Cupra wheels, tyres, wheel hop, etc.

[C_K]

Hi,

I wanted to share my experience with my Cupra 290 and aftermarket wheels. I think it might be very useful for someone here.

I have an ST Cupra 290 Midnight/Phantom Black with a White-line exterior design package.

Couple months ago I decided to change the appearance of the car by swapping all white details of car exterior to bronze by purchasing R18 OZ Racing Ultraleggera (matt bronze) wheels and wrapping all the white details with matt bronze film. I love the new look, unfortunately I cannot share the photos here yet because I haven't posted enough in this forum. Hope to able to do this soon.

However main thing I want to share is my driving experience with the new wheels. Changing to very lightweight Ultraleggera wheels has hugely improved car's handling. In comparision to Ultraleggeras, car with OEM wheels feels really heavy and slow to react, also it is not as keen to move from a standstill or to stop. With Ultraleggeras the handling became very comparable to my wife's Fiesta ST, the car feels much lighter and keen to change direction. Ride comfort with lightweight R18 wheels has also improved a lot. And as I see Cupra's wheelhop is discussed quite a lot in this forum. Changing the wheels seems to eliminated it completely in my case (this might be also partial to Michelin PS4 tyres).

To sum up I really recommend changing Cupra's stock wheels to lighter ones. Of course Ultraleggeras are not the only lightweight wheels on the market. The same effect may be achieved with other lightweight wheels.

Specs of my setup:

OEM wheels - standard R19 (not Sub8 pack Performance), R19 8Jx19 ET50
OEM tyres - 235/35 R19 Continental ContiSportContact 5P

Current wheels - OZ Ultraleggera R18 8Jx18 ET45
Current tyres - 235/40 R18 Michelin Pilot Sport 4 95Y XL

R19 Cupra OEM wheel weight - 13.7 kg / wheel
R18 OZ Ultraleggera wheel weight - 8.6 kg / wheel
Total weight saving of unsprung mass ~20 kg!

As I know Cupra Sub8 Performance wheels save ~1.7 kg / wheel, which is significant but not
too much compared to Ultraleggeras.

[Wheel weights are from extensive browsing through forums and wheel sites, I tried to find as many different sources claiming the same weights to be sure they are accurate]

P.S.
About the tyre choice: unfortunately Michelin PS4S are not yet available in 18-inch size so I had to go for Michelin PS4. Anyway PS4 is a very good performance tyre and I have no complains to how it feels. It feels considerably better than OEM Continentals.

One thing I want to recommend for those who switched their Cupra's wheels to R18s is to go for 235/40 tyre instead of 225/40. 235/40 is closer in size to OEM 235/35, it gives more grip than 225s and also has a bit higher sidewall for better comfort. The only downside is that 235/40 is ~20% more expensive than 225/40.

I would appreciate your feedback if you had similar or different experience, thanks

 

[Perfect_g]

Thank you for sharing!

I do however honestly think a lot of the improvement comes down to the improved tire wall height/increased tire flexibility - with winter tires and vw oem 18" wheels and about 2,6 bar in tire pressure wheel hop hardly ever occurred on my 290 st. There was a bit when tire pressure were raised to 2.9 bar.

Back on oem 19" summer wheels/tires and 2.9 bar pressure and the wheel hop is so harsh that I by all means try to avoid it/heavy acceleration from a stand still

As a consequence I have ordered the powerflex lower engine mount bush (not the insert) - hopefully that will solve the issue..

That being said less unsprung weight is always great


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[C_K]

Thank you for sharing!

I do however honestly think a lot of the improvement comes down to the improved tire wall height/increased tire flexibility - with winter tires and vw oem 18" wheels and about 2,6 bar in tire pressure wheel hop hardly ever occurred on my 290 st. There was a bit when tire pressure were raised to 2.9 bar.

Back on oem 19" summer wheels/tires and 2.9 bar pressure and the wheel hop is so harsh that I by all means try to avoid it/heavy acceleration from a stand still

As a consequence I have ordered the powerflex lower engine mount bush (not the insert) - hopefully that will solve the issue..

That being said less unsprung weight is always great


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Actualy I run the same tyre pressures on R18 OZs as on R19 OEMs (2.7 front, 2.6 back).

 

[LCR33]

Surely it's just going from 19 to 18???????

 

[C_K]

Surely it's just going from 19 to 18???????

Main reason of improvement is not the diameter of the wheel but the weight. Each OZ wheel is 5 kg lighter than OEM and this is unsprung mass so it is much more noticible than shaving off 20 kg from car body parts.

 

[lazybill]

Sounds good, considering something similar, post more so we can see pics

 

[Das Chin]

combo of lighter wheels and better tyres are going to make a big difference. also some tyres are lighter than others for some reason so that could help too. down to the construction and make.

lighter wheels always make a big difference to handling and turn in.

 

[Xpo]

Yup, about the same impressions i got by switching from those heavy oem 19" to 18". Also had TT-wheels in 17x 8.5" et50 with 225/45 contis for a short while, before making those my winter wheels. Also felt great and responsive.
I'm gonna change to some lighter wheels in 17" or 18 later on.

 

[lukeoslavia]

Thank you for sharing!

I do however honestly think a lot of the improvement comes down to the improved tire wall height/increased tire flexibility - with winter tires and vw oem 18" wheels and about 2,6 bar in tire pressure wheel hop hardly ever occurred on my 290 st. There was a bit when tire pressure were raised to 2.9 bar.

Back on oem 19" summer wheels/tires and 2.9 bar pressure and the wheel hop is so harsh that I by all means try to avoid it/heavy acceleration from a stand still

As a consequence I have ordered the powerflex lower engine mount bush (not the insert) - hopefully that will solve the issue..

That being said less unsprung weight is always great


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

did the lower engine mount bush resolve the axle
hop? if so, could you share the link to the where you found it? i've put up with it far too long now! and apparently it makes acceleration fee a lot more stiff and prompt, rather than spongy?

Much appreciated!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Perfect_g]

did the lower engine mount bush resolve the axle
hop? if so, could you share the link to the where you found it? i've put up with it far too long now! and apparently it makes acceleration fee a lot more stiff and prompt, rather than spongy?

Much appreciated!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was not home last week so only got around to opening the shipment Sunday night...and have not fitted the bush yet.

I will update as soon as I have got it fitted and tested it a bit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lukeoslavia]

I was not home last week so only got around to opening the shipment Sunday night...and have not fitted the bush yet.

I will update as soon as I have got it fitted and tested it a bit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

looking forward to hearing about it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Das Chin]

Yes it does reduce the hop loads especially in the wet.

Can be bought here: http://www.vrsnorthampton.com/home/2052-034motorsport-billet-aluminium-mqb-dogbone-mount-insert.html

Big thread on it here : http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=437910

 

[Perfect_g]

Yes it does reduce the hop loads especially in the wet.

Can be bought here: http://www.vrsnorthampton.com/home/2052-034motorsport-billet-aluminium-mqb-dogbone-mount-insert.html

Big thread on it here : http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=437910

The powerflex insert should be better than the 034 according to the threads.

However all I have read in the threads are about inserts which is not what I have bought - I bought the lower bush - but maybe I have missed it somewhere?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lukeoslavia]

thank you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Das Chin]

The powerflex one is still a softer material than metal. Yes it will be better than oem and cheaper than the 034 but a metal insert is going to reduce a lot more flex than a rubber based one

Forge do one too which is £41 delivered

Made a bif difference to my car with traction in the wet, handling and lightening things up. Did not notice any additional noise and vibration. It's like it should have been in the first place!!

 

[Perfect_g]

The powerflex one is still a softer material than metal. Yes it will be better than oem and cheaper than the 034 but a metal insert is going to reduce a lot more flex than a rubber based one

Forge do one too which is £41 delivered

Made a bif difference to my car with traction in the wet, handling and lightening things up. Did not notice any additional noise and vibration. It's like it should have been in the first place!!

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=418375&page=5

Refer to post 83. I believe he has tried both the inserts.

Anyway looking forward to try the new bush.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Perfect_g]

So I got the powerflex bush fitted this morning and I am not impressed
It removed all wheel hop - literally there is absolutely none what so ever. The trade off is rattles from the whole car shaking at low speed and a lot of engine noise at low speed.
When you get up to speed everything is fine but if going 80 km/h and accelerating in drive there are lots of vibrations and noise.
I will give it a few days but my initial impression is that this is not for me.
It is fantastic for the first time to be able to just pull from a stand still and the gear changes seems faster/more direct, but as I do a lot of stop&go traffic and driving on roads below 80 km/t I find it hard to believe that I will be able to live with the extreme trade off in refinement (there is none back at low speeds).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SteA]

So I got the powerflex bush fitted this morning and I am not impressed
It removed all wheel hop - literally there is absolutely none what so ever. The trade off is rattles from the whole car shaking at low speed and a lot of engine noise at low speed.
When you get up to speed everything is fine but if going 80 km/h and accelerating in drive there are lots of vibrations and noise.
I will give it a few days but my initial impression is that this is not for me.
It is fantastic for the first time to be able to just pull from a stand still and the gear changes seems faster/more direct, but as I do a lot of stop&go traffic and driving on roads below 80 km/t I find it hard to believe that I will be able to live with the extreme trade off in refinement (there is none back at low speeds).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am guessing you got a track version of the powerflex bush? Excepting the reduction of wheel hop I honestly can't tell I have the powerflex bush fitted. I was in a traffic jam today, with stop / start active, and didn't get a single noise or vibration. I do still get wheel hop in the wet with the standard Bridgestones, hopefully that will go when the PS4S tyres go on...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Perfect_g]

I am guessing you got a track version of the powerflex bush? Excepting the reduction of wheel hop I honestly can't tell I have the powerflex bush fitted. I was in a traffic jam today, with stop / start active, and didn't get a single noise or vibration. I do still get wheel hop in the wet with the standard Bridgestones, hopefully that will go when the PS4S tyres go on...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah I got the track version of the complete bush so that is probably a big part of it.. Figured others had good experience with the track version of the insert so went for the track version of the bush.

I am not using stop / start as I believe it is everything but good for your engine - the vibrations etc. are simply from sitting still in drive and really loud when the clutch engages.

I prefer the way the car handles, that absolutely no wheel hop occurs, the tight feeling of the steering, the much more fluent and snappier gear changes but the noice/vibrations are to extreme for everyday driving for me. I can feel the vibrations through the steering wheel, the seats, the pedals and everything is rattling when releasing the break pedal (the clutch engage). When up to speed the vibrations are gone.

Do you have the insert or the actual bush?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SteA]

Yeah I got the track version of the complete bush so that is probably a big part of it.. Figured others had good experience with the track version of the insert so went for the track version of the bush.

I am not using stop / start as I believe it is everything but good for your engine - the vibrations etc. are simply from sitting still in drive and really loud when the clutch engages.

I prefer the way the car handles, that absolutely no wheel hop occurs, the tight feeling of the steering, the much more fluent and snappier gear changes but the noice/vibrations are to extreme for everyday driving for me. I can feel the vibrations through the steering wheel, the seats, the pedals and everything is rattling when releasing the break pedal (the clutch engage). When up to speed the vibrations are gone.

Do you have the insert or the actual bush?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I got the:

Powerflex Lower Dogbone Mount Insert Kit - PFF85-830 / PFF85-832
(Bush Options: Version 1 - For Petrol Models (PFF85-830))
PFLEX004




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk