Smaller wheels/new tyres

[dundeedek]

Hi all!
Hopefully a quick question for folk re better rixe;

The ride on my FR ST is poor on 18" wheels, but the front two tyres are nexen, back two are Brickstones.

I've seen a good deal locally for 4 x 16" Leon alloys. Do I go for these for £200, and keep my 18s for a future buyer, or do I just get Eagle F1s for my 18" wheels?

FYI, I have the 1.4 with no adaptive suspension .

Cheers in advance.

Derek

 

[LeylandVCDS]

You will see an improvement in ride quality on smaller rims.....my old 64 plate Leon was far softer on 16 inch than my current one on 17, and the cars are basically the same

 

[RUM4MO]

Or, buy these 16" wheels and fit them with winter tyres or all season tyres, and keep the 18" ones for when there is no salt on the road?

 

[Glosphil]

Or, buy these 16" wheels and fit them with winter tyres or all season tyres, and keep the 18" ones for when there is no salt on the road?

Good plan & fit better tyres to the 18" wheels.

 

[G.P]

Or try a tyre with a soft weak sidewall like Mitchelin or Uniroyal..

 

[LeylandVCDS]

Or, buy these 16" wheels and fit them with winter tyres or all season tyres, and keep the 18" ones for when there is no salt on the road?

The OP wants a better quality ride though, and he'll not get that by keeping the 18s on it

 

[RUM4MO]

The OP wants a better quality ride though, and he'll not get that by keeping the 18s on it

True, but as GP suggested, eventually changing the current tyres to ones that are known to be more compliant AND taking advantage of the locally available used 16" wheels and fitting them with all season or winter tyres is another option.

 

[dundeedek]

Cheers for the answer folks. I agree that getting 16's *as well* and replacing the wheels on both is a good solution, but too rich for me. It's either change the tyres on the 18s or replace with the 16s on all season tyres (but keep the 18s for someone else when I come to sell on).

From the answers above, the difference on changing to 16s regardless of tyre will have much more difference than just the tyre change on 18s. I've found 16" golf alloys I can change the centre caps on for even less so may go for that. Depends if the difference on changing to Eagle F1s will be a significant improvement on the 18s or just marginal unlike the change to 16.

 

[SuperV8]

Hi all!
Hopefully a quick question for folk re better rixe;

The ride on my FR ST is poor on 18" wheels, but the front two tyres are nexen, back two are Brickstones.

I've seen a good deal locally for 4 x 16" Leon alloys. Do I go for these for £200, and keep my 18s for a future buyer, or do I just get Eagle F1s for my 18" wheels?

FYI, I have the 1.4 with no adaptive suspension .

Cheers in advance.

Derek

16's will be a much bigger comfort improvement than changing brand of 18" tyre.

 

[Lord_Nikkon]

I have the same with my 18" rims. On the beginning i had Bridgestone Potenza and they was horrible. Changed to Michelin Primacy 4 it bring improvement but after 40 000 km they are become lauder and start causing small vibration. Now thinking to change tires to Bridgestone Turanza 6 or Goodyear Asymmetric 6.

Soon in Poland will be winter and i will change tires to winter one (on 16" rims) and on spring i will go to my collogue who also has same leon with same rims but he changed tires to Goodyear and he states that they are very good.

Without doubt 16" tires will bring more comfort but problem is that they will be more soft during faster ride and also don't forget that back of our cars i totally not sound profred. Next year i will dela with it. I heard differences on another Leon before and after - worth to do it.

 

[jt20vt]

With my Cupra ST I changed from 19's to 17's for winter time. The 17's made a huge difference with comfort even compared to running 18's.

 

[G.P]

I have the same with my 18" rims. On the beginning i had Bridgestone Potenza and they was horrible.

Depends which Potenza, the Sport is so imporved over all other similar Potenza's..

 

[Mr Pig]

The Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 5 is a great tyre and shouldn't be too harsh even on 18'' wheels. Just make sure you're not running the stupidly high standard tyre pressure.

18'' down to 16'' is a big drop and you will notice the difference in handling. The car won't turn in as sharply and it will generally feel looser. 17'' would be a better compromise.

Also note that you'll need to tell your insurance company. 16'' wheels were never an option on the FR so they might get antsy about that.

 

[G.P]

18'' down to 16'' is a big drop and you will notice the difference in handling. The car won't turn in as sharply and it will generally feel looser. 17'' would be a better compromise.

Also note that you'll need to tell your insurance company. 16'' wheels were never an option on the FR so they might get antsy about that.

Also need to check the 16/17" goes over the calliper depending on which disc's you have..

 

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi.
If you have any issues with insurance at all for a change of wheels then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.