UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

I have a SEL on order, taking forever.... It will be coming with 17in Pamplona wheels and I was wondering whether anybody who has taken delivery of a Polo with those wheels can let us know what tyres they come fitted with. My 2014 Polo has 17 in wheels and the slow speed ride over broken tarmac is ouch harsh with lower cost tyres.

Hum, I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that you have deliberately chosen to have 17" wheels on your new factory order Polo, now if "comfort" of ride bothers you, I must ask the question:- "why have you spec'd it up with 17" wheels" - there is a good reason to have 17" wheels, but not if you bother about general ride comfort.

My wife's 2015 Polo SEL has the standard 16" alloys with 5 spokes which suits us well enough, big enough looking wheels and with 5 spokes easy enough to keep clean and so slow down horrible looking corrosion, it gets fitted with 15" whees in Winter time - with very little difference in comfort.

I have 19" Summer wheels for my S4 and it can handle them okay, very little difference in comfort between them and 18" Winter wheels.

My daughter has 17" factory fitted option alloys on her late 2009 Ibiza, it is okay for her and I don't really mind the obvious jarring these wheels/tyres give with a light car, but with 17" alloy wheels and the profile of tyre they need to keep the rolling radius correct, it should be a worry for anyone with the pot holes that are around right now in UK as these wheels can very quickly end up being reshaped to resemble 50Pence coins. In fact my daughter's Ibiza currently has a bit of wobble coming through the steering wheel and that car got a new set of tyre in late October, so she is getting this checked to see if it is just balance - and so get them re-balanced, or if it is something more serious what wheel damage!

Ride comfort is relative to what you're used to. If you're used to the average soft ride of a non-sporty model on 14/15" wheels, 17" wheels are going to seem harsh.
For me, used to Performance Golfs, I was happy enough with the ride on 18" wheels that my MK7 Golf GTD had, and was pleasantly surprised that the ride of my Golf R on 19" Pretorias was even more comfortable. The R is seemingly more controlled, yet more forgiving on the bumps.

My biggest concern with tyre choice that VW makes for new car is poor performance. I've had 7 VWs and 1 Audi from new, and they've come on a variety of rubber. I've only had tramping and turn-in grip issues with Bridgestones. I got rid of my GTD for an R to combat tramping, but a change of tyres probably would've cured it as my dad and a number of friends with GTDs on Dunlops, Continentals and Goodyears had minimal or no tramping. I had it with more than 1/3 throttle in the dry and 1/4 throttle in the damp. They're hard wearing, give a brittle ride and last forever. Poor grip also makes for longer stopping distances.

I made a decision very early on in my R ownership to swap the Bridgestone RE050As out for Michelin PSS and they transformed the car, and confidence in abilities. Sometimes, VW's decisions astound me when they do something that makes the car perform nowhere near its potential. Putting Bridgestones on an R is like putting wooden clogs on Usain Bolt.
Hoping that my choice of Brescias for my forthcoming Polo GTI+ which are dealer-fit will allow me to influence the tyre choice of the dealership.

I’m not a fan of Bridgestones either. In addition to the points made by monkeyhanger, I also find them to be quite noisy.

My current Polo GTI (previous generation model) came with Bridgestones. I changed the factory fit diamond cut alloys for a set of VW Motorsport powder coated alloys - anthracite coloured (reason for changing the wheels? I don’t like diamond cut alloys!). I used the change of wheels as an opportunity to change the tyres to Continentals. They’re grippier and quieter than the Bridgestones, and they’re wearing quite well too; they’d covered approx 10k miles when the car was serviced in March and at that time, they had almost 6mm front and a good 7mm rear tread remaining.

I’ve still got the diamond cut alloys with Bridgestones fitted and they’ll be going back on the car when I sell it in a couple of years time. The plan will be to put the Motorsports on (hopefully) a new Polo GTI+, provided the PCD and offset of the Motorsports are OK for the new Polo, and assuming VW will have recommenced taking orders for the GTI+ by then, the waiting times will be more reasonable than they are currently, and hopefully there’ll be some decent discounts available too (here’s hoping ).

The Polo GTI which has my name on it, with the 18s Brescia wheels, looks like is fitted with Bridgestone Turanza's.

My R Line has Falken tyres......

I will try Michelin’s CrossClimate tyres next. Most people say they are quieter and smoother. The one brand I won’t touch is Kumho. Had some brand new kh27s on my VW Up, and they were so dangerous they came off after a month. On one occasion I spun off a large roundabout onto grass. I could have written off several cars or killed a (motor)cyclist. The second time I lost the rear end - going at modest pace round a small roundabout - spelled curtains for them. I’m a sedate driver, by the way. Never before or since lost the rear end in 20 years.

brainbow wrote: Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:36 pm My R Line has Falken tyres......

Snap on my 3 week old SEL 115. what do you think of them?

I am thinking they are a bit noisy but I could be wrong I have not driven this car with any different tyres on it so I have nothing to compare it with.

Unusually for the uk we have had no real rain in the last couple of weeks (from when I collected the car) so I don't know how they drive in the rain.

I am with leif on the tyre front though, I am thinking Michelin`s Crossclimate before winter sets in properly. All depends on how I get on in real rain.

My GTI+ came with Michelin primacy 3 tyres

Alan Mc wrote: Tue Jun 26, 2018 6:32 pm My GTI+ came with Michelin primacy 3 tyres

What do you think of those

They are ok. Very minimal road sounds in the cabin and good grip so far. It hasn’t rained yet so can’t say what they will be like in the wet.

mike sel wrote: Tue Jun 26, 2018 6:49 pm

Alan Mc wrote: Tue Jun 26, 2018 6:32 pm My GTI+ came with Michelin primacy 3 tyres

What do you think of those

I found this review for anyone who’s Interested

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Mi ... Review.htm

My SE 95 came with Continental ContiEcoContact tyres. Anyone any views on these?

My Polo GTI+ on 18 Bresica wheels came with Bridgestone Turanza T001 tyres.

It seems that VW will throw on any set of tyres they can lay their hands on, and there are some rubbish tyres out there. If your not happy with the tyres you have at the moment, and you are looking for tyres with less road noise, the ones you should lookat are the ones with a lower Db reading amongst other things. Now you will see tyres with a Db reading of 70 Db, but if you look and find one with 68 Db that will be much quieter on the road. Those 2 Db makes a lot of difference and you will notice the difference once fitted.
So keep your eye out for 68 DB tyres, for a quieter ride.