Hi all,

Had my first test drive in a VRS today, I own a Fabia Monte Carlo TDi at present for driving instruction, looking at the VRS for instruction and private car.

The most noticable thing for me was the road noise, far more noticable then in my Monte Carlo, this is actually putting me off purchasing the VRS, can anyone tell me what are the highest walls I could fit on the standard rims and how much will this reduce the road noise please?

Handling is not a huge issue as the car won't be used for driving on it's limits, comfort and sound is more important.

Many thanks in advance for suggestions.

Just being nosey,

But can you really make money/profit from Driving lessons in a vRS, given the Fuel Consumption around town and Insurance,

or does the insurance not vary whatever the Instruction vehicle is ??

Are you just teaching Learners to drive Automatics?

Your going to have to go to 16" rims and more tyre wall for Comfort i would have thought.

But i cant see that being that much softer or more forgiving given the Suspension, you will still be running a suitable tyre pressure.

Higher sidewalls would not really reduce the Road Noise in anyway on a vRS. IMO

Narrower & ECO tyres will probably not either, lots of the noise is not from the Tyres actually. JMO

ie

Going from 205/40/17 to 215/45/17,

or as i have on sometimes 215/40/17 which is a very slight increase and as much as you would go really in more 'Rolling Circumference',

215/45/17 would not be a size i would fit on a vRS..

Different Tyre treads will slightly change the road noise, to some ears it might lessen some noise..

During the winter i ran 16" rims with snow tyres, this meant i had more tyres wall and the tyres were still 205 in width,

the Noise was different and because i was doing different speeds, different tyre tread sound, noticably different, but not quieter.

A Small point is that even at 50% above the National speed limit your car will not be getting used to 'near its limits'

You do need to fit Tyres than meet the vehicles requirements as to Speed Rating tho, even if you will never drive the vehicle to those speeds.

That is indicated by the letter on the Sidewall, W or ZR etc.

Indicates to be fitted on vehicles and rated up to 99, 119,149 mph type thing.

http://www.tesco-tyr...lp/speed-rating

http://www.kouki.co....size-calculator

george

Edited 21 July, 201213 yr by sk4gw

Just being nosey,

But can you really make money/profit from Driving lessons in a vRS, given the Fuel Consumption around town and Insurance,

or does the insurance not vary whatever the Instruction vehicle is ??

Are you just teaching Learners to drive Automatics?

Your going to have to go to 16" rims and more tyre wall for Comfort i would have thought.

But i cant see that being that much softer or more forgiving given the Suspension, you will still be running a suitable tyre pressure.

Higher sidewalls would not really reduce the Road Noise in anyway on a vRS. IMO

Narrower & ECO tyres will probably not either, lots of the noise is not from the Tyres actually. JMO

ie

Going from 205/40/17 to 215/45/17,

or as i have on sometimes 215/40/17 which is a very slight increase and as much as you would go really in more 'Rolling Circumference',

215/45/17 would not be a size i would fit on a vRS..

Different Tyre treads will slightly change the road noise, to some ears it might lessen some noise..

During the winter i ran 16" rims with snow tyres, this meant i had more tyres wall and the tyres were still 205 in width,

the Noise was different and because i was doing different speeds, different tyre tread sound, noticably different, but not quieter.

A Small point is that even at 50% above the National speed limit your car will not be getting used to 'near its limits'

You do need to fit Tyres than meet the vehicles requirements as to Speed Rating tho, even if you will never drive the vehicle to those speeds.

That is indicated by the letter on the Sidewall, W or ZR etc.

Indicates to be fitted on vehicles and rated up to 99, 119,149 mph type thing.

http://www.tesco-tyr...lp/speed-rating

http://www.kouki.co....size-calculator

george

Thank you for all of that information, really interesting and useful.

Re Making profit, At present I run manual and auto cars, my main work is in the manual, the auto is also my private use car which is a Peugeot 207 SE Premium 120bhp, which is currently returning an average of 32 mpg over the few thousand miles I've done in it since February.

I done a 45 minute run in both cars over the same route today, the 207 returned 37mpg exactly, the VRS 40.5, I know this isn't a true representation of long term consumption but I did include 3 manoeuvres to try to give a reasonable lesson recreation. IF I did get an extra 3mpg then that is a bonus, if not I can live with it because I've wanted a VRS for years but never been in a position to own one, this is 75% me wanting one and 25% instruction purposes really.

As for insurance, my current insurer will insure me no problem, today they told me that between now and February when my current policy expires, it will cost me . . . . . . . . £44.25 on top, I was stunned, but I will be checking that again should I purchase a VRS!!

When you say 'lots of the noise is not from the Tyres actually', can you explain a bit more? As it's far noisier than my Monte, is this sound increased through stiffer suspension, less sound proofing for weight? I'm downloaded a sound meter app on my phone and, although it's not scientific, I'm going to see if I can get another test drive and compare readings. Whilst test driving the VRS I did get a dashboard warning for tyres, I'm guessing low pressures, so that may make a difference alongside them being nearly 10k old.

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it as this is a big move for me.

Does the standard Skoda Warranty cover you when using the vehicle for commercial use like Driving Instruction?

The tyre noise thing i meant is dependent on speed & its mirrors, lack of sound proofing, tyres, engine with Super charger & Turbo Charger and just what it is,

Never been in a Monte Petrol or Diesel to listen to what they are like.

In a vRS when having fun its not tyre noise that i tune in for, last thing on my mind actually.

Radio off and driving mode on and enjoy.

10,000 miles on the tyres if they had legal tread will not add to noise,

not that i would have thought anyway..

Driving with wrong (low or even too high) tyre pressures

or without checking or not resetting the TPMS is a bad thing. IMO

re your MPG.

Your Lessons MPG must surely be like a driving about town MPG, when a car is up to temperature, 35 mpg.

Then surely lots below that during lessons is it not?.

Stopping, talking and instructing with an engine running, 3 point turn practice, reversing. stop start etc.

Can you really get 40.5 mpg while doing all that?

I think if you had Zeroed the Computer before starting doing that type of routine, it would easily be 10 mpg less.

I am getting during normal driving at the very minimum 35 MPG,

& now 44-50 plus on the motorway at those speeds.

Doing the first 10 minutes of a run during the day in a small town its 25 mpg, then it gets up about 35mpg..

I dont do short City Driving Trips so no idea about them.

george

EDIT PS,

I have now seen the posts now in the 'Fabia vRS review & photo' section thread on the experience of running the vRS as a Tuition car.

Edited 21 July, 201213 yr by sk4gw

I've had 3 exhaust temperature sensors and a wheel arch that had flaky paint replaced under warranty so far, I was told it didn't matter that it was a tuition car regarding warranty, maybe excessive mileage wouldn't count though.

As for the lessons, I set the average counters to zero on each car before starting off,both cars from cold. I did do 3 manouevres on test drive but was a bit pushed for time, both trips were approx 35 minutes and I tried my best to keep the speeds the same on the whole journey.

A normal lesson would involves a few more manoeuvres but I rarely just spend a whole lesson solely on manoeuvres, it's broken up with general/independent driving, I would expect it to be no worse than my current mpg in the 207 but I would do a more thorough test drive to ensure this.

I drove it just as a pupil would, it's easier to replicate a pupil in auto as they are governed when the car will change gear not like manual where they can stay in gears for shorter or longer periods.

Thanks again.

I use my vRS for drivivng lessons george, (yes skoda warranty is covered, and my winter tyres are 205/45/17,yes I know outside 3%,but skoda approved and fitted, insurance approved, speedo GPS accurate (instead of fast) so they could be used as a summer size, speed ratings up to "y")and I did a lesson with just town drivivng and manouvers and got 37 mpg, the one after was more out of town roundabouts ect and was 40 mpg.. when I drive to work 50+ if I try hard...

check out my reply in the review thread MilgeS

I had on 205/50/16 snow tyres which were pretty near the same rolling circumference as you were using and they were fine,

they were excellent in the rain since we ended up without much snow this year.

george

The most noticable thing for me was the road noise, far more noticable then in my Monte Carlo, this is actually putting me off purchasing the VRS, can anyone tell me what are the highest walls I could fit on the standard rims and how much will this reduce the road noise please?

I believe that the Monte and vRS have the same suspension set up (certainly the TSI does) and definately (again the TSI) run on the same tyres (205/40/17). However, road noise is a lot more noticeable in my Monte. But then my Monte is on Dunlops and the vRS is on Contis. Certainly notice the difference (i.e. quieter in respect to road noise) when i steal my vRS back from the wife.

I believe that the Monte and vRS have the same suspension set up (certainly the TSI does) and definately (again the TSI) run on the same tyres (205/40/17). However, road noise is a lot more noticeable in my Monte. But then my Monte is on Dunlops and the vRS is on Contis. Certainly notice the difference (i.e. quieter in respect to road noise) when i steal my vRS back from the wife.

You may have solved my query about road noise, I test drove a VRS yesterday and the road noise was far more than my Monte, the VRS was on Dunlops, my Monte on Continentals. I bought some budget tyres for my Monte fronts as replacements, they give a constant hum, really annoying but lesson learnt for the future!

Fronts down to 3mm so time to replace. SportMaxx ok in the dry, not so good in the wet (bit of a handicap in Scotland)! Either just going to replace the fronts with the Dunlops or go for Rainsports - dilemma is that I have OCD and like all four tyres to be the same - if I go for the Rainsports it means buying four tyres - countering that two Dunlops = approx. £250 / four Rainsports = approx. £340 - decisions, decisions...

buy 4 rainsports , and put the other 2 dunlops on e-bay .....

The offside rear has a nick out the rim protector (not the tyre wall) - had the tyre checked and it's perfectly safe - may put people off buying it though. Not sure if I could be bothered with the hassle of flogging them anyway - probably replace the fronts with Rainsports in a few weeks and do the rears a bit later (that's what I did with my MKI vRS).

Just had the fronts replaced with Rainsports at Performance Tyres in Carmunnock - 80 quid each fitted, which is fantastic value (a few quid less than I paid for Rainsports for my MKI vRS on 16s).

I went from Contis on my Scirocco (235/45ZR17) to Rainsports and found them much better TBH - grip and noise. Got Dunlops on the vRS and will be choosing the Uniroyals unless something better presents itself (its a 30k/year motorway muncher for 75% of its time).

Popped back today to get the tracking done - it was only slightly out but I always like to get it done when changing the front tyres. Fitter was complimentary about the vRS - really liked the interior.

Original size tyres on my Fabia 205/40/17...2 front tyres are very near wear markers, could I replace them with 215/40/17 tyre while keeping the rears on 205/40/17's or will it throw the speed sensors, abs etc out and bring lights on the dash as it did when I friend fitted 205/40/16's on front of his Fabia mk1 vrs apposed to the 205/45/16's on the rear his dash lit up like a crimbo tree and speedo etc went wild!

I put my 215/40/17 on the front yesterday & have not changed the rears yet,, so still on 205/40/17.

(Was cold yesterday & as forecast at Freezing & below this morning, Going to be warmer next week possibly so will be changing them back again so thats why i just did the fronts.

Not time to put on the 16" rims with Winter tyres quite yet, Tattie Holiday trips and all that to come yet.)

Just like usual i checked & adjusted the pressures, re-set the TPMS on the car, then off i drove.

No lights shows, or anything else changes.

Just that the Speedo is more accurate on the 215/40/17's

george

Had mine on 215/40/17 for a couple of months, no problems

Any improvement to ride quality on the 215/40 17s? I was thinking of swapping to this once my rears are worn.

To improve the ride-quality, you have to replace the ****ty suspension .

I've used a couple off different makes on my tyres (tend to smoke them alot) and the Continental SC2 is a pretty good tyre for the money.

They do get worse the further down the thread you go but the first 50% they're pretty good.

I can recommend Federal RSR-595 (already been through a set) in 215/40/17, pretty cheap and very grippy!

For the 18", I'm using Hankook S1 in 225/35/18. Haven't noticed any loss in quality despite going down in profile!

Ive just bought another set of 595RS-R and i think they are absolutely awesome. They are ere really goo din the wet as well, mores so than you would expect them to be.

I put my 215/40/17 on the front yesterday & have not changed the rears yet,, so still on 205/40/17.

george

Always thought larger tyres had to be on the rear if your only fitting two tyres. Could there be an Insurance issue ?

To improve the ride-quality, you have to replace the ****ty suspension .

I've used a couple off different makes on my tyres (tend to smoke them alot) and the Continental SC2 is a pretty good tyre for the money.

They do get worse the further down the thread you go but the first 50% they're pretty good.

I can recommend Federal RSR-595 (already been through a set) in 215/40/17, pretty cheap and very grippy!

For the 18", I'm using Hankook S1 in 225/35/18. Haven't noticed any loss in quality despite going down in profile!

Shame that most aftermarket suspension upgrades will give a harder ride I would imagine.

I swapped to Hankooks from conti sc2. Really chuffed with the Hankooks so far.

Always thought larger tyres had to be on the rear if your only fitting two tyres. Could there be an Insurance issue ?

Audi always fit larger tyre's to the front of there press cars to try and hide there understeer problems. .

'Be Aware' post.

Popping this up here instead of the Dark Chrome Warranty replacement for corrosion posts.

I am getting SWIO's car (she who is obeyed) ready for the winter,

so the wheels are off for the first time since we got it..

Well i can tell you they are off for 'the first time ever', because there is no way a Skoda Dealership workshop has had them off on a 2 year old car with 7500 miles & a 10,000 mile & 20,000 mile service already done.

So basically, the Dealer this morning has agreed to replace 2 wheels this week, there was no problem with that.

They have new wheels in stock & Skoda will agree to the Warranty on them..

(My own wheels which were the same were replaced already without any problem.)

Reason i am posting is.

Check your wheel hubs and get them greased up with a little 'Copper Slip'.

This one needed a good whack to get this wheel off.

Thats why i am almost certain this wheel and the other rear has never been removed from the car up till now.

After another winter of being on and corrosion between the Wheel & centre hub and getting off at the road side would be near impossible without assistance.

Discs are not very pretty either, but they will get replaced after this winter.

george