Tyres comfort question

[Ventsi]

My wife has got her Formentor VZ310 for 11 months. It came with Bridgestone T005 19 inch tyres. These felt like a pretty harsh ride, so I had to lower the pressures from the recommended 2.7 bar to 2.5 in order to gain at least some comfort.
For the winter I got her Hankook tyres, which turned out much more comfortable, but this is expected since winter compound is softer. It's time to put the summer tyres again, so I'm wondering, should I go back to the Bridgestone, or should I replace them with something better? Did any of you drive the car with both the original Bridgestone and another summer tyre, can you please share some experience?
I'm aware comfort is subjective btw. She is not a car person but she also noticed the difference in ride quality.

 

[TheUkWizard]

Surely just adjust the suspension if it's about ride firmness? Tinker with the custom setting. It's one thing I like about the car, u can switch from cupra rails stiffness to soft whenever. Changing the tyres seem a bit like too much work. The ones that come with it have great grip too. Not had it lose grip yet, despite my spirited driving around North Wales mountain roads in wet, and slightly icy conditions, in all kinds of road surfaces. Been impressed so far.

 

[Tell]

My wife has got her Formentor VZ310 for 11 months. It came with Bridgestone T005 19 inch tyres. These felt like a pretty harsh ride, so I had to lower the pressures from the recommended 2.7 bar to 2.5 in order to gain at least some comfort.
For the winter I got her Hankook tyres, which turned out much more comfortable, but this is expected since winter compound is softer. It's time to put the summer tyres again, so I'm wondering, should I go back to the Bridgestone, or should I replace them with something better? Did any of you drive the car with both the original Bridgestone and another summer tyre, can you please share some experience?
I'm aware comfort is subjective btw. She is not a car person but she also noticed the difference in ride quality.

Did you get a little panel inside the passenger side door with recommended pressures. If it's like the Ateca they give three setting, few people in it, fully load and a comfort setting. With adjustable suspension they might not do that, but if they publish a comfort pressure setting for the delivery tyres it will be there. Wouldn't go below. I keep mine set as per the passenger / luggage load, not comfort.

Example panels. The line marked (i) or "comfort" if you have it is the recommended "comfort" setting. Example panels from other Seats. The panel is tailored to the tyre fitted... If you have the panel.

 

[Ventsi]

Surely just adjust the suspension if it's about ride firmness? Tinker with the custom setting. It's one thing I like about the car, u can switch from cupra rails stiffness to soft whenever. Changing the tyres seem a bit like too much work. The ones that come with it have great grip too. Not had it lose grip yet, despite my spirited driving around North Wales mountain roads in wet, and slightly icy conditions, in all kinds of road surfaces. Been impressed so far.

Thanks, I already did that. We live in Eastern Europe where the roads are not always great.

Did you get a little panel inside the passenger side door with recommended pressures. If it's like the Ateca they give three setting, few people in it, fully load and a comfort setting. With adjustable suspension they might not do that, but if they publish a comfort pressure setting for the delivery tyres it will be there. Wouldn't go below. I keep mine set as per the passenger / luggage load, not comfort.

Every car has this little panel, when I wrote "recommended 2.7 bar" in my first post, it was taken from the panel.

Did anyone here change the Bridgestone T005 to another summer tyre and could you please share your subjective feeling of comfort?

 

[Tell]

Thanks, I already did that. We live in Eastern Europe where the roads are not always great.


Every car has this little panel, when I wrote "recommended 2.7 bar" in my first post, it was taken from the panel.

Did anyone here change the Bridgestone T005 to another summer tyre and could you please share your subjective feeling of comfort?

The other figure is the recommended comfort tyre pressure . I'm puffed, just pumped mine up. On All Weather Michelin which ride the same as the Bridgestones that the Ateca came in. Well if they are in your size I can recommend them. No change in sound level and you dont have to fiddle with them from summer to winter . I wanted them for occasional snow conditions. Waste of time having 4Drive if on the wrong tyres for winter.

What did you and your ateca do today?

The Leon side is so much more active and a they have a few regular posts. This and pictures of your Leon’s. Should be a be good way of seeing what the others get up to etc. Standard snow foam shot Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

www.seatcupra.net

There are CrossClimate 2 now. The guy on the Tarraco side has those now.

The Tyre Review guy does very good YouTube reviews and the web site.... question of looking through the tables. Reckon the guy uses the correct scientific method. Gets access to test pans. Knows his stuff. The rest is hearsay.

https://m.youtube.com/user/tyrereviews

 

[Ventsi]

Mate, no offence, but I'm not interested in a discussion on whether I should or should not set my wife's car's pressure at the recommended or slightly lower level. Also, all-season tyres might be good for the UK, but here we sometimes have to deal with heavy snow and all season tyres are only good if you're not leaving the city.

Thanks for the YT link, I'll check it out.

Again, if anyone has experience with the Bridgestone T005 vs. another summer tyre, please share

 

[Supa Koopa]

Mate, no offence, but I'm not interested in a discussion on whether I should or should not set my wife's car's pressure at the recommended or slightly lower level. Also, all-season tyres might be good for the UK, but here we sometimes have to deal with heavy snow and all season tyres are only good if you're not leaving the city.

Thanks for the YT link, I'll check it out.

Again, if anyone has experience with the Bridgestone T005 vs. another summer tyre, please share

No offence, but it's fairly clear no one has and I can't see there being a massive difference between different summer tyres. If you really want more comfort then reduce the wheel size to give you a bigger profile or change the car to something more comfort orientated.

 

[Ventsi]

I can't see there being a massive difference between different summer tyres.

Well that's just another way of saying you know nothing about tyres.

The other nonsense that you wrote is not worth replying to.

 

[Tell]

The scientific method is to go to tyre testing sites such as the one given or Auto Bild . Boards just aren't scientific, they are just views.

2020 Auto Bild Summer Tyre Test - Tyre reviews and ratings

Following on from the fifty tyre braking shootout, Auto Bild have more thoroughly tested the best twenty 245/45 R18 summer tyres using a RWD BMW 5 Series. The top three tyres should come as no ...

www.tyrereviews.com

 

[Ventsi]

Also these tests just have "subjective comfort" as a parameter, if at all. It's still some indication of course, but I wanted to hear some opinion from somebody with the same car and tyre size. Anyway, I guess I'll just shoot in the dark.

 

[Supa Koopa]

Well that's just another way of saying you know nothing about tyres.

The other nonsense that you wrote is not worth replying to.

Whoa, might want to wind your neck back in there son. Asking for opinions and then abusing everyone is not the best way to go about getting positive replies.

You're not going to get a massive difference between one summer tyre and another no matter how much you rant and rave. Yes you will feel some small differences but not as much as going from Cupra to comfort on your DCC. Now if you were going from run flats to non then that would be a big difference. Hence why I said I don't think a change in tyre is going to do what you want. Obviously just my nonsense uneducated opinion from 30 years of driving.

 

[rafletcher]

How about fitting 18” rims (or even 17”) and therefore a tyre with a higher sidewall. That’ll have the most affect on ride comfort, much more than changing manufacturer.

 

[Ventsi]

Whoa, might want to wind your neck back in there son. Asking for opinions and then abusing everyone is not the best way to go about getting positive replies.

You're not going to get a massive difference between one summer tyre and another no matter how much you rant and rave. Yes you will feel some small differences but not as much as going from Cupra to comfort on your DCC. Now if you were going from run flats to non then that would be a big difference. Hence why I said I don't think a change in tyre is going to do what you want. Obviously just my nonsense uneducated opinion from 30 years of driving.

Not sure what "wind your neck back in there" means, sorry. I'm not a native English speaker. Also "son" is kind of inappropriate thing to say to strangers, but have it your way.
I asked one very specific question - I'd really appreciate it if people just not answer it, if they don't know the answer - that's perfectly fine. I didn't ask for advice on how to make the car ride more comfortably - I know all of these options and I've already done them. 20+ years of driving on shitty Bulgarian roads makes you learn a lot of little tricks. The last remaining thing to do is to change the tires to softer ones - as I've said, the wife is pretty happy on how the car rides on the winter Hankook. Bridgestones are notoriously hard and my personal experience with riding on Bridgestones on other cars confirms it. This is the 4th brand new car that I buy that comes with f-ing Bridgestones. And every time I change them after a few years, the new tyres ride much more comfortably (one set were RF tho). However, not all tyres from the same brand are the same, these T005 might not be that bad, but the only way to know is to try other brands on the same car. And I'm happy that you have 30 years experience, but comfort between tyres (same size and all) absolutely varies between tyres. Some tyre reviews have "subjective comfort" and if you read the articles, it matters. Otherwise they wouldn't bother writing about it.

How about fitting 18” rims (or even 17”) and therefore a tyre with a higher sidewall. That’ll have the most affect on ride comfort, much more than changing manufacturer.

That was indeed something I was considering, however the wife really loves the Formentor wheels design, plus I already bought the winter 19s, so it will be a lot of money wasted on new summer tyres, new winter tyres and new 18 wheels. I suspected the 19s might be a problem when I was ordering the Formentor, but the only available engine was the 310hp and these rims just came as standard equipment.

 

[Tell]

Well



In the end it's subjective on comfort so I'd trust reviews and tests than straw polls.



Those reviews do also include discussion text. I probably shouldn't be pointing you to these since the board gets income from Google hits here... let's hope they hit here back . If it's tyre options you need tyre review websites, there are a number. Suspect Formentor owner are still on their original ones unless they have burnt them up.

 

[Ventsi]

So I should trust someone's (subjective) opinion on a forum, but I should trust someone's (subjective) opinion in a review. You realize those tests are also done by people and not by machines, I hope. A reviewer's opinion is not much more valuable than a forum user's opinion. The sole reason I'm asking for opinions here is that there isn't a single review of 245/40R19 tires I could find online, that also mentions comfort.
And yes, most Formentor owners are still on the original tires, unless they had a problem and had to replace all 4 tires, or some other reason. I am aware it's a long shot, but still thought it's worth the asking. Judging by the replies, it seems I was wrong.

 

[Bear]

Well that's just another way of saying you know nothing about tyres.

The other nonsense that you wrote is not worth replying to.

That's a bit rude.

 

[BigJase88]

Not a Formentor but i changed the OE supplied Brigestones to Goodyear Eagle F1's on my mk3 Leon and the difference was night and day

The bridgestone were uncomfortable and offered poor grip

The Goodyears drove so much nicer in every single way.

Road noise was slightly increased however but for the benefits it wasn't an issue

 

[Ventsi]

That's a bit rude.

I know. Same as the "advice" I was given - "change the car".

Not a Formentor but i changed the OE supplied Brigestones to Goodyear Eagle F1's on my mk3 Leon and the difference was night and day
The bridgestone were uncomfortable and offered poor grip
The Goodyears drove so much nicer in every single way.
Road noise was slightly increased however but for the benefits it wasn't an issue

Was that the Asymmetric 6 or 5? I've been looking at the 6th gen. The 5th gen seems to have great comfort, according to all reviews I've seen.
Do you remember the exact model of your OE Bridgestone, by any chance?
Thanks for your input.

 

[BigJase88]

I know. Same as the "advice" I was given - "change the car".


Was that the Asymmetric 6 or 5? I've been looking at the 6th gen. The 5th gen seems to have great comfort, according to all reviews I've seen.
Do you remember the exact model of your OE Bridgestone, by any chance?
Thanks for your input.

They were Bridgestone Potenza RE050A and i changed to the Assymetric 5's as the 5's had just came out [2018]

In my opinion all Bridgestones are poor never liked them

 

[Seriously?]

It's probably fair to say that there is plenty of evidence to be found in online forums (admittedly a lot of it anecdotal rather than scientific) that Bridgestones by and large have rather stiff sidewalls, leading to road noise and ride comfort complaints.
I'm also a fan of the F1 Assymetric 5 ; although I only have experience of these on a Mercedes.