I bought a new Jazz 1.4 SE cvt auto. The car does good 40mpg fuel economy around town but I'm not so happy with the firm ride.
Even driving slowly on say block paved streets, there is noticable vibration through the steering and seat.
I don't have a problem with the ride with other cars like 2001 Polo, Touran, 98 Civc and A150 (15" wheels)
The Jazz is fitted with standard fit 15" alloys with Bridgestone RE040 185/55 15" H rated tyres, and I've read this combination can make the ride worse. I understand the Jazz rides better on 14" wheels.
Can anyone advise if changing the Bridgestones for a different make of tyre will make any real difference in reducing the firmness (and harshness) of the car's ride, or would I be simply wasting my money? I'm considering Michelin Energy tyres as Costco can do a good price on them.
b
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The smaller the wheel diameter and larger the tyre section the better the ride will be. I don't know what the attraction of low profile tyres is apart from the look and a marginal improvement in handling. Most people spend more time driving in a relatively straight line than screeching round corners, and many complain about the hard ride on modern cars. Only the hydropnumatic Citroens give you the best of both worlds.
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I'm considering Michelin Energy tyres as Costco can do a good price on them.Changing tyres for the same size will do little if anything.
Costco are doing deals on 4 x tyres but you need 4 x smaller wheels and higher profile (Higher profile = Cheaper ) tyres to see any change in the ride.
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We have a 53 plate Jazz on 14" wheels that came with Yokohama tyres and the ride is extremely bouncy. I've driven a newer (facelifted) car on 15" wheels and I thought it felt a bit better - maybe the suspension was modified a bit on the facelift cars though.
We put Michelin Energy tyres on the front of ours recently and it feels just the same. Be aware that the Energy tyre is an "eco" low rolling resistance (therefore harder) tyre and it's quite noticeable on the wet muddy lanes around here that there isn't as much front grip. Nothing that's an issue, or that Mrs BP would ever notice, but I can certainly feel it understeering.
I bought the Energy's at Costco who were absolutely adamant they would only put them on the rear - the reason being the older tyres should go on the front. This is fine in theory but falls apart (in fact is downright dangerous) when the newer tyres are less grippy than the old rears that move to the front.
Bridgestone's are noted for stiff sidewalls and I think Energy tyres (being an eco tyre) is probably going to tend towards the firm side.
I'm not sure what to recommend, but would suggest that the Bridgestone's aren't helping and that Michelin Energy probably wouldn't be much better.
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Many thanks for all the replies so far.
Thanks Bill for highlighting the issues with swapping to the eco Michelin Energys.
In the light of your comments, I did a bit of googling and came across tyrereviews.co.uk website. There is a review of RE040 tyres as fitted to Civic Type-R. It too concluded the RE040 do have stiff sidewalls and so comfort suffers.
The tyre survey on same website suggests the Energys 'may' be more comfortable. Also Continental Premium Contact 2's look favourable, but there are too few results/reviews to form an accurate judgement on the Contis.
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Actually, there is a thread here which suggests eco tyres might have thinner sidewalls (haven't had time to read right through it yet):
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=19151
Certainly, they don't make any noticeable difference on our car, and the lower profile on your car would (I guess) make any diffference even less noticeable.
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Our 2003 Jazz has 14" wheels but the older suspension that gave a firmer ride. I don't find that tyre choice makes much difference but feel that your bigger wheels with low profile tyres is always going to make the ride harsh.
Re low fuel consumption tyres, my daughter's Panda has the Continental version of these. I drove it on some snow this weekend and the grip was terrible. When part worn these tyres are relly only left with circumferential tread and hardly any tread blocks.
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I have often heard about the Costco tyre deals. Out of interest, what is the deal, on what size of tyre are they offering? Is there any way for a non Costco person to get the tyre prices (e.g. on the web??) to see if it is worth joining?
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Costco special offers on Michelin tyres varies, but I think the offers only applies to purchase of 4 tyres.
Before Xmas, they were offering 10% discount on 4 tyres.
Currently, they are offering £20 off 4 tyres up to 15", £40 off 16"/17", and £80 off 18" and bigger tyres.
185/55 15" H tyres for Jazz were about £57 each fully fitted from Costco (before discounts). That compares favourably to the £65-£70 being asked by the big quickfits.
Costco isn't always cheapest but they are competitive. They don't have a website so you do need a membership card to get in, but I seem to recall one warehouse in London had a separate door to their tyre showroom, so you wouldn't need a membership card to enter, if all you wanted to do, was look at prices.
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£57 per tyre for a small car is very expensive. I bought new Bridgestones for my Yaris at £35 each fitted.
(One of the many reasons I did not buy a Jazz.)
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£57 per tyre for a small car is very expensive.
I bought 14" Michelin Energy for our Jazz from Costco at their "normal" (no special offer) price and they were just under £40 each fitted inc VAT . Which was a good £20 cheaper than the same tyres are avilable elsewhere.
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Had same problem with my mercedes avantgarde.After much research,fitted Goodyear Excellence tyres,and the ride is slightly better and lot quieter,but the handling suffers slightly.They last quite long as well.
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I have a 54 plate Jazz CVT.
The front Yokohama Aspec original tyres lasted 15222 miles.
The rears still have 5mm tread at 34130 miles.
The fronts were replaced with fateO AR 35 Advance 175/65/14s and I will replace them in the next few miles-so 19K as opposed to 15k on Yokohamas.
I had fateOs on a K-reg Astra auto which would not wear out!-so got them for the Jazz.
They came from a local independent-£34.50 each, inc. new valve & balance.
Their tread wear rating is 320-I don't notice any reduction in grip.
As for ride quality,low profiles seem to make all cars worse (various HJ test drives).
Personally, I don't think the Jazz rides worse than a Focus-wich is longer, wider, more expensive,lousy auto box, and no more luggage or passenger space.
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