18" vs 19" Ride quality

[keninblaine]

With the end of winter, I'm considering going to 18" summer tires to improve the ride quality. I have found the 19" factory Pirellis pretty harsh. I've also seen comments that just switching to 19" PS4S is an improvement.

Before pulling the trigger on new rims, I'm curious if anyone, based on experience, can comment on the difference in ride quality of just switching to 235x35x19 PS4S on factory blades vs switching to 235x40x18 PS4S on lighter weight Neuspeed RSe10 (18x8.5) rims.

[Potatohead_RS3]

I personally don't believe it makes a whole lot of difference. It is more about spring rate and how the tire stiffness changes it.

FWIW, I think the factory Pirellis at 39/35 psi rode better than my 18" winters do. The winters are really crashy with the suspension in normal mode, it rides better in Dynamic. Of course that setup is also much lighter than the factory setup too which also matters. The 19" Contis I replaced the Pirellis with are simply stiffer overall. Personally I prefer the latter, I hate a ride that is too floaty for anything other than highway cruising.

Hopefully someone who has direct comparison with the Michelin 18" and factory setup can chime in.

[cseaman]

I personally don't believe it makes a whole lot of difference. It is more about spring rate and how the tire stiffness changes it.

FWIW, I think the factory Pirellis at 39/35 psi rode better than my 18" winters do. The winters are really crashy with the suspension in normal mode, it rides better in Dynamic. Of course that setup is also much lighter than the factory setup too which also matters. The 19" Contis I replaced the Pirellis with are simply stiffer overall. Personally I prefer the latter, I hate a ride that is too floaty for anything other than highway cruising.

Hopefully someone who has direct comparison with the Michelin 18" and factory setup can chime in.

Your whole post goes back and forth contradicting itself.

An 18" tire will ride smoother and 'softer' on this car than an identical model 19" tire will. There is no performance or comfort-based justification to run a 19" wheel on this platform. It is purely a decision on aesthetics.

[Potatohead_RS3]

Your whole post goes back and forth contradicting itself.

An 18" tire will ride smoother and 'softer' on this car than an identical model 19" tire will. There is no performance or comfort-based justification to run a 19" wheel on this platform. It is purely a decision on aesthetics.

How is it contradictory? The factory tires rode best, IMO. My 18" winters are crashy, I think mainly because the weight of the whole setup is much lighter. 19" Contis are the firmest but they actually absorb the initial impact better than my winters, they are less jarring. Firm and crashy are not the same thing.

If we are comparing identical tires, sure, you can generally say the smaller wheel will ride better. Op is asking about two different tires.

[S3DUDE]

With the end of winter, I'm considering going to 18" summer tires to improve the ride quality. I have found the 19" factory Pirellis pretty harsh. I've also seen comments that just switching to 19" PS4S is an improvement.

Before pulling the trigger on new rims, I'm curious if anyone, based on experience, can comment on the difference in ride quality of just switching to 235x35x19 PS4S on factory blades vs switching to 235x40x18 PS4S on lighter weight Neuspeed RSe10 (18x8.5) rims.

I was running Neuspeed RS10 with 235-40-18. I can't stand 19" wheels or anything bigger specially with low profile. it is not going to be like a night and day difference but you will always have a bit more meat to cushion any road imperfections. I recently switched to 255/35/18 because my car was breaking lose to often, now the RE71 255's feel great, they are very sticky and they fill the Neuspeed rim very well

[El-Heffe]

I swapped just because I needed winter tires. I'm glad I did. The improvement in ride quality was more than I expected. There was one stretch of road that I considered undrivable before and it's bearable now. It happens to be on my way home from work, so it's a decent improvement for me. I'm not a fan of how the 18's look, but the ride quality improvement is worth it.

[OE2]

18 vs 19 made a huge difference for me but my 18's also weigh ~18lbs vs 27lbs+ of the factory 19's. I 100% support 18's and I am willing to bet you will fall even more in love with your car afterwards.

[S3DUDE]

18 vs 19 made a huge difference for me but my 18's also weigh ~18lbs vs 27lbs+ of the factory 19's. I 100% support 18's and I am willing to bet you will fall even more in love with your car afterwards.

Concur!! same here , went from 27 to about 19 lbs.

[TheContrarian]

If you want improved ride quality, obtain a lighter set of wheels. I certainly noticed a difference staying with 19s, but losing 6 lbs per wheel.

[cityazndan]

Higher profile. Good for comfort, good for grip.


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[jwil]

I personally don't believe it makes a whole lot of difference. It is more about spring rate and how the tire stiffness changes it.

FWIW, I think the factory Pirellis at 39/35 psi rode better than my 18" winters do. The winters are really crashy with the suspension in normal mode, it rides better in Dynamic. Of course that setup is also much lighter than the factory setup too which also matters. The 19" Contis I replaced the Pirellis with are simply stiffer overall. Personally I prefer the latter, I hate a ride that is too floaty for anything other than highway cruising.

Hopefully someone who has direct comparison with the Michelin 18" and factory setup can chime in.

My RS3 doesn’t have any suspension mods and is bone stock with mag-ride. I moved from the stock wheels and Pirellis to Neuspeed RSe11R in 18x9 with 255/35 Michelin PS4S rubber.

The 18” wheels and Michelin rubber absolutely make a positive, discernible difference over stock and are 100% a better option. It may not be an OMGTHISISATOTALLYDIFFERENTCARZOMG!!!!!!11wtfbbq type of difference but it is noticeable, and it is better.

Stock setup is pure trash.

[omniphil]

I am on fixed suspension and the car rides great with the factory wheel/tires staggered setup, lighter 19 inch rims (Neuspeed) with stock pirelli tires and the factory wheels with 235/35/19 snow tires.

I also looked at the weight difference from 18 to 19 when considering summer tires. It was a weight savings of 2 lbs per rim, but the tires were heavier by 1 lb (and 1 lb at the very outside of the diameter of the whole spinning assembly)

For me there's isn't much difference either way.

[RSKYBET]

My car is stock mag ride. I went from OEM 19's/Pirelli's to 245/40/18 Michelin AS3+ on Neuspeed RSe10's. The improvement in ride was easily discernible. The OEM setup had a lot of chop over expansion joints and similar small but abrupt bumps, and was brutal over larger bumps/holes, the 18's are much more livable but do give up noticeable turn in response (partially taller sidewalls and partially going summer to all seasons). I'd really like to try a set of 18" summer tires to see how much response I would get back.

[keninblaine]

My car is stock mag ride. I went from OEM 19's/Pirelli's to 245/40/18 Michelin AS3+ on Neuspeed RSe10's. The improvement in ride was easily discernible. The OEM setup had a lot of chop over expansion joints and similar small but abrupt bumps, and was brutal over larger bumps/holes, the 18's are much more livable but do give up noticeable turn in response (partially taller sidewalls and partially going summer to all seasons). I'd really like to try a set of 18" summer tires to see how much response I would get back.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, it is the brutal and abrupt response to bumps/potholes that I hate. I suspect that the all-season tires are contributing more to your turn-in response than the slightly higher sidewall. IMO, large diameter wheels with low profile tires are mainly for aesthetic benefit. Many serious track aficionados use sticky tires with taller walls on smaller rims.

[Potatohead_RS3]

I don't think the car rides very well at all, with any wheels or tires I have had on it. Certainly some are better than others but none are good. Common complaint with the MQB chassis overall, and of course a lot of this is subjective too.

[omniphil]

Just speculation here, but since the magride suspension is designed for cars with lighter components (wheels/tires/brakes) all of that extra weight on the RS3 A-arm makes the suspension work outside of it's range, leading to that crashing feeling over bumps.
I think this is a case of parts binning where they just throw on the magride system to the car since its a 3 series platform even though it's not designed for such weight. It was more of a decision based on trying to make the car have fancy features like other high end cars have like adjustable suspension.

Someone posted earlier that the RS3 was designed around the fixed suspension, the magride was an afterthought.

Just my 2.5 cents...

[Fixeroh]

Former head of Audi Quattro (now Audi Sports) stated in a Road and Track article that the RS3 and TTRS was designed around the fixed suspension. I'm perfectly OK with it on my car. CC brakes on that package are a bit touchy for commuting however. I run the OEM wheels and Pirellis in the summer and move to 19 inch OZ Racing Ultraleggeras (19x8) with Conti DWS 06s in the unpleasant weather months. Prefer the look of the OZ wheels in black over OEM will probably part with the OEM wheels once the Pirellis degrade to the point of undrivability. Contis are a bit more comfortable than the Pirellis but I have no real issue with harshness. Sort of accept a lesser ride comfort from a more sports oriented sedan.