Hi there,

 

I've read in many reviews that 19" wheels are very hard and unforgiving, but have also been told by a dealer that DCC can more than compensate for this.

 

It would be lovely to hear the views of someone who has actually had a car as their own - what do you think?

 

Many thanks,

 

 

Mark

I have factory 19’s and DCC. 
Your dealer tells lies!!😂

19” with DCC is fine. 
 

I ran 17” winter for one year and there was very little between the two, enough for me to now run 19” winters (17” wheels look awful on a MK3)

10 minutes ago, Gizmo said:

19” with DCC is fine. 
 

I ran 17” winter for one year and there was very little between the two, enough for me to now run 19” winters (17” wheels look awful on a MK3)

Maybe it’s road dependant? 
I have 18” winters on mine at the minute, and the difference between them and my 19’s is night and day, on the roads I use anyway. 
maybe best for the OP to test for themselves if this is the case. 

Depends what you're used to. I came from a MK II Vrs on 18"s and the Superb on 19" (std suspension)  is much more forgiving. 

4 minutes ago, JBD1974 said:

Depends what you're used to. I came from a MK II Vrs on 18"s and the Superb on 19" (std suspension)  is much more forgiving. 

I came from a Mercedes on Airmatic. 😄

1 hour ago, UndertheRadar said:

Maybe it’s road dependant? 
I have 18” winters on mine at the minute, and the difference between them and my 19’s is night and day, on the roads I use anyway. 
maybe best for the OP to test for themselves if this is the case. 

Same commute

I laugh every time I read about this generic 19" - harshness correlations on-line. In the case of a Superb DCC in particular it becomes borderline ridiculous.

Just a few highlights and comparisons from my own experience:

a) Between cars like the Fabia, Polo, C3, Corsa, Golf GTI (all below 19") and a Skoda Superb Sportline DCC on 19" in Normal mode, the Superb was by far  the most comfortable and least unsettling ride, yes even vs those smaller city cars on 15"s that you'd expect to be more easy-going.

b) In one particular case, the change from 18" Potenza S001 to 19" PS4S did in fact improve the ride instead of making it worse despite going one size up. Just how un-necessarily stiff the S001 were vs the Michelins.


Any ride complaints on a DCC Superb, 9/10 are due to a combination of stiff sidewall tires, wrong pressures and bad roads, it's a very forgiving setup. Unless you're coming from Airmatic of-course 


EDIT: I realized I had missed a "least"  before the word unsettling, which probably gave off a contraddicting message  , fixed now!

Edited 24 February, 20215 yr by newbie69

I've got bog standard suspension and 19s. I wouldn't have chosen them myself (I bought the car secondhand) simply because the tyres are a bit more expensive than 18s, but the ride quality is absolutely fine.

I don't have to complain about 19" and DCC. It's still very confortable in 'Normal' mode. I don't even mention 'comfort' mode). Things nevertheless change when I switch to Sport mode (as could be expected) or Individual mode (with sport suspensions). It then becomes harder, but not as "hard as a peach pit" (as we say in France)

 

I also have to say that my 19' wheels are fitted with original Pirelli P7 Cinturato (on front wheels), which have quite "soft" side walls. I plan to change them for 2 Michelin PS4 (as my rear wheels) to improve steering accuracy and information feedbacks in the steering wheel.

The ride on 19" and DCC is OK, although I think I would have preferred 18" - except that the only car to come up with the rest of the spec I wanted, had 19". C'est la vie!

As previously mentioned, worth bearing in mind that tyres for the 19" wheels are a lot more expensive than for the 18" wheels, which is a  bit annoying.

6 hours ago, mark674500 said:

...I've read in many reviews that 19" wheels are very hard and unforgiving...

 

Are you talking about Superb MK3 235/40R19 tyres, or lower sidewall height tyres such as 225/35R19 that might be fitted to Octavia MK2 to MK3?

 

The sidewall height of 235/40R19 tyres is 94mm.

 

The sidewall height of 225/35R19 tyres is 78.75mm.

 

Therefore 235/40R19 tyres have a sidewall height that is almost 20% higher than the very low profile 225/35R19 tyres.

 

Another example:

 

The sidewall height of 245/45R18 tyres is 110.25mm. This sidewall height is a massive 40% more than the very low profile 225/35R19 tyres.

 

I would go for slightly oversize 245/45R18 tyres on the Superb MK3 fitted to standard 8J wide rims. Compared to the standard 19" tyres, you've gone up 10mm in width and 5% in aspect ratio.

 

On the UK's badly potholed roads, it really seems a bit pointless not giving yourself a decent amount of sidewall.

 

The outside diameter of 235/40R19 tyres is 670.6mm, and the outside diameter of 245/45R18 tyres is 677.7mm. So 245/45R18 tyres have an outside diameter of about 1% more than 235/40R19 tyres. An outside diameter of up to 1.5% more is often considered a small and acceptable difference.

 

The load index of 245/45R18 tyres is 710kg @ 44psi, and the load index of 235/40R19 tyres is 630kg @ 44psi. So you can drop your tyre pressures by 3psi to 4psi when changing from 235/40R19 tyres to the higher load index 245/45R18 tyres.

 

Edited 24 February, 20215 yr by Carlston

my mk3 Superb with DCC and 19" (235/40R19, 8J) is much much more comfortable and quieter, than the 18" (225/40R18, 7.5J) i had on my mk2 Octavia RS, which didn't have the option of DCC.

Edited 25 February, 20215 yr by JR RS

A lot of posters have concentrated on the rim size without discussing the comfort factor of the chosen tyres.  As tyres vary in firmness might not be comparing like with like

 

You can specify sporty summer tyres (tend to be firmer, and often very hard in cold weather), or go for comfort tyres (more pliable sidewalls), or Eco (low rolling resistance) tyres which are generally hard/firm.

 

All the summer tyres will be much harder in cooler months (and useless on a snowy hill).  If you want softer tyres then generally all season will be better (it’s debatable / marginal when temperatures above about +15c), but at current seasonal temperatures they are going to provide a softer more comfortable ride.

 

Regarding DCC it is an electronically controlled adaptive shock absorber, thus can damp the secondary form of suspension (the springs which absorb big bumps), it can do nothing to change how effective the rubber tyre walls absorb little imperfections  in road surface. Quite simply if tyres have absorbed the ripples the springs don’t move anyway.

 

I have a 280 SEL on 19s with DCC. Put it in comfort and its like a magic carpet. Normal is still very confortable. 

 

One thing to watch with 19s in my opinion is pothole hits. The larger the rim/lower the profile the more likely you will suffer wheel distortion. I'm waiting for mine to go back to the dealer after my tyre fitter told me three of the alloys were bent a few weeks after I collected it. 

On 25/02/2021 at 19:49, SurreyJohn said:

Regarding DCC it is an electronically controlled adaptive shock absorber, thus can damp the secondary form of suspension (the springs which absorb big bumps), it can do nothing to change how effective the rubber tyre walls absorb little imperfections  in road surface. Quite simply if tyres have absorbed the ripples the springs don’t move anyway.

 

 

This. Perfect explanation.

 

Having had 18 and 19" on the same superb. DCC is about the lower frequency jolts and bumps (bigger stuff). The higher frequency stuff isn't affected by the DCC. 19" definitely transmit more rumble, a little more road noise and little imperfections compared to 18". 

 

If you go into a pothole, the DCC will smooth out the big bump but with 19" you will feel the edges of it more than with 18". 17" would be even better.

 

It also depends *entirely* on the type of roads you are driving on. Everyone seems to ignore this fact. Cobble-stones on 18" will definitely feel more comfortable than 19".