It was yesterday ... But I replaced all 4 oem (2016) pirellli P7s with Michelin PS5 tyres. 

 

First impressions, slightly better ride (rough edges gone), noise same at best slightly better on some surfaces. Grip is better but nothing to make a difference in normal driving. That said, the pirellis were well past it's best 

So much for the P7’s being overtly “noisy” then. 
 

Who has experience of replacing their OE P7’s, have found their replacements to be significantly quieter and what are the they? 

1 hour ago, numskull said:

So much for the P7’s being overtly “noisy” then. 
 

Who has experience of replacing their OE P7’s, have found their replacements to be significantly quieter and what are the they? 

For what it's worth, they have the same EU rating for noise on the label. I have a longer drive on motorways tomorrow so will see if I think it's any better or not. I would expect it to be a bit better since it's new and still a more comfort biased tyre. 

 

Pretty sure outright grip especially when wet will be significantly better as there is no way all the tests out there are wrong.  But rarely on the road one uses it. Maybe except emergency braking/maneuvers in the wet where the PS5 is one of the best. 

 

The harshness over bumps (calming measures) is significant for me to feel it straightaway, tyre pressure I have checked and matched so it's not a factor. 

So my 2 cents worth: I'm driving P7's on my 12 month old Superb 280 AWD (covered 10K km so far) and we also have a Skoda Octavia 132TSI in the family running new-ish Michelin PS4's. From a noise perspective I can detect no difference (and I think the Superb is quieter overall, simply due to extra noise suppression in that vehicle compared to the Octavia). In no way would I describe the P7's as noisy - but mine are not old and ragged and that may play a big difference. Handling wise, the P7's are neutral and handle well overall and I would never describe them as noticeably inferior in general day-to-day driving compared to PS4's. That said, I will go the Michelin route when the P7's are done.

Even in general day-to-day driving, the P7 are inferior to PS4 (at least to me in 19" version). The side wall are too soft and lead to side wear. After +/-20000km, they start being as grippy as a piece of soap in wet conditions. In such conditions I don't feel really safe with 4 P7, even with a 4x4 version. This unpleasant feeling has vanished with my PS4, even after similar mileage. Additionally I prefer the PS4, since they significantly improve the steering sharpness and give very precise feedbacks in the steering column. You can really "read" the road... With P7s, it almost like a blind man wearing mittens trying to read braille.

But I give it to you, P7s should be compared to Michelin Primacy (HP?) instead of Michelin PS4.  

I just removed the cool-looking Team Heko wind deflectors, which I fitted a couple of weeks ago. That’s cos they’re noisy above around 40mph and bloody unbearable at 70 and utterly pointless too, because they don’t deflect the wind but, apart from that they’re great! I’ll be ebaying at the first opportunity. 

5 hours ago, Bap33 said:

P7s should be compared to Michelin Primacy (HP?) instead of Michelin PS4.  

This is the thing though - the Cinturato is a touring tyre. The Pirelli website talks about economy and acoustics. Sport is the lowest rating by their own measure. Looking at Michelin, Primacy looks a much better comparative. No point comparing P7 to a top-end sports tyre. 

1 hour ago, travs said:

This is the thing though - the Cinturato is a touring tyre. The Pirelli website talks about economy and acoustics. Sport is the lowest rating by their own measure. Looking at Michelin, Primacy looks a much better comparative. No point comparing P7 to a top-end sports tyre. 

 

No point trying to convince the numerous PS4 fanboys. 😂

 

The P7 on mine has done its job, for me - that is to last a while, instead of 2 yrs or so.

 

They weren't too noisy given they r 19s, and grip levels were good in both wet & dry conditions.

They lasted me 52,000 kms (4 yrs), with another 3-4mm thread left.  Only reason I changed was because I wanted the wider 245 tyres, and there was an EOFY sale.

Grip was not the best, especially for traffic light launches, but for 95% of the driving time - it did its job. 🙂

I think the P7’s are great quite honestly, and they’d be pretty-much perfect if they were a bit quieter. Having said that, on a good tarmac surface they’re fine. 

2 hours ago, numskull said:

Having said that, on a good tarmac surface they’re fine. 

Although I know you'll know the 'yellow' surface on the westbound M25 between J9 and J8. My last 3 cars have had 19s and different tyres and all made the same noise.

 

9 hours ago, JR RS said:

 

The P7 on mine has done its job, for me - that is to last a while, instead of 2 yrs or so.

 

They weren't too noisy given they r 19s, and grip levels were good in both wet & dry conditions.

They lasted me 52,000 kms (4 yrs), with another 3-4mm thread left.  Only reason I changed was because I wanted the wider 245 tyres, and there was an EOFY sale.

Grip was not the best, especially for traffic light launches, but for 95% of the driving time - it did its job. 🙂

 

Agreed I'd rather have an all-round tyre and sacrifice a bit of ultimate grip for comfort/noise and...well...price comes into it when compared to compared to PS4s. Blackcircles shows over £50 difference per corner.

So called 'Budget Tyres' are just as good as all the premium named brands.

I do c.35,000 miles/pa and have found Farroad, Blacklion etc wear and handle well although I don't drive on race tracks.

There are some brands advised to avoid too. Read reviews with sceptisism.

One downside is that IMO most Budget Tyres fitted to the rear are prone to de-laminating on high mileage useage, the fronts wear out before de-laminating.

I've got 2x 235 45 18 NEREUS NS601 98W XL 235/45R18 (£65 .00 a corner) waiting to be fitted as their noise level is rated 69dB as opposed to most other's 72dB as I find the road noise levels of the Superb quite high as opposed to my previous 3 Volvo S80's

 

9 hours ago, BriSuperb said:

So called 'Budget Tyres' are just as good as all the premium named brands.

Careful, the “Ditchfinder” brigade could be along momentarily… 

Oh, I agree with you btw! All tyres sold in the U.K. are covered by strict performance regulations (until Westminster decide that anything will be allowed as long as it doesn’t have a metal ring as the tread and is wider than 2”!). 

Edited 13 April, 20224 yr by numskull

What's the point in buying premium priced marginally higher grip tyres for a large, wallowy big bus? That's just the 280, everything else is even less sporty! Personally, performance tyres are those that work best in the wet.

The main difference between budget (as in real budget) vs premium tyres is normally the wet performance. The difference in dry is there but won't make a difference in day to day driving but might in emergency situations.  However the gap in wet widens significantly. 

 

In any case a new budget tyre will almost certainly outpeform a worn (just above limit, ~2mm) premium tyre in the wet. Did a tyre event with continental where they let us try it out and the worn contis got spanked on emergency wet braking by a new budget set. 

 

My conclusion is, budget tyres are fine, maybe swap them out when it's at 3mm or so. Drive to conditions and all good. 

 

My new set of tyres should last the life of my planned ownership as I don't do much mileage. Another 15-20k miles or so I reckon and it'll be 5years old with half-ish the thread left. 

Agreed, I'd rather put Uniroyal Rainsports on than Michelin Pilots for example.

 

Modified the gateway dataset, driving mode and gearbox mode are not resetting now to Normal after ignition is switched off 😉

Ours is a 2016, so thankfully it doesn’t change the driving mode to Normal after switch off.  Never could fathom the reasons behind that decision, which was much to the annoyance of of Skodians who’d discovered the “feature” once purchased. 🙄

Edited 13 April, 20224 yr by numskull

Rec'd VCDS cable today so set about looking through all the settings that can be changed.

DRLs in menu,

Throttle response set to Audi (lol), can def notice that.

Rear DRLs on.

Couldn't get the traffic signs to work but not fussed.

Comfort lights to fog didn't work so need to do the further adaption on that.

Enable fan speed on auto - couldn't work that but not too bothered.

Heated set memory done.

Tailgate beep ditched.

Auto changing clocks to DST didn't work. Both Europe and Auto disabled the menu but threw the clock back an hour

Pulsing startbutton.

 

Now need to sit down with a particle accelerator and astro-physicist to sort the colour palette

 

And changed the rear wiper. Had the juddering. Haven't run the new one yet but the difference in pliability of the rubber was night and day so reckon solved. 

 

Changing the rear wiper was the first thing I did! It didn't judder at all when I took ownership over the car, but slowly over time it just started juddering all the time. I got looks from my passenger when the rear wiper would make that god awful noise and there's only so much WD40 you can put on them.

 

Mine is a 17 plate, so unfortunately it "forgets" the drive mode and starts in Normal mode. I believe they made the change so that the average joe won't floor it in Sports mode or something inane. I tried keeping it in Eco mode but gave up and it's been Normal mode all the way.

Edited 13 April, 20224 yr by SomethingSuperbly

dropped it off for the light install in the morning man, the audio system sounds good atm. 

4 hours ago, SomethingSuperbly said:

Changing the rear wiper was the first thing I did! It didn't judder at all when I took ownership over the car, but slowly over time it just started juddering all the time. I got looks from my passenger when the rear wiper would make that god awful noise and there's only so much WD40 you can put on them.

 

Mine is a 17 plate, so unfortunately it "forgets" the drive mode and starts in Normal mode. I believe they made the change so that the average joe won't floor it in Sports mode or something inane. I tried keeping it in Eco mode but gave up and it's been Normal mode all the way.

 

Do something about it and change it so it will remember the mode 😅

19 hours ago, komoornik said:

 

Do something about it and change it so it will remember the mode 😅

 

Normal mode is fine for the most part. My MPG is a bit low but that's a given for a 220 - imagine if I had a 4x4 280.

 

If there's one thing I want to change it's the Auto Stop-Start function, something I'm sure fitting a Stop-Start memory module will fix.

14 minutes ago, SomethingSuperbly said:

 

Normal mode is fine for the most part. My MPG is a bit low but that's a given for a 220 - imagine if I had a 4x4 280.

 

If there's one thing I want to change it's the Auto Stop-Start function, something I'm sure fitting a Stop-Start memory module will fix.

My 2016 280 remembers its DCC setting & is set to Sport mode for most of the time. However, like you the Auto start start can be very annoying & when I remember I kill it every time I get in the car. There is a memory module kit on Ali Express for this but so far I have resisted. I believe a few members on here (Bap33 being one) have fitted one of these kits, albeit with a few issues if memory serves. 

I don't do many annual miles now so I'm OK with the lower mpg of my 280 which is well worth it for the extra grin factor 😁.

I'm going to get my wheels refurbed & powder coated Gloss Black soon to match the colour of the car.   

1 hour ago, SomethingSuperbly said:

 

Normal mode is fine for the most part. My MPG is a bit low but that's a given for a 220 - imagine if I had a 4x4 280.

 

If there's one thing I want to change it's the Auto Stop-Start function, something I'm sure fitting a Stop-Start memory module will fix.

It's quite easy to eliminate, you just need to cut the flying ground lead from the battery apparently. Disclosure, I was told this by a tuner, no idea how to do it. I really need to call him again and ask, but I'd probably get talked into an ECU and TCU map. 

You can also dial it out with VCDS by raising the minimum required voltage so the ECU never thinks it has enough juice in the battery to activate it.