308 Wheel hub swap 4 to 5 hole

[ChrisRobin]

The wife had now decided she wants to get rid if her stock alloys, mainly because they are well heavily kerbed (not by her) so she wants rid.
No problem...... WELL maybe after some searching.
Very few and far between are 4 hole aftermarkets alloys for the 308, the ones I find she does not like and are rather expensive £850 + for a set of well not very nice wheels, pop in 5 stud and oh what a choice.
I could use converters @ 18mm thick £150 owch but not overly happy with adding the extra width to the hub if you know what I mean as I have been warned it could put extra pressure on your hub bearings so they wear quicker.
The VW lads swap hubs 4 to 5 stud easily, so it crossed my mind could I do the same, I think mine on a 12 plate is a Mk1 (4 stud) well bolt, I believe the 308 Mk2 is a 5 stud so I started wondering could I change all 4 hubs to the 5 stud (bolt) from a Mk2 308.

I searched interweb nothing.
looked at my CATAR part catalogue but get no dimensions for the hubs, so I don't know if it will fit the drive shaft with it being the 165BHP possibly has thicker D/Shafts.
Tried looking for 307 wheels aftermarket same issue horrible and pricey.

Anyone have any idea if this is a feasible swap.
I think they changed from 4x108 to 5x108 late 2013 early 2014 on the 308 but I am not sure.

[furriegurrie]

Can’t you just have the current wheels refurbished? Far less hassle and probably cheaper too.

[wheeler]

You would probable be better off just spending the extra money on the more expensive 4 hole wheels. Sounds like a headache waiting to happen trying to convert it. You may run into compatibility problems like the ABS system pickups being different etc.
Even if it does work it could get expensive buying 4 new hubs & associated parts. You would also need a new spare wheel too.

[ChrisRobin]

@ Furriegurrie, It would be and out body shop does them, but she wants it to look different to other 308's, I never thought twice about it to be honest, I mean wheels, pretty universal eh, well it seems not anymore I think after lockdown a lot of companies seem to have gone, Stuck with with mainly wheelbase in the UK for affordable wheels all the other you are stating @ £750 for well not very nice ones that would look daft on it, steer clear of diamond cut and black you have really narrowed market down, even eBay which use to be full of aftermarket wheel sellers there is very little, yet I had no problem picking up wheels for my Megane even with with its odd PCD (5 x 114.3) it seems it is the 4 bolt config which is causing the problems.

@wheeler, I know what you are saying, a couple of the lads at work changed their VW/Audi hubs quite cheaply to 5 stud, and the market opens right up then for you, I get the impression the 4 stud config is quite old now and not worth producing wheels for as much. I was just fishing to see if anyone had any different thoughts on it, but it looks like you are are on the same page as me.
I wonder what 17 x 7j wheels would look like on it, we have a set of OZ Italia wheels off the 307cc in the garage, which I keep meaning to list and sell same centre bore and PCD as the 308cc apart from the 308 is 18 x 8j, so I feel it would like it is wearing the wrong wheels if you know what I mean.

OZ Italia worst wheels ever, she got them on a January sale at Demon Tweaks and paid £750 for them everywhere else almost a grand and above, didn't realise they were silver and diamond cut (pointless, you couldn't tell) until they all started peeling and the alloy worms appeared in the paint, got a refund AND told to keep them OZ do not want them back (says it all), We took them to be powder coated, the Guy took one look and moaned Oh OZ this will take so time dipping. Picked them a two days later and he said "shocking" OZ usually takes at least 3/5 dips to get the paint off, these took one, the paint is that thin in places you can see the prima through it, bottom of the market TSW wheels I dip longer than these and what is point of the diamond cut on silver? and to think when we had this done those wheels brand new, dependent on were you bought from were STILL retailing @ £950 to £1,250 a set and they were shocking nowhere near the quality OZ used to produce.

[Huskyxantia]

Surely the brakes would need modifiying ? Plus bigger wheels might effect the speedo reading true ?

[ChrisRobin]

@ Huskyxantia, they are not bigger wheels, same standard 18 x 8j rims, the phase ones had 4 bolt holes on them the phase 2, 2013 (late) I think the year was, they put 5 hole wheels on still same size rim 18 x8J, if you want aftermarket wheels for it (as the wife does) the choice of 5 hole rims is quite large and varied plus a reasonable price, once you drop to the 4 hole rims the choice demises quite a lot indeed and the price climbs quite a lot, she has settled at present on MAK DaVinci4 @ 18 x7J they are £719, or you could get a really nice set of Romac diablos 18 x8J @ £549 BUT 5 hole if you want to go to £729 (£10 more than the 4 hole MAK's) you can get a set of Wolfrace Venoms on a 5 hole.
There are 20 pages to choose from page three brings you into the £709/£769 range for the phase 2 5 hole rims. It was something that never crossed our mind when buying it as the 307cc was easy to buy rims for there were dozens to choose from, not any more I guess 4 stud/bolt rims are old hat now it is all 5 stud/bolt, even tried 307 for rims and not any better results now.
Who would of thought one extra hole would make all that difference.

[Huskyxantia]

Looks like more cars are 5 hole now maybe this is the start of this particulate tax thats being talked about, things get setup to make money.
I recall in my youth wanting dog leg alloys for an xr3i & a friend saying you dont see them when your driving only when its parked up lol

[ChrisRobin]

Very true, but you only look at your own car when it is parked, but having said that I had a Rosso Red Escort RS Turbo as a young man, when crawling though town I use to look at myself in it through reflections in shop windows..... how vain was I.........
I loved that car, it got very damaged when a truck load of tarmac reversed in to it on site. Ended up with an XR4i it was ok 2.8 V6 petrol but never really gelled with it, sold it on for a Mirafiori TC which was a lot quicker but to rear end light great for what they now call drifting on wet roundabouts, spin you right around if you got it wrong, bag of sand in the boot helped it tremendously, sold it on for a Fiat 127 Sport in orange, moved back to a nice black XR3i, then children arrived and it was all family 4 doors from then on and a motorcycle for fun (escape)
As the pair of us headed toward the evening of our lives Q the convertibles, for both of us, Were are the grand children going to go cried out our daughter...... in your car we replied, you have a car for needs, we have cars for fun!