diff --git a/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/__snapshots__/artifacts.spec.ts.snap b/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/__snapshots__/artifacts.spec.ts.snap
index e842281010838792a4d4553373a5edb5c9b11d76..0e5de361fcc0a7eb8c7a9febc3c4c647a5fbf2cf 100644
--- a/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/__snapshots__/artifacts.spec.ts.snap
+++ b/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/__snapshots__/artifacts.spec.ts.snap
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ Array [
 exports[`manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts replaces existing value 1`] = `
 Array [
   Object {
-    "cmd": "<gradlew> wrapper --gradle-distribution-url https://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-6.3-bin.zip",
+    "cmd": "<gradlew> wrapper --gradle-version 6.3",
     "options": Object {
       "cwd": "/root/project/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/__fixtures__/testFiles",
       "encoding": "utf-8",
diff --git a/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts-real.spec.ts b/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts-real.spec.ts
index e5ff7af1289a37f13d4aa293cc7dff737c57e1b4..96f4047e78d6c15e8c577d82bd4533fa55286a79 100644
--- a/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts-real.spec.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts-real.spec.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
-import { readFile, readFileSync } from 'fs-extra';
+import { readFileSync } from 'fs-extra';
 import Git from 'simple-git';
 import { resolve } from 'upath';
 import * as httpMock from '../../../test/http-mock';
 import { git, partial } from '../../../test/util';
 import { GlobalConfig } from '../../config/global';
 import type { RepoGlobalConfig } from '../../config/types';
+import { readLocalFile } from '../../util/fs';
 import type { StatusResult } from '../../util/git/types';
 import { ifSystemSupportsGradle } from '../gradle/deep/__testutil__/gradle';
 import type { UpdateArtifactsConfig } from '../types';
@@ -22,8 +23,8 @@ const config: UpdateArtifactsConfig = {
   newValue: '5.6.4',
 };
 
-function readString(...paths: string[]): Promise<string> {
-  return readFile(resolve(fixtures, ...paths), 'utf8');
+function readString(path: string): Promise<string> {
+  return readLocalFile(path, 'utf8');
 }
 
 function readBinSync(...paths: string[]): Buffer {
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ describe('manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts-real', () => {
         packageFileName: 'gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties',
         updatedDeps: [],
         newPackageFileContent: await readString(
-          `./expectedFiles/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties`
+          `../expectedFiles/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties`
         ),
         config: { ...config, newValue: '6.3' },
       });
@@ -122,7 +123,7 @@ describe('manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts-real', () => {
         packageFileName: 'gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties',
         updatedDeps: [],
         newPackageFileContent: await readString(
-          `./testFiles/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties`
+          `../testFiles/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties`
         ),
         config,
       });
@@ -146,7 +147,7 @@ describe('manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts-real', () => {
         packageFileName: 'gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties',
         updatedDeps: [],
         newPackageFileContent: await readString(
-          `./testFiles/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties`
+          `../testFiles/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties`
         ),
         config,
       });
@@ -173,7 +174,7 @@ describe('manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts-real', () => {
         packageFileName: 'gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties',
         updatedDeps: [],
         newPackageFileContent: await readString(
-          `./testFiles/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties`
+          `../testFiles/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties`
         ),
         config,
       });
@@ -217,7 +218,7 @@ describe('manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts-real', () => {
         })
       );
 
-      const newContent = await readString(`./gradle-wrapper-sum.properties`);
+      const newContent = await readString(`../gradle-wrapper-sum.properties`);
 
       const result = await gradleWrapper.updateArtifacts({
         packageFileName: 'gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties',
@@ -237,10 +238,7 @@ describe('manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts-real', () => {
       expect(result[0].artifactError).toBeUndefined();
 
       expect(
-        await readString(
-          adminConfig.localDir,
-          `./gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties`
-        )
+        await readString(`gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties`)
       ).toEqual(newContent);
 
       expect(httpMock.getTrace()).toEqual([
diff --git a/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts.spec.ts b/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts.spec.ts
index 4d042f021fdfbd362ae5231dbcb8aa25283d46a9..28253c8785c34f5e0e79e29382db28dbfa246647 100644
--- a/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts.spec.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts.spec.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { readFile, stat } from 'fs-extra';
+import { stat } from 'fs-extra';
 import { resolve } from 'upath';
 import { envMock, exec, mockExecAll } from '../../../test/exec-util';
 import * as httpMock from '../../../test/http-mock';
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ addReplacingSerializer('gradlew.bat', '<gradlew>');
 addReplacingSerializer('./gradlew', '<gradlew>');
 
 function readString(...paths: string[]): Promise<string> {
-  return readFile(resolve(fixtures, ...paths), 'utf8');
+  return fs.readLocalFile(resolve(fixtures, ...paths), 'utf8');
 }
 
 describe('manager/gradle-wrapper/artifacts', () => {