Hello Guys - Just taken delivery of a 1.8TSi DSG Superb Elegance which replaces a 2009 Octavia L&K with the same engine, gearbox configuration. The Octavia was brilliant except for a gearbox that had a mind of it's own and excessive road noise. The gearbox was partially improved after retuning but the road noise got progressively worse. This I understand is down to an issue with Continental and Dunlop tyres but would cost £500 pounds for a set of Goodyear to see if they were better.

My dealer made me an offer I couldn't refuse on the Superb and having read how quiet they were on the road, even with low profile tyres, I took the plunge.

Impressions so far is that it lives up to it's name and the DSG gearbox is the best I have tried up to now. Perhaps the extra bulk smooths the edges off the initial take-up. One negative point is the road noise and slight jiggle in the ride. Neither are excessive but are not as good as I had hoped.

Is it all down to the low profile tyres that manufacturers think we need as we go up the spec. ladder? Has anyone experience of the difference in ride and noise with differing profile aspect tyres or manufacture?

Could just be the make of tyre as some are more noisy than others. The tyres are all XL rated no matter what the wheel size and these have stiffer side walls, the reason for this is the Superb is a very heavy car.

I changed to michelin after my front pirreli lasted 12000 miles, the michelin lasted 3000 miles more and are much quiter.

A friend has an Octavia with dunlops and they are very noisy when worn he thought the weel bearings had gone!!

I too changed over from the original fitted pirelli's to michelin pilot sport 3's with 35 psi per tyre, and I can say that there seems to be a vast improvement.

Can fully understand your point re low profile tyres, both my previous Yeti and the wife's Fabia II had/have them as standard. On the rubbish roads round here they create a lot of noise, unsettle the ride and are totally hopless in the winter; started fitting steel rims and winter tyres there that bad :S

Just taken delivery of my second Yeti this time on the European Ambition/Experience spec 16" alloy rims and higher profile tyres, far better ride and handling plus noticeably quieter

My dad has a early Superb II Elegance ex demo and his front conti's although reasonably quite appeared to have a high wear rate. He had a non repareable puncture while on holiday and could only obtain Cooper tyres, so fitted a pair but although longer lasting they are noticably more noisy and do not ride as well.

Regards,

TP

Mine's on Conti sport contact 2's as factory fit, no concerns in terms of comfort or performance and certainly better ride quality than the Bridgestone run flats on my previous car. Also had Conti's on my Superb I and had no issue with them either.

After the original Continental's Sport Contact 2 wore out after 28,000 kms I switched to Michelin Primacy HP's. Michelin's came highly recommend to me by a good friend in the tyre retail business. And in a way, I can see where he was coming from, currently they have 36,000 kms on them and while I don't expect them to hit the 40,000 km mark they shouldn't be far off it. They were a little bit more expensive than the Continentals, but my biggest gripe with them was the lack of feedback whilst cornering at speed. Don't get me wrong, they never failed to grip the road, but didn't give the same feedback, and to me that's worth the sacrifice of 10,000 kms. But if you aren't into pushing it hard into bends I couldn't recommend the Michelins highly enough, but for me it's back to the Continentals.

But if you aren't into pushing it hard into bends ...

I hope that was a slip of the keyboard?

Ray