Hi all. We have just got our first Skoda - a 71 reg 1.5TSI Sportline manual. I was worried about the low profile tyres but not enough to put us off the car - but ended up with a blowout on week one. I'm now considering changing the tyres due to the road conditions around us. Has anyone got any experience with this? Current tyres are 225/40/R19 - a local tyre centre suggested not changing to anything beyond 225/45/R19, but I'm wondering if this will make enough difference to how well they deal with damaged roads. Thanks in advance!

Edited 22 May22 May by ef0406
Typo!

Changing to a 225/45/R19 will increase the rolling circumference by 3.4%. That's 2.4mph at 70mph.

So the first thing to check is that your speedo currently overreads by at least 2.4mph at 70mph. Speedos can legally overread by up to 10% but can NOT underread!.

Then there's the issue of is the 225/45/R19 profile an approved spec for the car. It is for the 4x4 Karoq but AFAIK not for the 2wd. So you may have insurance issues , you would need to confirm its ok with your insurance co.

You could go for an All Season tyre which tend to have a flexible tyre wall if the 225/45 are not appropriate.

Had similar problem with old toyota lucida. Guy who owned it before had 225/40/18 and although looked good we hit a pot hole and blow out plus bent alloy. I went for 225/45/18 that just fitted due to the bottom of the front strut plus went for extra load as it did weigh a fair bit which was probably why the lower profile standard tyre blew out. Ride was a bit firmer but apart from that no more blow outs.

Alasdair

I run audi wheels for the summer with 235 50 18 tyres. Non standard wheels and tyres but my insurance don't care. The standard skoda alloys are 215 50 18 winters. Both give a much better ride than the crap bridgestones it came with. And it's a 1.6 2wd. Maybe swapping your 19s for 18s all season and informing your insurance could be a way to go.

6 hours ago, daviemck2006 said:

I run audi wheels for the summer with 235 50 18 tyres. Non standard wheels and tyres but my insurance don't care. The standard skoda alloys are 215 50 18 winters. Both give a much better ride than the crap bridgestones it came with. And it's a 1.6 2wd. Maybe swapping your 19s for 18s all season and informing your insurance could be a way to go.

I'm currently running our 24 SEL on 16 Audi wheels with the appropriate tyres (Michelin Cross Climate)to maintain the rolling circumference as the roads are diabolical in Notts & Derbys - My insurer, Aviva, had no objections to me changing the Alloys, no excess to pay either.

I'd personally recommend Michelin CrossClimate tyres.

When my car had done 8,900 on the original Bridgestone's, I was sick and tired of their performance on my 1.5 Edition with the 19 inch crater wheels.

So, I had a full set of CrossClimate 2s fitted in December 2021. In November 2023 I had to replace the fronts after 22k miles, same rears.

As of today, the rears have done 40k and the fronts 17k. Still 5mm tread on rears and 4/5mm on fronts.

The roadholding is the safest and most predictable I have had on any car. They track true and have amazing grip on the windy roads here in Mid Wales. Wet performance is brilliant too.

Unfortunately they no longer do the correct 225/40/19's but they do make 225/40/19 in CrossClimate3 Sport's.

Edited 24 May24 May by barcudcoch
Speeling mistooks

Always run Bridgestone all seasons on our other cars, with have been beyond outstanding in grip, ride, wear durability etc.

However, looking at General Grabber AS for this winter to replace ny factory 225/45/19 ones on muy 2.0l petrol 4x4, as looking at the reviews they excel well past the premiums on offer in versatility and wear.

Wear isn't really that important to me, even as a business driver, that is vastly superceded by safety and grip.