I recently helped my partner buy a 2017 Superb wagon in mint condition and we both absolutely love it. I'm kinda jealous to be honest.

However the one downside and something that I completely overlooked is that we live rurally and while the roads are bitumen they can be quite rough and there can also be potholes. While the car was fine to drive when we bought it from the city it really hits the rougher roads hard and my partner is really hating that side of it.

At the moment it has 235/40/19's on it. Looking at replacement tyres in that size they're pretty expensive. The car is due for new tyres and I was thinking about putting some 17's on it. I thought that the cheaper sized tyres would offset the cost of the new wheels a bit but more importantly I am hoping that the bigger sidewall would improve the ride. I have done some research in this forum and there are posts where people have swapped over and not really noticed any difference so I'm not sure if spending the money is going to be worth it.

We got a great deal on the car and like I said we love it and want to keep it so if we have to spend a bit to make it more forgiving we will.

Edit: just to add that we don't really have a summer/winter where I live so the wheels and tyres would be permanently on the car.

Edited 10 March, 20251 yr by CJV

u haven't mentioned if ur car comes equipped with DCC suspension or not.
with DCC, putting it in "Comfort" mode should absorb a majority of the harshness.

however, given that u spend a lot of time driving on country rural roads, i would recommend dropping to 18" tyres, which will give u a much thicker sidewall.
the Superb has the option of 18x8" rims on 235/45/18 tyres.

the 19" tyres will only give u so much relief. a number of us have gone up from the standard 235/40/19 tyre to 245/40/19 tyre size. the extra sidewall height improves comfort levels.

245 tyres are also cheaper as the 235 is a less common, and therefore more expensive, size.

I’m surprised that 17s have not resulted in a more compliant ride though; I would have thought 17s or 18s as JRRS suggests would definitely have a more positive effect.

Edited 11 March, 20251 yr by travs

I’ve got the SEL with 235/45/19’s and it’s very comfortable, standard suspension with a wheel arch gap the size of the English Channel. Wofts along nicely and can have a conversation unlike my father in laws Audi a4 black edition, literally shakes you to death that as it’s much lower than mine.

Is your model sportline, l&k as they are lowered by 15mm I think but seems to make a big difference

9 hours ago, travs said:

245 tyres are also cheaper as the 235 is a less common, and therefore more expensive, size.

I keep seeing this mentioned but it's not the case with any of my usual suppliers - the 2 sizes are within a few pounds either way across a range of brands. I'm sure the gap may be bigger for other markets though

People post and others might have know (spelling edit) idea where in the world they are talking about prices unless they say where.

Edited 12 March, 20251 yr by Ootohere

I’ve noticed more cars having tyre size 235/40/19 so I don’t think it’s the case of a huge difference in cost compared to a few years ago, about the same these days

I recently fitted two Michelin x climate tyres on the rear of my Sportline superb estate (front ones worn so fitters put old rear tyres on front and new on the rear.

I thought I would have to stick with the original 235/40/19 which were £189 per side at COSTCO, they have the 245/40/19 tyres at £179 a side (for members only)

Would the slightly different 245 tyres have to be notified to my insurance ? and maybe I could fit those on the front when I change them next.

Car seems much quieter rolling along , less road noise but still get the crashing on these bloody Pot Holes that infest most of our roads now days.

11 hours ago, JR RS said:

u haven't mentioned if ur car comes equipped with DCC suspension or not.
with DCC, putting it in "Comfort" mode should absorb a majority of the harshness.

however, given that u spend a lot of time driving on country rural roads, i would recommend dropping to 18" tyres, which will give u a much thicker sidewall.
the Superb has the option of 18x8" rims on 235/45/18 tyres.

the 19" tyres will only give u so much relief. a number of us have gone up from the standard 235/40/19 tyre to 245/40/19 tyre size. the extra sidewall height improves comfort levels.

Thanks very much for the reply. The car does have DCC actually so I'll try changing it over to comfort mode and see how it goes. I would prefer the 18's over the 17's aesthetically so I'll also consider those.

10 hours ago, travs said:

245 tyres are also cheaper as the 235 is a less common, and therefore more expensive, size.

I’m surprised that 17s have not resulted in a more compliant ride though; I would have thought 17s or 18s as JRRS suggests would definitely have a more positive effect.

I'm only going off a few comments that I've seen in this forum, not my own experience....yet! I'll report back here when I've decided what to put on and I get it done. Thanks for the 245 tip, I'll check out if the prices are much different here.

3 hours ago, johnny cabbage head said:

I recently fitted two Michelin x climate tyres on the rear of my Sportline superb estate (front ones worn so fitters put old rear tyres on front and new on the rear.

I thought I would have to stick with the original 235/40/19 which were £189 per side at COSTCO, they have the 245/40/19 tyres at £179 a side (for members only)

Would the slightly different 245 tyres have to be notified to my insurance ? and maybe I could fit those on the front when I change them next.

Car seems much quieter rolling along , less road noise but still get the crashing on these bloody Pot Holes that infest most of our roads now days.

Don't put different sized tyres at the same time!!

U either stick to 235/40/19 tyres on all 4 corners, or u change all 4 corners to 245/40/19 tyres at the same time.

Don't have 2 of each type. Insurance will b void, and ur ABS will not b happy, hence it will disable some of the assist systems, including ACC.

4 hours ago, johnny cabbage head said:

I recently fitted two Michelin x climate tyres on the rear of my Sportline superb estate (front ones worn so fitters put old rear tyres on front and new on the rear.

I thought I would have to stick with the original 235/40/19 which were £189 per side at COSTCO, they have the 245/40/19 tyres at £179 a side (for members only)

Would the slightly different 245 tyres have to be notified to my insurance ? and maybe I could fit those on the front when I change them next.

Car seems much quieter rolling along , less road noise but still get the crashing on these bloody Pot Holes that infest most of our roads now days.

You would need to inform insurance company as it’s a change

4 hours ago, CJV said:

I'm only going off a few comments that I've seen in this forum, not my own experience....yet! I'll report back here when I've decided what to put on and I get it done. Thanks for the 245 tip, I'll check out if the prices are much different here.

No worries - seems from the coal face that the price differential doesn’t epitomise its reputation but a few mm difference in the side wall is the main thing.

Like @Danoid I have a SEL running on 235/40/19 tyres with standard suspension and agree that the ride was comfortable and reasonably quiet. then I had Michelin Cross climate2s all round and this has given the ride quality a big lift now very stable and quiet

If anyone has 19 inch rims running on Bridgestone OEM tyres and are finding them very loud change to All season tyres and see ( and hear!!) the difference

I live in a place where the roads are crap by definition, so if you look at my posts I have written extensively about pluses and minuses of my first months with 19s and my current months with 17s.

I am now going for 18s for the summer set.

On 11/03/2025 at 16:19, johnny cabbage head said:

I recently fitted two Michelin x climate tyres on the rear of my Sportline superb estate (front ones worn so fitters put old rear tyres on front and new on the rear.

I thought I would have to stick with the original 235/40/19 which were £189 per side at COSTCO, they have the 245/40/19 tyres at £179 a side (for members only)

Would the slightly different 245 tyres have to be notified to my insurance ? and maybe I could fit those on the front when I change them next.

Car seems much quieter rolling along , less road noise but still get the crashing on these bloody Pot Holes that infest most of our roads now days.

Hi.

We would advise notifying your insurer if you are fitting different sized tyres to your vehicle.

Regards,

Dan.

Try All Seasons tyres instead of the usual summer varieties. So much quieter and fantastic grip in the wet. I changed the OE Pirelli P7’s - the noisiest tyres ever made - for Continental All Season and they’re excellent.

18 hours ago, numskull said:

Try All Seasons tyres instead of the usual summer varieties. So much quieter and fantastic grip in the wet. I changed the OE Pirelli P7’s - the noisiest tyres ever made - for Continental All Season and they’re excellent.

interesting. I'm still on the P7's but they are dry rotting a bit, looking to change to all season as the wet grip on these P7s is shocking!

Tempted to go back to Falken FK520's as they were incredible and put them on my wife's golf recently

On 11/03/2025 at 17:16, travs said:

245 tyres are also cheaper as the 235 is a less common, and therefore more expensive, size.

I’m surprised that 17s have not resulted in a more compliant ride though; I would have thought 17s or 18s as JRRS suggests would definitely have a more positive effect.

I checked out the 245 prices here and you're right they are way cheaper here than 225 and 235 tyres so thanks again for the tip. I think I'll go for 245/45/18's on 8's.

18 hours ago, SkodaKing said:

interesting. I'm still on the P7's but they are dry rotting a bit, looking to change to all season as the wet grip on these P7s is shocking!

Tempted to go back to Falken FK520's as they were incredible and put them on my wife's golf recently

The only issue with the Conti’s is the wear differential. After 39k the P7’s still had 3mm; these are already down to 4mm on the front after 12k. Still on 6 at the rear so I’ll be rotating them soon.