I'm looking for another set of rims for my '96 VW passat TDi. My wife bent the original wheels which I replaced with Mili Miglia Spyder rims. These are now dented too and according to a local wheel guy, the MMs are notoriously "soft" and bend often on Massachusetts roads.

Being a card carrying member of the CSOB crowd, what's a good quality wheel for the money? Form follows function, so I'm more interested in not having to replace them than how they look, but looks is important too... so it handling. I'm going to order the best all season/ performance tire from Tire Rack this week and need a wheel to add to the order.

Whatcha think?

you know i have always been a fan of steelies...there is a 15 inch steel wheel available from the stealership...i love the look plain silver....plus i have never bent on set of those rims...sorry they are not flashy....but functional yes....
but the alloys tend to be bent or get bent.... usually the first set of railroad tracks on the way home....

yeah, I've thought about going back to steels especially if I can get 15" to replace the 14"s. Tire Rack sold me a decent set of hubcentric steelies for use as winter tires for my old GTI some years ago. They were very inexpensive.

The reason I replaced the steels for alloys on this car was that when it was my wife's, she bent two steels and the dealer wanted $125 each for new steels. I bought the Mille Miglias for $75 each.

I've also thought about looking at one of the few "recycle" yards around here.

Then there's these...

Hit some of the bone yards in the area and get some of the VW 14in snowflake rims. I used nail tons of spring time pot holes and never blew a tire or bent the rim beyond usability. They are pretty cheap to pick up and you can get them most anyplace. If you want new the Tirerack steelies are great. I have a set of 5 lug that I used on my VR6 GTi for snows. I did a few rally crosses with them and the covered bridge rally, 150 miles of VT dirt roads!! I would highly recommend them.