dj_efk
A2OC Donor
Based on your intended usage, I would say the Michelins are the best choice if you can afford them.
Michelin Crossclimates
- Thread starter trevorswaine
- Start date
Based on your intended usage, I would say the Michelins are the best choice if you can afford them.
gills
A2OC Donor
Not used Quatrac 5, but have had versions 2 and 3 on previous cars and they are very capable in the snow. This was about 8 years ago with Quatrac 2s on a Fabia mk1. I did 15 miles to work, up some quite steep hills, passing stuck 4x4s on the way:
Maybe look at 185/65R15 instead of 195/55R15. Not only is 185/65R15 a lot more comfortable than 195/55R15 but it's a much cheaper size and unlike the less common 195/55R15 size, you get all the latest tyres including Vredestein Quatrac (replaces Quatrac 5). Autodoc are listing the 185/65R15 88T for about £48 and the 185/65R15 88H for about £52. A load index of 88 in the 185/65R15 size means that it's non-XL (which helps comfort). XL in that size has a load index of 92.
Another low cost size is 195/60R15. Here's the Vredestein Quatrac listed on autodoc.co.uk in size 195/60R15 88H for about £55.
2020 Auto Bild All Season Tyre Review
www.tyrereviews.co.uk
Another low cost size is 195/60R15. Here's the Vredestein Quatrac listed on autodoc.co.uk in size 195/60R15 88H for about £55.
2020 Auto Bild All Season Tyre Review
2020 Auto Bild All Season Tyre Test - Tyre Reviews and Tests
Following on from the 32 tyre braking shootout, Auto Bild have taken the fourteen best all season tyres to the full test, and included a summer and winter tyre as reference. As with the Tyre ...
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Edwrai
Member
Maybe look at 185/65R15 instead of 195/55R15. Not only is 185/65R15 a lot more comfortable than 195/55R15 but it's a much cheaper size and unlike the less common 195/55R15 size, you get all the latest tyres including Vredestein Quatrac (replaces Quatrac 5). Autodoc are listing the 185/65R15 88T for about £48 and the 185/65R15 88H for about £52. A load index of 88 in the 185/65R15 size means that it's non-XL (which helps comfort). XL in that size has a load index of 92.
Another low cost size is 195/60R15. Here's the Vredestein Quatrac listed on autodoc.co.uk in size 195/60R15 88H for about £55.
2020 Auto Bild All Season Tyre Review
2020 Auto Bild All Season Tyre Test - Tyre Reviews and Tests
Following on from the 32 tyre braking shootout, Auto Bild have taken the fourteen best all season tyres to the full test, and included a summer and winter tyre as reference. As with the Tyre ...
Can you expand on how 185 65 is a lot more comfortable than 195 55? As it’s 10.6% more sidewall.
Also a 185 65 will be 5% off on the Speedo meaning you will under read your speed
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185/65 15 is too tall for an A2Maybe look at 185/65R15 instead of 195/55R15. Not only is 185/65R15 a lot more comfortable than 195/55R15 but it's a much cheaper size and unlike the less common 195/55R15 size, you get all the latest tyres including Vredestein Quatrac (replaces Quatrac 5). Autodoc are listing the 185/65R15 88T for about £48 and the 185/65R15 88H for about £52. A load index of 88 in the 185/65R15 size means that it's non-XL (which helps comfort). XL in that size has a load index of 92.
Another low cost size is 195/60R15. Here's the Vredestein Quatrac listed on autodoc.co.uk in size 195/60R15 88H for about £55.
2020 Auto Bild All Season Tyre Review
2020 Auto Bild All Season Tyre Test - Tyre Reviews and Tests
Following on from the 32 tyre braking shootout, Auto Bild have taken the fourteen best all season tyres to the full test, and included a summer and winter tyre as reference. As with the Tyre ...
Edwrai
Member
10% isn’t a lot more. But this would throw the speedo off and the gearing
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Caesarmp
Member
How did you find your Quatrac tyres in good weather?
gills
A2OC Donor
They were fine, nothing exceptional, but reasonably quiet and handled well. I seem to remember the Quatrac 3s wore a bit unevenly, but they had a split design with the outside optimised for summer and inside for winter:
The sidewall height of a 185/65 tyre is 120.25mm, and the sidewall height of a 195/55 tyre is 107.25mm. So the 185/65 tyre's sidewall height is 12.1% more, not 10.6%.
Not only that, but let's say the height of the stiff parts of the sidewall is 25mm such as the tyre bead and the tread. This reduces the effective flexible height of both sidewalls down from 120.25mm and 107.25mm to 95.25mm and 82.25mm. So the increase of the flexible parts of the sidewall has now been increased not by 12.1% but 15.8%.
...and there's another way of looking at the difference in comfort, and that is by reference to both the tread width and the load index. However, so as not to confuse everyone I will first compare a 195/55R15 tyre with a 195/60R15 tyre.
The load index of a 195/55R15 tyre is 85 (515kg) and the load index of a 195/60R15 tyre is 88 (560kg). Now 515/560=0.92 which means that by using a 195/60R15 tyre instead of a 195/55R15 tyre you can reduce your tyre pressure by about 8% which is about 2psi to 3psi. A reduction of 2psi to 3psi in tyre pressure makes a noticeable improvement to ride comfort.
Also, if you compare a 195/55R15 tyre with a 195/60R15 tyre when not fitted to a rim, you will notice that the sidewall is actually more flexible with the 60 aspect ratio tyre compared to the 55 aspect ratio tyre...which again helps the ride comfort.
Now comparing a 185/65R15 tyre with a 195/60R15 tyre...both tyres have the same 88 (560kg) load index so use the same tyre pressure. Because both tyres use the same tyre pressure, they both have the same contact area with the road. However, the 185/65 tyre is narrower than the 195/60 tyre, which means that the contact patch with the road is narrower...but because they both have the same contact area with the road...the length of the contact patch on the 185/65 tyre is longer. This results in a softer ride.
And just like when you compare a 195/55 tyre with a 195/60 tyre when not fitted to a rim, you will find that the sidewall carcase is actually softer and more flexible with a 185/65 tyre than a 195/60 tyre...which again helps ride comfort.
There's also the effect rim width has on ride comfort. The wider the rim relative to the tyre width, the more stretched the sidewalls will be and the harder the ride. The narrower the rim relative to the tyre width, the less stretched the sidewalls will be and the softer the ride. So by fitting both a 185/65 tyre and a 195/60 tyre to a 6J rim, some of the improvement to the ride that you might expect from the 185/65 tyre over the 195/60 is somewhat negated. However, a 185/65 tyre fitted to a 6J rim will still ride softer than a 195/60 tyre fitted to 6J rim...just not as much as a 185/65 tyre fitted to a 5.5J rim compared to a 195/60 tyre fitted to a 6J rim.
The outside diameter of a 195/55R15 tyre is 595.5mm, whereas the outside diameter of a 185/65R15 tyre is 621.5mm. 621.5/595.5=4.4%
Car speedometers under-read as standard by about 5%. On standard tyres, if your speedometer is reading 70mph you are actually going about 67mph. By fitting tyres that have outside diameters that are 4.4% bigger than standard your speedometer should be completely accurate. However, it's always best to check at various speed points such as 30mph, 40mph, 50mph, 60mph, 70mph, your speedometer with GPS. Google maps now comes with GPS instantaneous speed readout, so you can use that.
195/60R15 has an outside diameter of 615mm, so will raise the gearing by 3.3% compared to a 195/55R15 tyre. For this reason, you may prefer to use a 195/60R15 tyre over a 185/65R15 tyre as it keeps the gearing closer to standard.
185/60R15 has an outside diameter of 603mm, so will raise the gearing by 1.3% compared to a 195/55R15 tyre. However, a 195/60R15 tyre will ride noticeably softer on a 6J rim than a 185/60R15...although many owners may find the 185/60R15 tyre comfortable enough...and the small 1.3% increase in gearing over the 195/55R15 tyre will hardly be noticed.
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185/65R15 has about the same outside diameter as 195/55R16. Both sizes have been used successfully on the A2. However, they raise the gearing by 4.4% and 4.3% respectively, when compared to 195/55R15. Not everyone is happy with this quite big increase in gearing, but some will find the improvement in ride comfort worth the trade-off.
If you want improvements in ride comfort on 15" wheels, maybe stick to 195/60R15 (3.3% increase in gearing compared to 195/55R15) or even 185/60R15 (1.3% increase in gearing compared to 195/55R16) as many do.
My tip of the day is 195/60R15 tyres on narrow 5.5Jx15 ET40 rims from the latest Audi A1/VW Polo. Fitting 195/60R15 to a narrower 5.5J rim instead of a wider 6J rim will give an improvement in ride comfort...every little helps...etc.
Alcar 4055 5.5Jx15 ET40 5/100 57.1 Steel Rims
Alcar KFZ 4055 » Steel Wheels » Oponeo.co.uk
Check if steel wheels Alcar KFZ 4055 fit to your vehicle.Tempting prices and free shipping. Buy steel wheels Alcar KFZ 4055.
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Don't agree185/65R15 has about the same outside diameter as 195/55R16. Both sizes have been used successfully on the A2. However, they raise the gearing by 4.4% and 4.3% respectively, when compared to 195/55R15. Not everyone is happy with this quite big increase in gearing, but some will find the improvement in ride comfort worth the trade-off.
If you want improvements in ride comfort on 15" wheels, maybe stick to 195/60R15 (3.3% increase in gearing compared to 195/55R15) or even 185/60R15 (1.3% increase in gearing compared to 195/55R16) as many do.
My tip of the day, is 195/60R15 tyres on narrow 5.5Jx15 ET40 rims from the latest Audi A1/VW Polo. Fitting 195/60R15 to a narrower 5.5J rim instead of a wider 6J rim will give an improvement in ride comfort...every little helps...etc.
Alcar 4055 5.5Jx15 ET40 5/100 57.1 Steel Rims
Alcar KFZ 4055 » Steel Wheels » Oponeo.co.uk
Check if steel wheels Alcar KFZ 4055 fit to your vehicle.Tempting prices and free shipping. Buy steel wheels Alcar KFZ 4055.
195/55 16 is too big too
Many people have 'upsized' their tyres on standard 16's from 185/50 to either 195/50 or 185/55 successfully but what you are recommended is too big, well in my opinion anyway.
Also think 195 is too wide for a 5.5j rim?
Good point about going too big. I do share your concerns. One of the other regular contributors did point out that his A2 did feel long-legged on 195/55R16 tyres.
To improve the ride comfort over 195/55R15 tyres without increasing the gearing would mean changing to something like 185/65R14 tyres possibly on 5Jx14 ET35 rims.
165/65R15 would be another option. They have the same outside diameter as 195/55R15, and although 165/65R15 tyres have the same sidewall height as 195/55R15 tyres, the narrower 165/65R15 tyres will ride softer on 5J rims compared to the 195/55R15 size on 6J rims. This improvement in ride comfort is partly down to the sidewalls being softer on the 65 aspect ratio tyres compared to the 55 aspect ratio tyres, but also the load index is only 4 groups different.
The load index on the 195/55R15 tyre is only 53kg higher than the load index on the 165/65R15 tyre, ie. 85 (515kg) versus 81 (462kg). The increased load index on the 195/55R15 tyre isn't enough to counter the much narrower tread width on the 165/65R15 tyre. This means that the contact patch with the road is longer on the 165/65R15 tyre.
Many owners would prefer the looks of the wider 195/55R15 tyres over the narrower 165/65R15 tyres, but the 165/65R15 tyres do ride very nicely on 5Jx15 ET28 rims with good grip on 3PMSF tyres in the winter.
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For anyone comtemplating 'upsizing' their tyres be very careful and do your homework and make sure you are absolutely certain they will fit without rubbing or it could be a very costly mistake.
Also consider the fact that if your car has rear mudflaps fitted that this will also limit clearance and anything too large will rub these too ?
Also consider the fact that if your car has rear mudflaps fitted that this will also limit clearance and anything too large will rub these too ?
I do appreciate the information you are providing for people who may not understand tyres, and their variables that can affect so many factors of a car.
All i will say to people is be careful and don't take anything you read as gospel. If in doubt stick to 'factory fit' sizes that allow for tolerances as all tyres fit differently, look different and are of different shapes and one size tyre from one manufacturer will fit and won't rub and the same size from another manufacturer might cause a problem ?
It depends what aspect ratio.
195s with an aspect ratio of 50 or higher is officially approved by ETRTO (European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation) to fit a 5.5J rim.
The Mercedes A-Class used to fit 195/50R15 tyres to 5.5J rims as standard.
They would have done this because 195/50R15 tyres fitted to 5.5J rims ride more comfortably than 195/50R15 tyres fitted to wider 6J or 6.5J rims.
Caesarmp
Member
Thank you everyone for your observations, which have helped me clarify my thoughts. Ride is not a major concern of mine, and having fixed on the wheels I want I think I prefer to keep the standard rolling radius, ergo 195/55 R15 is the one. The added inch of sidewall depth will still I think make a difference where kerbs, potholes and speed ramps obtrude. As for make, Vredestein Quatrac 5 is not currently available on Blackcircles, while Kwik-fit has a good deal on Cross Climate+. That plus the summer bias of the Michelin mix, probably better for southern England, makes up my mind to go for....Cross Climate + 195/55 R15. I shall post a photo once the business has been done. Ciao a tutti!
I would go 185/60 15 ??
greywolfhound
Member
But not on the rest..... ?