Hi am new to Forum and Skoda having picked up new Fabia estate 110 SEL at the end of April. Like the car but find the road noise intrusive and would like some advice on tyres and wheels. Have read previous posts regarding Bridgestone Turanza 215x45x16 tyres as fitted to my car being noisy so am concidering swapping to Goodyear EG. Would changing wheel size to 185x60x15 make much difference or not worth the expense? Had Focus before Fabia which was very quiet. Am I expecting to much is the road noise mainly down to soundproofing which I need to get used to or will wheel/tyre choice make a big difference? Going back to dealers to try to get a drive of car with smaller wheels, Anybody done this and compared the two sizes?  Thanks in advance for advice,

When we were ordering earlier this year I planned to get a car with 15" wheels but having driven one on 16" wheels I was pleasantly surprised. So I tried another at different dealer and that was fine as well. Should be noted that the wifes old car was on Turanza as well (195 55 16) thus a level playing field and the Fabia was without a doubt quieter. To spec an SE up to SE-L spec  would have cost us about £700 extra, enough to buy smaller wheels should we decide I thought.

 

Having had the Fabia 4 weeks our view has not changed, the car is fine but as they wear I guess that could change. If it does I will probably fit a set of All Season Tyres, we have had very good results from them in the past especially on a Focus (which was always noisy on Contis) and a Kia which became noisy as the Michelins became square.

 

But if you change wheel/tyre size you must inform your insurers. Since your proposal is a standard size in the range it should not be an issue but since its a modification to the standard spec not notifying could result in no cover should the worst happen.

I'll give you my experience if it is of any use to you.

 

My wife bought a VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS SEL new in August 2015, so that means that car comes with the same size of tyres as your car, it is fitted with Conti Contact Premium 2 - I think and the road noise level is okay, in winter time I change the wheels/tyres to 185/60X15 with Michelin Alpins on them and we don't notice any difference in the ride quality - okay slightly more noise under heavy braking with the winter tyres on, but that is to be expected.

 

When she ran a 2002 VW Polo 1.4 16V 75PS SE, it came with 195/50 X 15 which were fitted with Dunlop Sports then Michelin Exalto Pilots and in winter it was fitted with the corresponding 14" wheels and tyres(185/?? X 14), again Michelin Alpins - changing to winter tyres made a huge difference in ride quality though road noise was never an issue with that car.

 

My daughter runs a late 2009 SEAT Ibiza 1.4 16V 86PS SC and she spec'd it to come with 17" wheels, so it is a bit hard on the bottom and a bit noisier than any of wife's Polos are/were, in that case it is down to wheel/tyre size and lack of sound insulation.

 

So in your case, maybe a bit of tyre type and sound insulation issues.

Edited 30 May, 20188 yr by rum4mo

It was by chance that I found that 45 profile tyres are noticeably noisier than 60 profile tyres. I had taken my Fabia III, SE model with 60 profile tyres, into my main dealer complaining about about the engine note being more "growly" than my previous Fabia II so he arranged for me to drive another Mark III with the same CJZC engine. As soon as I drove away in this test car I said the tyres are very noisy and he said they were low profile tyres which made them noisier. Incidentally the engine note was the same (growly) as mine and this is a feature of the 1.2 TSI 90PS CJZC engine. Other downsides to low profile tyres are that the wheel rims are more prone to kerbing damage because they are closer to the ground,  suspension components receive higher shock loads from speed bumps and pot holes and the tyres do not last as long. Low profiles are great for road holding and on race tracks but I do not know of any other good points. I am not sure about their impact on mpg.

^^^ ?

Were the 45 profile  like 215/45  and the 60 profile also 215.

 

Or were they something like 215/45 R 16

compared to 205/60 R 15 or even 195/60 R 15 ?   

 

So different widths, different amount of tread on the road and maybe even different treads, compounds and brands.

Then did you check the tyre pressures the car you were trying were set at?

http://kouki.co.uk/utilities/visual-tyre-size-calculator 

Edited 1 June, 20188 yr by Offski

Hi Offski. If your question was directed to me then all I know is that my car has 186/60 tyres and the test car had 45 profile tyres according to the technician who accompanied me on the test drive. Within 200 metres of setting off the tyre/road noise difference was noticeable. I didn't study the test car tyre spec or pressures because I was only interested in the engine noise/note and the tyre noise issue was an aside as far as I was concerned. I appreciate what you are saying but I don't know anymore. Sorry about that.

^^^? What is your car?

& what car were you trying, was it the same engine, power and gearbox?

 

You can get low profile tyres that are not so wide as 215 and come in a type that are not noisy.

 

then a 195/50 R 16 or 205/40 R 17 that might be noisier than say a 215/45 R 16.  

 

As to the engine noise, that would be odd if that much different if the same car was on slightly wider tyres but with the same total circumference so the gearing was the same.

Obviously different vehicles of the same model can sound different even if you changed the 4 wheels/  tyres from one car over to another.

 

 

 

Edited 1 June, 20188 yr by Offski

This amount of detail is too technical for me so I'll bow out gracefully from this thread. I just thought my input might help but I seem to have opened a can of worms instead. Exit stage left.

Sorry, just asking what car you have and what you tried on different sized wheels / tyres?

I have a MK III Fabia 1.2TSI SE 90PS Hatch with the standard factory fitted 185/60 tyres. I haven't tried different wheels/tyres. I am only saying what I noticed when driving another test car for engine "growl" comparison purposes. Are you confusing me with the thread starter Johnalan?

Sorry for not inserting quotes, it was just in response to your post 8 hours ago.

The fact that there were 60 profile tyres on one car and 45 profile on another seemed to suggest rather different tyre widths and possibly even trim levels.

So not just a matter of different road noise due to low profile tyres maybe.

Well, I think that tyre make, tyre model (and hence tread pattern) and tyre width will make way more difference to tyre roar on a given road than wheel size will.

 

Also I think that a larger wheel diameter will give a better ride for otherwise the same tyre size.

5 hours ago, KenONeill said:

Also I think that a larger wheel diameter will give a better ride for otherwise the same tyre size.

 

Do you mean a larger wheel diameter or a larger tyre diameter?

You find that for a range of tyre sizes on a car the overall diameter is about the same.

 

For the Fabia III it is as follows:-

175 70 14 tyre is 600.6 mm

185 60 15 tyre is 603 mm

215 4516 tyre is 599.9 mm

215 40 17 tyre is 603.8 mm

So overall diameter on all four tyres sizes is within 4 mm if each other.

 

The noise ratings that come with tyres are a drive by measurement.

It is not how noisy it is in the car as this will vary between cars even using exactly the same tyre.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks AG Falco

11 hours ago, AGFalco said:

 

Do you mean a larger wheel diameter or a larger tyre diameter?

You find that for a range of tyre sizes on a car the overall diameter is about the same.

 

What I meant was that a car with, say, 205/55R17 will ride better than one with 205/55R15. I know that manufacturers normally retain more or less the same rolling radius by fitting a lower profile tyre with a larger wheel.

9 hours ago, KenONeill said:

205/55R17 will ride better than one with 205/55R15

 

Yes a bigger diameter tyre will ride better than a smaller one.

Adjusting the tyre pressure will change the ride as well.

205 55 17 modern Renault size. 205 55 15 early Ford Mondeo size.

 

Some tyres as they wear can become noisy if the tread pattern becomes feathered.

Especially the inside edge of wide rear tyres.

 

Thanks AG Falco

 

 

On ‎01‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 09:26, wiganken1 said:

It was by chance that I found that 45 profile tyres are noticeably noisier than 60 profile tyres. I had taken my Fabia III, SE model with 60 profile tyres, into my main dealer complaining about about the engine note being more "growly" than my previous Fabia II so he arranged for me to drive another Mark III with the same CJZC engine. As soon as I drove away in this test car I said the tyres are very noisy and he said they were low profile tyres which made them noisier. Incidentally the engine note was the same (growly) as mine and this is a feature of the 1.2 TSI 90PS CJZC engine. Other downsides to low profile tyres are that the wheel rims are more prone to kerbing damage because they are closer to the ground,  suspension components receive higher shock loads from speed bumps and pot holes and the tyres do not last as long. Low profiles are great for road holding and on race tracks but I do not know of any other good points. I am not sure about their impact on mpg.

Wiganken1's list of negatives with low profile tyres is very well presented and factual.  I would add that low profile tyres contain less air to cushion impacts, and they cost more to replace too.

 

I've been driving for 58 years (passed my test and bought my first car in 1960) and have owned cars of all types, including home-built.  One of the latter (known as 'specials' in the day) was based on a Ford chassis with 17" wheels, and my upgrade was to fit wheels of reduced diameter (15") having higher profile tyres as was the trend in the day (mine were Porsche wheels, which happened to have the same hole PCD as the Ford).

 

Different makes/models of tyre of the same size do vary in their creation and transmission of noise, but low profiles are the major culprits in my experience. 

 

Skoda's practice of offering, with each update to the Fabia, larger wheel diameters with lower profile tyres must surely be to fool buyers into thinking they are upgrades.  In my opinion they are downgrades.