Seat Leon FR MK4 - Ride Quality on 17inch vs 18inch - Feedback

[John28]

Hello guys, I own the new Seat Leon FR, great car so far. I was just wondering for any feedback on Ride Quality. Mine is on 18inch (Really love the looks of that rim tbh) - Wheels are Bridgestone Turanza T005, I would say that the ride is a bit firm, but reassuring nevertheless since its on a sport suspension. Indeed you can feel the road imperfections sometimes, depending on the road surface. After some digging, I found out that pressure and different tyres might provide better ride quality, I would like to know your input and experience on this.

I was thinking between 18inch and the 17inch wheels before purchase, I decided to go for the 18inch, since it fits the car's design better and it looks nicer. But Iam still unsure if the 17inch would provide better comfort/ride quality.

Anyone has any feedback on 17inch ?

Thanks.
P.S. Glad, I joined such a forum, lots of helpful stuff. Good job.

 

[BoomerBoom]

Hello guys, I own the new Seat Leon FR, great car so far. I was just wondering for any feedback on Ride Quality. Mine is on 18inch (Really love the looks of that rim tbh) - Wheels are Bridgestone Turanza T005, I would say that the ride is a bit firm, but reassuring nevertheless since its on a sport suspension. Indeed you can feel the road imperfections sometimes, depending on the road surface. After some digging, I found out that pressure and different tyres might provide better ride quality, I would like to know your input and experience on this.

I was thinking between 18inch and the 17inch wheels before purchase, I decided to go for the 18inch, since it fits the car's design better and it looks nicer. But Iam still unsure if the 17inch would provide better comfort/ride quality.

Anyone has any feedback on 17inch ?

Thanks.
P.S. Glad, I joined such a forum, lots of helpful stuff. Good job.

Mine has 17 inch rims and the ride is very good, much better than my MK3 on the same 17 inch wheels - which sometimes felt like my kidneys were being destroyed on rough surfaces.

I've not heard anyone ever say the 18 inch was a comfortable choice, but it should always be better on the MK4 than the previous model. The tyre pressure chart indeed has a comfort setting, but I've never felt the need to drop the 17" pressures.

The best ride comfort I've experienced was in my son's 1.2 SE with just 15 inch wheels, as every increase in tyre wall height makes a huge difference in ride quality, but it didn't look great or corner spectacularly.

 

[Deleted member 123864]

Mine has 19s and no issues with ride comfort either/

 

[John28]

Mine has 17 inch rims and the ride is very good, much better than my MK3 on the same 17 inch wheels - which sometimes felt like my kidneys were being destroyed on rough surfaces.

I've not heard anyone ever say the 18 inch was a comfortable choice, but it should always be better on the MK4 than the previous model. The tyre pressure chart indeed has a comfort setting, but I've never felt the need to drop the 17" pressures.

The best ride comfort I've experienced was in my son's 1.2 SE with just 15 inch wheels, as every increase in tyre wall height makes a huge difference in ride quality, but it didn't look great or corner spectacularly.

Thanks for you input Boomer. Indeed the thinner the rubber the stiffer the ride gets. I was thinking to play around with the tyre's pressure. I found that 2.4 (front) and 2.2 (rear) seems to be in the comfort zone/safe zone. Atm, mine is at 2.5bar. Also, tyre brand should play its part in this, I guess.

 

[John28]

Mine has 19s and no issues with ride comfort either/

Hi horsebox, what tyre pressure and brand you are running with?

 

[Seriously?]

I think it has been said before, that Bridgestones seem to have quite stiff sidewalls.

 

[SRGTD]

I think it has been said before, that Bridgestones seem to have quite stiff sidewalls.

Yes, Bridgestone tyres do seem to be made of a hard rubber compound. I’ve owned VW’s with optional larger (than the standard) alloys that have had Bridgestone tyres from the factory, and when I’ve changed the tyres for Michelin PS4 the ride seems to be more compliant.

I also run the tyres at a couple of psi lower than figures stated on the tyre pressure sticker. VW’s recommended tyre pressures are pretty high, as higher tyre pressures helps them to achieve lower rolling resistance and lower official CO2 emissions, and I suspect the same applies to Seat.

 

[John28]

Hi SRGTD thanks for your input, yes, I did find some other people saying that bridgestones are kinda harsh.

It makes sense that their suggested pressure is based on the factors you mentioned, I will try to lower mine and check the difference. I was thinking to go with 34psi front, 32psi rear.

 

[BigJase88]

I changed the stock Bridgestones for Goodyear Eagle F1's and the difference was unbelievable.

So much more comfort and steering feel

 

[Deleted member 123864]

Hi horsebox, what tyre pressure and brand you are running with?

They're stock Bridgestones. Whatever pressure is recommended on the door sill, not sure off hand.

 

[John28]

So, I've lowered the pressure to 2.4bar (front) 2.2bar (rear), I have to say that the ride feel is better now. The tyres feel much more like a cushion now, instead like bricks (even though are bridgestones). Its weird why they recommend 2.5bar on the side door sticker, it does not represent the car's ride quality, it seems that 2.5bar on all 4-wheels is too high.

 

[SRGTD]

So, I've lowered the pressure to 2.4bar (front) 2.2bar (rear), I have to say that the ride feel is better now. The tyres feel much more like a cushion now, instead like bricks (even though are bridgestones). Its weird why they recommend 2.5bar on the side door sticker, it does not represent the car's ride quality, it seems that 2.5bar on all 4-wheels is too high.

Rock hard recommended tyre pressures means there’s less rolling resistance, and less rolling resistance will mean lower official CO2 emissions.

VAG will be paying emissions based fines for not hitting the EU emissions target, so the lower the emissions they achieve for their overall fleet of new vehicle sales, the lower the fines will be.

 

[RoadXY]

Are all of you guys running Bridgestone Turenza's?
Mine was fitted with Potenza S005 (on factory 18" wheels).