Hello Yeti Folk,

On the last journey I made, and having become more familiar with my new driving environment, I started to concentrate a little more on the driving qualities of shiny new Yeti and thought to myself how the ride was somewhat less supple than I remembered on the test drive. I also thought it a little noisier on the road. What has happened to the comfortable, refined Monster that I had expected? 45 psi in the front tyres that's what If you have just collected a new car, check those tyre pressures just in case the mechanic who carried out your PDI did not. I was practically driving on flinstone wheels! Yeti comfort now restored

Oh, just before someone says the inevitable, yes the tyres were cold when I checked the pressures

What brand do you have on the tires. I have read in Swedish RS-forum that Goodyear Excellence is "noisy"

Yep, I have the Goodyear Excellence although I have read reviews on an independent tyre website that this tyre is quiet? I am hoping that they will be much better now the correct pressures have been applied and they are not so hard. I mentioned in my first post that the front tyres were 45psi, I should have mentioned that the rears were over 40psi as well.

I am going on a long journey this weekend and so will see how they fare then. A lot of it is down to road surface though. We have cheap and nasty roads in much of the UK. Not something that I can see getting much better in the current economic climate.

Never ceases to amaze me how you can go an get tyres fitted and the fitters make a great show of using a torque wrench to tighten the wheel bolts ( after they've been done up with the air-gun, but if the air gun is over torqu-ing the bolts you would never know!), but they NEVER check the tyre pressures after fitting them on the car. These are the same guys that whilst you wait in the waiting room you can't help to notice the big signs that say "Check your Tyre pressures" or "Incorrect tyre pressures are unsafe"

I once had 45 psi in the new front tyres put on my very first car - a Morris Marina ( Damask Red argh... ) I could hardly turn the steering wheel when I left the garage!

Michelin do a nice tyre pressure gauge - that fits in the hand nicely - easy to use etc. I keep it in the car next to the foot pump and spare wheel.

Graham

This might explain the car testers who complain how bad the Yeti ride is! What Car May says the ride is jiggly. Yet others say how pliant it is.

Never ceases to amaze me how you can go an get tyres fitted and the fitters make a great show of using a torque wrench to tighten the wheel bolts ( after they've been done up with the air-gun, but if the air gun is over torqu-ing the bolts you would never know!),

A reasonable skilled Manager buys torque restricted air guns off ingersol rand or cp which are restricted to 100 nm on the tightening function but 350 nm to undo , most cars torque range is between 110nm to about 135nm . however after running one of these centres for twenty years successfully (plus being in the business for over 25 years)I find the time to check my wheelnuts is when it comes out of service on my golf I needed a 24" breaker bar with me bouncing on the end of it to undo them.

P.S wait untill you see the price on those excellence's Wow !!!

Peter

Edited 8 April, 201016 yr by Pete-n

I know naughty naughty but after nearly three months of ownership I have just checked my tyre pressures.

Nearside front was 34 psi and the rest of the tyres were 32.5.

Took them down to recommended pressures 32 front and 30 rear (Bar to PSI converter).

tom

Edited 10 April, 201016 yr by Sanqhar

Swapped over the winters to original supplied Goodyear "Excellence" today.

Did the job myself using the supplied jack. Found ablock of wood 1.25" thick was useful to give the jack a "prelift" rather than having to wind too much.

Have put the small block of wood in the boot with the jack - in case it's needed for an unscheduled wheel swap.

Torqued the wheel bolts to 120 NM as per Manual - but needed a scaffolding bar to get all 5 bolts off 3 of the wheels, the 4th I could undo - just - using my wheel brace .

The winter tyres I took off were Nokia WRG2 17". I like these tyres for a number of reasons. One nice feature is the tread wear written into the tread - in addition to the minimum "bump"

that is on all tyres. From this I could see the front tyres had worn away the 8mm marker, but 6mm still showing. The rears still were showing 8mm. Not to bad after nearly 5k miles I suppose.

Winter wheels stacked away and will rotate the rear to the front when I come to fit them on.

But at the moment I'm enjoying Spring rather than thinking about Winter ...even if I do still have a pile of snow in my garden!

Graham

Edited 10 April, 201016 yr by grahamar

This morning, it felt like a mistake, but I did put on the summer wheels last week.

The winters have 16,000 km on them and are down to 8 mm thread depth, which indicates around 50,000 km life to 4 mm. I ran them at 36 psig all around and looking at the wear pattern, that is just about right. No different in wear front to back and a nice even pattern from side to side on each tyre.

I startet out with the summer tyres at the same pressure, but that is a little harsh, so now down to 33 psig for the mad dash down to Milano. The were initially a littl noisy, but the inital wear has reduced that, so they are now quieter than the winter tyres. Handling di improve a little - and I subscribe the "little to the excellent behaviour of the winter tyres.

The mad ash part means that yesterday afternoon and this morning, 1200 km to Switzerland, mostly Autobahn. This morning's 4 hour run returned an average of 125 km/hr, which is both good and bad. The good is that Snehvide is quite comfortable at 160-180 km/hr for several hours when conditions permit. The bad is that fuel is sucked up at a more thirsty rate, 9.5 l/100 km for that run, or almost 30 mpg.

Oh and the possible mistake in not having the winters on? It snowed like an SOB for 30 miles around AAlberg in Southern Germany. You know those big heavy flakes that say splat on the windshield? Temperature was hovering very close to 0°C, and the snow was beginning to stick to the road when it finally stopped snowing and the temperature came up to a balmy 5.5°.

Hello Yeti Folk,

On the last journey I made, and having become more familiar with my new driving environment, I started to concentrate a little more on the driving qualities of shiny new Yeti and thought to myself how the ride was somewhat less supple than I remembered on the test drive. I also thought it a little noisier on the road. What has happened to the comfortable, refined Monster that I had expected? 45 psi in the front tyres that's what If you have just collected a new car, check those tyre pressures just in case the mechanic who carried out your PDI did not. I was practically driving on flinstone wheels! Yeti comfort now restored

Hi, nice thought as I too had a different impression of my test drive and car on pick up, especially road noise. I'll check them as soon as I find an air pump that's working! Might improve mpg too! Though I would have thought that higher pressure would decrease road noise which is my only real area I not so happy with. Actually that seems to be getting better, maybe there's some muck in the wheel arches, or I'm getting used to it.

I have experienced the jiggly ride, but only on certain ridged roads. Mostly I think the ride is very good. My car has Dunlop Sport tyres, does anyone know which tyres are quietest? I am sure there must be someone who knows.

R

Hi, nice thought as I too had a different impression of my test drive and car on pick up, especially road noise. I'll check them as soon as I find an air pump that's working! Might improve mpg too! Though I would have thought that higher pressure would decrease road noise which is my only real area I not so happy with. Actually that seems to be getting better, maybe there's some muck in the wheel arches, or I'm getting used to it.

I have experienced the jiggly ride, but only on certain ridged roads. Mostly I think the ride is very good. My car has Dunlop Sport tyres, does anyone know which tyres are quietest? I am sure there must be someone who knows.

R

My experience is that the change from winter tyres to the original summer ones was nosiy to begin with, but settled down after a few hundred miles and were much quieter. Patience is a virtue. The Yeti is very quiet to begin with, which acentuates the small differences.

Hello Yeti Folk,

On the last journey I made, and having become more familiar with my new driving environment, I started to concentrate a little more on the driving qualities of shiny new Yeti and thought to myself how the ride was somewhat less supple than I remembered on the test drive. I also thought it a little noisier on the road. What has happened to the comfortable, refined Monster that I had expected? 45 psi in the front tyres that's what If you have just collected a new car, check those tyre pressures just in case the mechanic who carried out your PDI did not. I was practically driving on flinstone wheels! Yeti comfort now restored

Thanks for the advice. Just checked mine (126 miles so far) and yes, 45/42 psi cold. No wonder the steering was so light! Dropped the pressures back to recommended figures. No noticable increase in road noise, steering has more feel, & the ride seems more compliant.

I wonder how many other new cars out there have the wrong pressures? :wonder:

Thanks for the advice. Just checked mine (126 miles so far) and yes, 45/42 psi cold. No wonder the steering was so light! Dropped the pressures back to recommended figures. No noticable increase in road noise, steering has more feel, & the ride seems more compliant.

I wonder how many other new cars out there have the wrong pressures? :wonder:

Oh I bet that there are a few. Makes a big difference to the ride which makes me wonder if those who have criticised the ride have driven with over inflated tyres. The ride is not perfect when adjusted properly but it is pretty good. I find that the noise of the bump is more noticeable than the bump itself but this often makes people think that the ride is more compromised than it is.

Having spent Saturday whizzing down some Herefordshire country lanes I am so impressed at how tightly controlled the handling is on the Yeti. It is fun to drive plain and simple.