4 hours ago, KyleT said:

Just wanted to update the thread. Went to a new local garage and had a chat with them. Ended up fitting 4 new Bridgestone Turanza A005’s. Ride quality and noise levels have improved slightly but not as much as I was hoping. Though I will say that I checked what pressure they put into the tyres. They for some reason have some 37 psi in the fronts and 35psi in the rear. Is this normal? Seems strange to me. Filler cap shows 2.1 bar (30psi) to 2.4 bar (34psi). 

 

The tyre pressures shown on your fuel filler flap go up to 3.2Bar (46psi) for the rear tyres when there's a full load.

 

Did you fit the 205/55R16 91H (standard load) or 205/55R16 94V (extra load) Bridgestone A005 tyres?

 

The maximum tyre pressure for the standard load tyres is 3Bar (44psi), unless it says differently on the sidewall.

 

The maximum tyre pressure for the extra load tyres is 3.5Bar (51psi), unless it says differently on the sidewall.

 

Don't inflate a tyre to more than the maximum, as shown on the tyre's sidewall.

 

If you are lightly loaded, you only need to use the 2.1Bar (30psi) front and rear tyre pressures, as shown on the inside of your fuel filler flap. Tyre pressures make a lot of difference to ride comfort. It's easy to notice the harder ride caused by overinflating the tyres by just 3psi, so overinflating the front tyres by 7psi and the rear tyres by 5psi will make the ride a lot harder.

 

I never use ECO tyre pressures, because i get fantastic fuel economy by driving sensibly and I don't like to compromise my ride quality. Plus, I have tested at higher tyre pressures, but the difference is so small I've never noticed the difference. If you are experiencing a hard and uncomfortable ride you might be more tempted to drive faster in order to get the journey over as quickly as possible. Therefore, using comfort tyre pressures can actually improve your mpg.

 

If you are still finding your ride hard, maybe someone has fitted incorrect springs and/or shock absorbers. It happens a lot with garages, as they have no interest in spending the time it takes to carefully select the correct parts. So you may find that someone has fitted heavy-duty springs and/or shock absorbers. One relatively easy check you can make with your front and rear springs, is to measure the wire diameter. If the wire diameter of the front and rear springs is more than shown in the chart below, you might want to carry out further more detailed checks. Even 0.25mm more than what's shown below would have me carrying out further checks.

 

Wire Diameter of Springs for Octavia MK3 1.0TSI hatchback with standard ride height

Front spring wire diameter 11.5mm

Rear spring wire diameter 10.75mm

 

Although 205/55R16 aren't as good for ride comfort as 195/65R15, they are way better than the various 225 offerings such as 225/45R17, 225/40R18, and 225/35R19.

 

You do have the option of changing to 6J rims instead of 6.5J rims. On the Octavia MK3, the 205/55R16 tyre size is normally fitted to 6.5Jx16 ET46 rims. However, using 0.5" narrower 6J rims such as 6Jx16 ET43 (non-standard, ie. from the Karoq) or 6Jx16 ET48 (standard Octavia MK3 winter tyre size) would help improve the ride comfort a little more. It's not a massive difference, but it should be enough to notice.

 

Other options, include changing to 205/60R16 instead of the standard 205/55R16. 205/60R16 is used on the latest Octavia MK4 instead of the earlier 205/55R16 tyre size that was used on the Octavia MK3. However, 205/60R16 would raise the gearing by about 3.2% and is a more expensive tyre size compared to 205/55R16.

 

As you can see in the link below, the Vredestein Quatrac 205/60R16 96H XL is quite a bit cheaper than many of the other big brand all-season tyres in this size.

 

Vredestein Quatrac 205/60R16 96H XL

https://www.camskill.co.uk/m139b0s8005p201101/Vredestein_Tyres_All_Season_Car_Vredestein_Quatrac_6_205_60_R16_96H_XL_TL_Fuel_Eff_%3A_C_Wet_Grip%3A_B_NoiseClass%3A_B_Noise%3A_70dB

 

Edited 2 June, 20233 yr by Carlston

2 hours ago, Carlston said:

 

The tyre pressures shown on your fuel filler flap go up to 3.2Bar (46psi) for the rear tyres when there's a full load.

 

Did you fit the 205/55R16 91H (standard load) or 205/55R16 94V (extra load) Bridgestone A005 tyres?

 

The maximum tyre pressure for the standard load tyres is 3Bar (44psi), unless it says differently on the sidewall.

 

The maximum tyre pressure for the extra load tyres is 3.5Bar (51psi), unless it says differently on the sidewall.

 

Don't inflate a tyre to more than the maximum, as shown on the tyre's sidewall.

 

If you are lightly loaded, you only need to use the 2.1Bar (30psi) front and rear tyre pressures, as shown on the inside of your fuel filler flap. Tyre pressures make a lot of difference to ride comfort. It's easy to notice the harder ride caused by overinflating the tyres by just 3psi, so overinflating the front tyres by 7psi and the rear tyres by 5psi will make the ride a lot harder.

 

I never use ECO tyre pressures, because i get fantastic fuel economy by driving sensibly and I don't like to compromise my ride quality. Plus, I have tested at higher tyre pressures, but the difference is so small I've never noticed the difference. If you are experiencing a hard and uncomfortable ride you might be more tempted to drive faster in order to get the journey over as quickly as possible. Therefore, using comfort tyre pressures can actually improve your mpg.

 

If you are still finding your ride hard, maybe someone has fitted incorrect springs and/or shock absorbers. It happens a lot with garages, as they have no interest in spending the time it takes to carefully select the correct parts. So you may find that someone has fitted heavy-duty springs and/or shock absorbers. One relatively easy check you can make with your front and rear springs, is to measure the wire diameter. If the wire diameter of the front and rear springs is more than shown in the chart below, you might want to carry out further more detailed checks. Even 0.25mm more than what's shown below would have me carrying out further checks.

 

Wire Diameter of Springs for Octavia MK3 1.0TSI hatchback with standard ride height

Front spring wire diameter 11.5mm

Rear spring wire diameter 10.75mm

 

Although 205/55R16 aren't as good for ride comfort as 195/65R15, they are way better than the various 225 offerings such as 225/45R17, 225/40R18, and 225/35R19.

 

You do have the option of changing to 6J rims instead of 6.5J rims. On the Octavia MK3, the 205/55R16 tyre size is normally fitted to 6.5Jx16 ET46 rims. However, using 0.5" narrower 6J rims such as 6Jx16 ET43 (non-standard, ie. from the Karoq) or 6Jx16 ET48 (standard Octavia MK3 winter tyre size) would help improve the ride comfort a little more. It's not a massive difference, but it should be enough to notice.

 

Other options, include changing to 205/60R16 instead of the standard 205/55R16. 205/60R16 is used on the latest Octavia MK4 instead of the earlier 205/55R16 tyre size that was used on the Octavia MK3. However, 205/60R16 would raise the gearing by about 3.2% and is a more expensive tyre size compared to 205/55R16.

 

As you can see in the link below, the Vredestein Quatrac 205/60R16 96H XL is quite a bit cheaper than many of the other big brand all-season tyres in this size.

 

Vredestein Quatrac 205/60R16 96H XL

https://www.camskill.co.uk/m139b0s8005p201101/Vredestein_Tyres_All_Season_Car_Vredestein_Quatrac_6_205_60_R16_96H_XL_TL_Fuel_Eff_%3A_C_Wet_Grip%3A_B_NoiseClass%3A_B_Noise%3A_70dB

 

205/55/R16 94V were fitted.

Edited 2 June, 20233 yr by KyleT

So I popped out today and reduce the pressure in my tyres down to 32 PSI. The fronts were set to 40!!

 

any way, the ride might feel slightly better but still not what I expected. Maybe I just have unrealistic expectations considering it’s a VAG car I just expected better but then at the same time the British roads are so bad at the moment maybe it’s just not possible to have a comfortable ride lol. I’ll will ask Skoda to inspect the suspension on the next service. 

On 03/06/2023 at 16:11, KyleT said:

So I popped out today and reduce the pressure in my tyres down to 32 PSI. The fronts were set to 40!!

 

any way, the ride might feel slightly better but still not what I expected. Maybe I just have unrealistic expectations considering it’s a VAG car I just expected better but then at the same time the British roads are so bad at the moment maybe it’s just not possible to have a comfortable ride lol. I’ll will ask Skoda to inspect the suspension on the next service. 

 

195/65R15 should give a noticeably better ride than 205/55R16.

 

Continental AllSeasonContact 195/65R15 95H XL

https://www.camskill.co.uk/m138b0s7994p148745/Continental_Tyres_All_Season_Car_Continental_ContiAllSeasonContact_Continental_Conti_All_Season_Contact_195_65_R15_95H_XL_TL_Fuel_Eff_%3A_C_Wet_Grip%3A_B_NoiseClass%3A_B_Noise%3A_72dB

 

Alcar 7755 6Jx15 ET43 5/112 57.1 steel rim

https://www.mytyres.co.uk/rims/details?vehicleId=1039333157386540144&rimCode=ALCAR7755

 

Edited 5 June, 20232 yr by Carlston