The factory tyres were Pirelli P7000's and they had a pretty strong sidewall. Mine are weak and they felt weak so I run about 75-80% of max because the car's so light. After a little interior removal it's less than a ton, unless it's on the track I keep it high and have got far better grip from that.

I know heaps of guys in the UK run Peugeot or Citroen 16" wheels for track use, cheap and easy. Interesting to see if a 45 gives any clearance issues out the back under load, there seems to be more than enough room though the thing is jacked. Apparently you can get 18" on them, don't know why though.
Also i'm pretty sure the offset is 25? And getting tyres balanced on the factory wheels is a huge bitch, you need to find a tyre fitter that has what they call a 'Citroen cap'. They have no centre hole,  and can't be balanced normally. The only place that can do it in the whole of the Wellington region is Upper Hutt tyres, as for anywhere else, no clue.

I actually run 35psi all round. Never had trouble with grip at all, and the tyres the car came on aren't nice.

Wheels won't be from NZ.

17" I think Fifteen52 Turbomac if they'll give me the right offset (+20, not the Ford Fiesta +42)
16" I'm going to go with OZ/Sparco 'Terra' or Speedline Corse in a 16X7 or 7.5

If I need new tyres before I change wheels, I'm gonna go for a 205/45 as those are common in stuff like the Achilles ATR Sport ($163 semi-sport tyre)

The suspension is stock though i'm sure there are a couple of fancy bushes in the back, trailing arm ones look like they might be blue lol. Got a fresh set of tyres up front and run them at 40psi with 42 out back. The fitters set them at 32psi and holy moley the ride was shot to hell, I was losing grip all over the place. Got to servo and checked the max pres. which is stated as 50psi. 50 bloody psi and the idiots had put 32psi in them. Luckily the rubber bands didn't tear themselves to shreds. The ride is just naturally hard, most reviews talk about it and I didn't mind, but over a year with a daily 100km commute, yeah, it's too much to deal with lol.

Keen to see what the larger sidewall of a 50 profile will do to the handling, though it all depends on the kind of tyre I guess.

Just a quick edit: good luck with wheels lol. The PCD is weird and I couldn't find anyone that can get hold of decent wheels in NZ, like anywhere. It's the same PCD as old Escorts and BMW's but of course the wrong offset, also the centre hole size is different to everything else lol, it's a mess. All I could find were blanks that you can get drilled, but blanks are usually cheap and heavy. OZ make wheels that fit and I think the Ultraleggera was a factory option, but there's no benefit except for looks as they're actually heavier than the stock wheels. The stock wheels come in under 8 and a half kgs, they're super light and reasonably strong. Just a shame they look boring. If you find any i'd be keen to know lol, i'd be keen to go up to a 7.5 width, I don't think there's be any clearance issues and that extra width would allow for a far greater tyre choice, 205/40's are few and far between. A 215 would be easier, cheaper and that extra grip would be madness lol.

Quote from: mookstix on April 28, 2019, 12:41:22 PM
Keen to hear the results if you try out the 205/50. I brought my 180 as a track day car only to have my daily die on me, so the 180 is now the daily and after a year of it the harshness of the ride is absolutely killing me lol.

Will do! I don't find it too bad in normal driving actually - what tyre pressure do you run and how are the bushes?

This is on stock suspension. Hopefully I can afford wheels and tyres around late September.

Keen to hear the results if you try out the 205/50. I brought my 180 as a track day car only to have my daily die on me, so the 180 is now the daily and after a year of it the harshness of the ride is absolutely killing me lol.

Mmm @Pee Dubbaya, bit of tune on that baby does really appeal... :-)

Welcome, great car. Lots of potential to tune diesels if you're so inclined!

Stumbled into a frenchie and few years back and love em, hooked on the diesels, so not lightening pace, but love that torque, and a bit hooked on all the crazy hydraulics. Suits driving these tight and winding roads, gravel, crossing paddocks, etc. Still struggle to get up to the same speeds on these roads in the bmw 530i (feels like a barge in comparison). I'm farming near Raglan, bit of an engineering and  technology background before that. Here's a pic of frenchie Francois the Xantia... :-)

Quote from: JoshGti on April 01, 2019, 10:10:16 PM
It should be good - ride is surprisingly harsh on the 40 section tyre. I think if i can a set of Compomotive TH1680's and a 205/50 might be the solution later.

Yes they're firmly sprung but shouldn't be harsh, even on 17" rims and 40 section tyres. 16" rims off standard 206 GTI (Nimrods) would give you a bit more sidewall and are fairly easy to find, but original worn out dampers or old tyres could easily be the issue too. How many km's has yours done?
Or on the other hand it could be just recalibrating to a different car...

Quote from: JoshGti on April 24, 2019, 11:50:59 AM
Welcome - unfortunately this forum is pretty dead! Good luck finding a 205GTi, very rare car

Most active forum members have migrated to using a Facebook group and check here infrequently. If you're genuinely keen to part of the group ask for an add on Facebook.
205 GTI isn't so rare, just don't change hands that often like they perhaps used to. You have to keep an eye up for when they pop up for sale, and be prepared to fork out a bit more for a good one.