Tyres Again / Advice Or Comments

[BATTY]

Well, Superb II CR170 (combi), 10500 miles and already looking for new tyres. I have done mostly motorway driving but do tend to "use" the power when on country lanes and around our windy/windy area.

I was wondering what the thoughts are on changing the profile of the tyres. I will be doing even more (if that's possible) motorway driving in the coming months so am not too hung up on handling. Wouldn't a bigger profile reduce road noise and possibly improve mileage, also probably mess up the speedo calibration somewhat unless that is gearbox driven. I am not sure that reducing the tyre noise is a good thing mind, as the engine drone problem will be even more obvious and may well drive me insane.

Any comments/advice welcome.

[Tankdave]

What engine drone, I can hardly hear mine? and you would need to go to 17" rims if you want to reduce the profile.

[BATTY]

What engine drone, I can hardly hear mine? and you would need to go to 17" rims if you want to reduce the profile.

Thanks for the advice on the tyres.

I have an engine "drone"/noise at 2000rpm to around 2600rpm. It is most noticeable on the motorway at anything over 69mph (satnav speed) worst at around 74/5. The dealer has tried to sort it out but to no avail, the car is quiet at just under 70 but totally different just over and up to about 80mph. Dealer seems to think it is the DPF that kicks in at 2000rpm. It bugs me quite a lot as most of my travel is motorway, I'll try and get them to have a look again at 20k service, they have had 3 attempts so far, I'll give it till then, after that if it is not sorted my first Skoda experience may be my last.

[Hillhound]

Two things

Just put on Vredestein Centos at 12000 miles to replace Conti's

Open the bonnett and gently revving the engine look for vibration from the air intake pipe/box. This caused a bit of a drone on mine (at a very specific rev) until i wedged it with some rubber.

Hope this helps

Edited 7 February, 2011 by Hillhound

[Tankdave]

Thanks for the advice on the tyres.

I have an engine "drone"/noise at 2000rpm to around 2600rpm. It is most noticeable on the motorway at anything over 69mph (satnav speed) worst at around 74/5. The dealer has tried to sort it out but to no avail, the car is quiet at just under 70 but totally different just over and up to about 80mph. Dealer seems to think it is the DPF that kicks in at 2000rpm. It bugs me quite a lot as most of my travel is motorway, I'll try and get them to have a look again at 20k service, they have had 3 attempts so far, I'll give it till then, after that if it is not sorted my first Skoda experience may be my last.

Not noticed any drone on mine at any speed and I live on the motorway too, I usually click the cruise on at 68 (speedo ind) not because I'm an old git, but to get better mpg, but more often than not I get bored so go faster and I have not noticed anything other than the tyre noise.

Hope you find it?

Edited 7 February, 2011 by Tankdave

[Superbalicious]

10,500 miles... is this common for the diesel engined Superb...? I guess the motor is fairly heavy, but I would have expected more miles than this.

I'm glad a few of you have posted stating you've not heard the engine droning... I got a bit worried when I read the OP on the phone this morning..!

[BATTY]

Not noticed any drone on mine at any speed and I live on the motorway too, I usually click the cruise on at 68 (speedo ind) not because I'm an old git, but to get better mpg, but more often than not I get bored so go faster and I have not noticed anything other than the tyre noise.

Hope you find it?

Do you drive the DSG? The dealer took me for a spin in a DSG to compare, it seems the DSG has a slight noise that kicks in way further up the Speedo. The DSG was very different noise wise. I thought it was just me being paranoid with the noise but the two people at the dealer who have driven the car agree with me, whew. There are a couple of others on briskoda who have had the noise but not seen any posts recently. If you only drive the car under 70, you would never know about the noise.

I would love to take a spin in a cr170 manual and see what it was like, if quiet, then take it to the dealer and say, "set it up the same". Need to get to a meet somewhere.

[dstev2000]

I've just replaced the tyres on my CR170 estate with Ultrac Sessantas - at 13,500miles and I was REALLY pushing my luck too.

I was quite surprised at the rate of wear on the fronts, I am not too confident about the longevity of the Sessantas either

I noticed my worn tyres produced an enormous amount of droning compared to the new rubber on the front wheels. Now she is nice and quiet at all speeds.

I don't buy the idea of the DPF regen causing excess noise. If anything, it will be some of the plastic fittings under the bonnet.

I've just attacked my engine cover with some super powerful sealant to prevent it from rattling at certain RPMs.

Increasing the profile of the tyre without reducing the wheel size will essentially gear everything up making acceleration worse, increase the risk of fouling the arches, more strain on the clutch and transmission etc etc. The aim is to keep the overall circumference the same. Higher profile tyre = smaller alloy wheel and vise versa.

[Departed]

I've just replaced my original fronts with Yokohamas at 14,500. Inner part of both fronts was worn out. I had Yokos on my Octy - love those tyres!

Ray

[jonnb]

I too have just replaced the tyres on my combi (pirelli cinturato), with michelin pilot sport 3, after 17,800km, and I found a huge difference in the price of these tyres, when sourcing 4 of them.

I tried eiretyres and found them at €138 each, allowing €15 for fitting, total €612.

I then tried my local advance pit stop, and was quoted €210 each, total €840 ( no discount), so i went to my local fast fit / first stop, and was given a price of €160 each, total €640, with a delivery of about 3 days.

I decided to go with fast fit, and on arrival to have them fitted, when paying was told the total was €680, i questioned this and when they checked back to the day the order was placed, they found it to be €640, and changed the invoice back, with no hassle.

It goes to show the huge difference in price between local tyre suppliers, some nearly equal to on line sales, and others being rip off merchants.

The tyre in question is a 225 / 45 / 17, and the tyres i received were not old stock, but were manafactured in week 49 of 2010.

All in, a saving of €200, by making a phone call, sending an e mail, and looking up a website.

Edited 8 February, 2011 by jonnb

[stevehg]

I would say that mine has a drone too at 70mph and above. It's certainly engine noise not drivetrain, tyre or windspeed related.

There's also quite a bit of engine noise/resonation atlow speeds when pulling away.

Cheers

Steve

[Specman]

I've just replaced the tyres on my CR170 estate with Ultrac Sessantas - at 13,500miles and I was REALLY pushing my luck too.

I was quite surprised at the rate of wear on the fronts, I am not too confident about the longevity of the Sessantas either

I noticed my worn tyres produced an enormous amount of droning compared to the new rubber on the front wheels. Now she is nice and quiet at all speeds.

I don't buy the idea of the DPF regen causing excess noise. If anything, it will be some of the plastic fittings under the bonnet.

I've just attacked my engine cover with some super powerful sealant to prevent it from rattling at certain RPMs.

Increasing the profile of the tyre without reducing the wheel size will essentially gear everything up making acceleration worse, increase the risk of fouling the arches, more strain on the clutch and transmission etc etc. The aim is to keep the overall circumference the same. Higher profile tyre = smaller alloy wheel and vise versa.

I think the noise is far more likly to be a piece of plastic etc. that is either rubbing against the body at that critical rpm range or something that is slightly loose under the bonnet. These new models have such good insulation on them that I'm not aware that mine is diesel at all unless I open a window slightly and even then it is very quiet.

Strange that the tyres seem to be wearing out at such a low mileage, I have 2 of the earlier model Superbs and the front tyres on both were replaced at around 33,000 miles and I don't hang about either but have always believed in smooth driving and smooth gear changes. I have work colleagues who have not had such good results but after driving with them I can see that they love to hang onto the lower gears for longer before changing up. this will have the effect of putting more torque onto the road and thus the tyres are under more pressure?

I would typically be in 5th gear while they were still in either 3rd or 4th and this also manifested itself in the MPG figures, mine was far higher then they achieved and I would often overtake them on long drives and get to the destination ahead of them, so I pose the question what style of driving do forum members have who are suffering from excessive tyre wear?

To be fair though as yet I have no personal experience of tyre wear on this new model as I'm just about nudging 2,700 miles on the new car but a colleague is getting around 19k from his, so time will tell if my relaxed style of driving will pay dividends again although I now have a DSG box so that may play a part as well.

Graham

[BATTY]

I would say that mine has a drone too at 70mph and above. It's certainly engine noise not drivetrain, tyre or windspeed related.

There's also quite a bit of engine noise/resonation atlow speeds when pulling away.

Cheers

Steve

Thanks fo that response.

So I'm not insane or just hearing things. I have noticed more lately how the noise is around at lower speeds. It all starts at 2000rpm. I have checked every piece of plastic, bolts, metal bits etc to track down loose items but there is nothing. I would love to get hold of a quiet 170 manual and take it to the dealer to compare the two.

As for the tyre wear. The car does spin up quite easy so I expect that has had something to do with it. Although I am no boy-racer.

[superb555]

Here is my findings on tyres, changed from the Conti sports contact to Hankook V12, much much quieter and a nicer ride I had to change this time after 23,000 on the set of tyres to Pirelli PZeros, they are horrendously noisy,and with the Hankkoks I was getting between 550 &600 to a tank of diesel with the pirellis on I am struggling to beat 500 to a tank.

I am actually considering changing back to Hankooks in a few months time to save money.

SNOB

[AnRuaRI]

I have the 1.9 Greenline saloon. I've done 25k miles in 1 year, with lots of motorway driving. The tyres are about half worn with about 5mm on all tyres at the 18500 mile service. I expect to get more than 30k and probably around 40k from them.

I did have 1 rear tyre replaced last week due to picking up a nail. I thought it had loads of life left in it, but Kwik-Fit would rather replace than repair, and LEX were paying.

If you're getting such poor distance out of your tyres you may need to re-consider your driving style and seriously consider doing an advanced driving course from the IAM or ROSPA.

On my advice my parents put a set of Bridgestones on their 1.9 PD Octy, after 55k km on the original Perelli's. They phoned me up to thank me for the advice as they love the improvement in handling.

unfortunately I wont get to be picky on my own car as LEX get to specify what tyres are used.

WARNING:

KWIK-FIT changed my tyre, I asked them to check all the tyre pressures, as I'd not checked them in a while. the guy went round and said "They're all fine, there all about 32".

I asked what that was in bar, as my car is rated for 2.7 - 2.8 bar (front - back). he said he didn't know as his machine read in PSI. I quoted the pressures from the plate on the car (checking it in front of him) he said that was about "30-something" but refused to increase the pressures in my tyres.

I checked with a manual gauge, and found neither axle had the same pressure on both tyres, and pressures ranged from 30 - 35psi.

the correct pressures should have been 38 - 39 PSI. therefore they were very seriously down on what they should have been.

Never trust the Technicians!!!

Low tyre pressure will cause your tyres to wear out much more quickly, and can seriously affect your handling.

[Tankdave]

I assume you meant "Never trust the dummies in Kwik Fit" as they don't have any Technicians

[foureyze]

I have been delighted with my Superb 170 Elegance apart from having to replace the front tyres at 14,000 miles (although I do lots of short journeys on rubbish roads). The factory fitted Continentals have been quiet and have performed well but thought I would try something with better wear. I fitted a pair of Michelin Pilot sport 3's which grip really well but at speed they are so noisy.

Since fitting, the car develops a rhythmical drone that has a peak at 44mph and 63mph but after 70mph I'm turning up the radio and raising my voice to talk to passengers its so loud. I worked out that the resonance is around 180Hz and the interval is 1.2 seconds which is hard to understand. Pressure and alignment are perfect so the answer may be to write off the tyres and find something quieter.

I could understand increased tyre roar with a less slick tread but a rhythmical drone? Anyone any ideas?

[Tankdave]

Poor tyre design will be the reason, no excuse really. Think old landrover on country tyres

[Richf]

I have been delighted with my Superb 170 Elegance apart from having to replace the front tyres at 14,000 miles (although I do lots of short journeys on rubbish roads). The factory fitted Continentals have been quiet and have performed well but thought I would try something with better wear. I fitted a pair of Michelin Pilot sport 3's which grip really well but at speed they are so noisy.

Since fitting, the car develops a rhythmical drone that has a peak at 44mph and 63mph but after 70mph I'm turning up the radio and raising my voice to talk to passengers its so loud. I worked out that the resonance is around 180Hz and the interval is 1.2 seconds which is hard to understand. Pressure and alignment are perfect so the answer may be to write off the tyres and find something quieter.

I could understand increased tyre roar with a less slick tread but a rhythmical drone? Anyone any ideas?

Check the rear tyres for saw toothing , very common on the Octavia and can be corrected by getting the rear toe adjusted. My Octavia used to do it at 43mph as well

[superblack]

Have just fitted Nokian Z line to fronts (read good review and they were £104 delivered) after puncture to Hankook 117s. Cannot report on performance as yet, only covered 10 miles or give feedback on Hankooks as a nail ended their life after 8K and all winter mileage but quiet and OK in wet / cold / snow etc... Will let you know about Nokians if you like?.

(225/45/18S)

[Matt Pez]

I have done 85k in my 170CR and have averaged 30k on the fronts and over 60k from the rears apart from the first factory set which were switched round and only got 20k from the full set of 4. I have stuck with Conti Sport Contacts all through my time with the Berb! Regarding the engine noise, I had a similar issue at about 1500-1800 revs and it was a loose air filter housing, some also report loose exhaust mounts or heat shields with same symptoms!

[JakeBlade]

Sorry - realised I was replying to 2+ year posts. Could someone delete this for me?

Edited 4 April, 2013 by JakeBlade