I have yeti elegance & done 8000 km, recently while visiting farm house had to do little off road drive & while on my way front wheel took little jump over rock & the alloy damaged the side wall of tyre. I am of the opinion that the skoda should be giving all terrain tyres as standard fitment to match the 4*4 SUV capabilities. I am unable to find new tyre now, my dealer has kept me waiting for 10 days now & still desire weeks time more.

Presumably your Yeti Elegance has 17" tyres with a 50% aspect ratio, those are not really suitable for off-road and I doubt if "proper" off road tyres are made in that size.

Edited 26 August, 201114 yr by Agerbundsen

Hi,

as Agerbundsen has stated the 17" alloys with 225/50 tyres are fairly limited to saloon sports tyre designs or a few all-season or winter options. The 16" 215/60 does have a the odd '4x4' option but mainly road biased designs by tyre manufactures such as Michelin, Goodyear and Yokohama.

Have written to Skoda about this point myself, although they still seem oblivious or uninterested in some owners needs, however they did agree to build my current Yeti with the 16" Moon Alloys rather than the standard 17" Spitzburg's as specified by Skoda UK

Regards,

TP

Sounds like a good enough reason to steer clear of the 4x4 Yeti - unfit for purpose?

The 4x4 & off road handling capabilities of yeti r not questionable. Concern is the Tyres coming with yeti, it's configuration is good year excellence 215/60/R16 has problem or it's alloy has damaged the tyre? If any have experienced similar problem can share to lead to cause.

The 4x4 & off road handling capabilities of yeti r not questionable. Concern is the Tyres coming with yeti, it's configuration is good year excellence 215/60/R16 has problem or it's alloy has damaged the tyre? If any have experienced similar problem can share to lead to cause.

If my shoes have holes in their soles then I don't go walking in the rain!

If my shoes have holes in their soles then I don't go walking in the rain!

Please don't be ignorant. There is nothing wrong with the Yeti 4x4 off road capabilities, the guy was asking about wheels and tyres.

If my shoes have holes in their soles then I don't go walking in the rain!

Well, I guess its more a question of do you go hiking in the wood on stiletto heels?

The Yeti is a 4x4 on road car with some offroad capability, if you run it on fat

wide tarmac tyres you would not expext any offroad handling.............

My old Land Rover Defender was no good in the terrain with the tyres I had,

while my fellow members in the offroad club could climb mountains with theirs.

So the wheels make all the difference.

I have driven "Dewi the Yeti" probably over 400 miles off-road in total now, from Gr1 forest tracks to extremely rough rocky areas and never had a problem with tyre damage.

Sorry, but in general this sort of thing happens because of either poor route reading and/or excessive speed.

I think I was one of the first yeti owners to take their Yeti through a "proper off road" course last spetember (theres a thread here http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/175806-lesser-spotted-off-road-yeti/ from last year on the topic and the photo's still online too).

There is no way you can fault the 4x4 system on the yeti, I also went round this course with the standard fit 225/50R17 DUNLOP SP01 94W tyres.

Tyres do make a huge difference - no argument there, but tyre damage is typically caused by the poor choice of route, potentially sharp obstacles or maybe wrong speed.

Note to Skoda - To make the off road experience better I would like a lot more ground clearance (its current downfall), which would then allow a better on ramp / off ramp angles. But I wouldnt want to change the computer or the Haldex system at all. This is the trade off between an off roader and a road car - you cant do both really well on the same platform (unless you have a Range Rover maybe - but they break too often and are much more expensive to fix) ;-).

Roger

I have driven "Dewi the Yeti" probably over 400 miles off-road in total now, from Gr1 forest tracks to extremely rough rocky areas and never had a problem with tyre damage.

Sorry, but in general this sort of thing happens because of either poor route reading and/or excessive speed.

It just goes to prove that old age, treachery and EXPERIENCE wins over youth and vigour all the time

I think I was one of the first yeti owners to take their Yeti through a "proper off road" course last spetember (theres a thread here http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/175806-lesser-spotted-off-road-yeti/ from last year on the topic and the photo's still online too).

Sorry Roger, but I'm going to have to disagree with you.

Got mine in July last year and it was driving through some stages in the Hafren Forest 3 days later!!

Back to the future...

Got mine in July last year and it was driving through some stages in the Hafren Forest 3 days later!!

How were your stage times though.

Rough road package?

Sorry Roger, but I'm going to have to disagree with you.

Got mine in July last year and it was driving through some stages in the Hafren Forest 3 days later!!

Ok, nearly the first (picked it up at the beginning of July the took it to France before going off road in Sept) Did you bother with the rough road pack as I didn't see the point of a bit more plastic.

Roger,

I bought mine as an ex demo model, so it doesn't have the OR button or the off-road package. It was more than just extra plastic then; you got a proper ali sump guard, but even so the new plastic one is VERY strong!! That is the only thing I miss, but you learn to choose your route carefullly.

Breckie,

very slow, but then we Safety Officials aren't supposed to be going quickly!

(Actually it was doing some route checking for an event)

There's a guide to the Rough Road Pack covering both the original and later specification and as Graham points out there's more to it than a plastic guard;

My link

TP

Please don't be ignorant. There is nothing wrong with the Yeti 4x4 off road capabilities, the guy was asking about wheels and tyres.

Surely the wheels and tyres are part of the Yeti.

Roger,

I bought mine as an ex demo model, so it doesn't have the OR button or the off-road package. It was more than just extra plastic then; you got a proper ali sump guard, but even so the new plastic one is VERY strong!! That is the only thing I miss, but you learn to choose your route carefullly.

Breckie,

very slow, but then we Safety Officials aren't supposed to be going quickly!

(Actually it was doing some route checking for an event)

Really? Every time I go to a rally it seems to attract a whole convoy of horn blaring softroaders showing off their driving prowess. I prefer Mk2 Escorts.... .

Surely the wheels and tyres are part of the Yeti.

Obviously, or you wouldn't be able to drive it anywhere.

Hi Vivek, Others

What you have mentioned is a genuine cause for concern and I have also faced the same problem with the Goodyear tyres on my Yeti in India within 10k kms (7 months of usage). One of the tyre sidewalls has been damaged, in normal road usage (forget Offroad use!). There is seriously a major problem with the Goodyear tyres which are being supplied. I am also aware of another person (Sushil, also on this forum) who has also suffered sidewall damage. The irony is that in India, there are no options are available in AT tyres (contacted Yokohama/ Michelin / Goodyear / Pirelli / Continental) and all they have is 215/65 R16 tyres, which will fit the Yeti, but will void the warranty.

Still stuck in a dilemma.

Also, there is a UTQG rating which is specified for tyres, which for the Goodyear Excellence tyres is 240 A A. The treadwear rating of 240 is very low and they should be offering tyres in India at least with a UTQG of 400.

Regards,

Sameer

Surely you have to use a bit of common sense here. The Yeti is sent out with road tyres as most people will drive it on tarmac. The tyres are good enough for basic off roading but clearly if you are going over genuinely rough terrain, up and down snowy hills etc then you need to fit your car out accordingly. If you put genuine off road tyres on the Yeti then the tarmac drivers would complain about road noise and mpg.

Most sales will be to tarmac drivers who want the extra reassurance that the 4wd Yeti gives so that is how Skoda kit it out.

Most sales will be to tarmac drivers who want the extra reassurance that the 4wd Yeti gives so that is how Skoda kit it out.

"Tarmac" in India may be something quite different from what we in Europe and off-lying islands are used to. :wonder:

"Tarmac" in India may be something quite different from what we in Europe and off-lying islands are used to. :wonder:

I quite agree which was part of the point I was trying to make. You have to make your own judgement as to what surfaces you are driving on and whether the tyres are fit for that purpose. The Yeti is not a pure off roader, like a land rover for example, and so will be shod differently.