference in diameter.


As for the rims fitting, which is the original question, the offset plays a big part in that as JRM showed, the stock Jetta wheels bolt up but sit slightly closer to the brakes than a 16" passat wheel. If you choose to use 16" jetta wheels, it is best to test fit them before committing to buy. 17" jetta wheel should not have that issue. They will still sit in about a 1/2" more but clear the brakes.

Weight rating: That's why I mentioned it. The tire in the photos shows a 91 rating. When I phoned TireRack, asking a similar question (Jetta tires/wheels on an NMS Passat) I was told the 91 rated would NOT work.

Im going to pick up some 215/60-16 altimax artic's and put them on the above rims, yes if you move the weights inward they clear. I just tired to move the Passat in 8" of fresh snow with the stock tires, compete failure!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns5f4O7QK5g&list=UUnM9hNh2KpWu1P0SuBtnZqw

LOL great summer tire video.

jrm said:

Im going to pick up some 215/60-16 altimax artic's and put them on the above rims, yes if you move the weights inward they clear. I just tired to move the Passat in 8" of fresh snow with the stock tires, compete failure!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns5f4O7QK5g&list=UUnM9hNh2KpWu1P0SuBtnZqw

Click to expand...

And how many miles are on your Conti's?

I am the OP on this thread..............I just wanted to know if 16" Biolines would work out ok. I have 16" steel wheels for my snow tires. When my stock 18" tires wear out I want to replace them with 16" tires due to price and comfort of a tire with a taller sidewall Thanks for all the input. Please end this thread. I think through my own research and everybody's comments here I know what to do.