Tiguan R Line - Harsh Ride - Help

[paul_uk_3000]

Hi All,
Please can you help.. I just brought at 2011 Tiguan R Line. Really love the car but struggling with the ride. It is so harsh and makes driving not much of a pleasure.
Any options - Could I look at putting a larger tyres on the 19" (change from a 255/40 R19 to a 255/45 R19)
Change the wheels for VW 16" or 17"
Change the springs to standard Tiguan ones.
Any help would be great. I have the car for at least 3 years now so need to do something.
Thanks
Paul

[Crasher]

You need to know if the car has the factory sports suspension so on the data sticker G02, G06, G34 or G40 front suspension and 1JA, 1JC, 1JK, 1JP or 1JL rear suspension. I imagine it will be sports so yes it can be changed to the softer system. Certainly, dropping down to 18’s with a 50-profile tyre will significantly improve the ride.

[paul_uk_3000]

Thanks for getting back to me.. I will check, but I think it has sports suspension as it has yellow paint dots on the fount springs. Thing that is what that means. In terms of chaining the suspension would you recommend?
Thanks
Paul

[Crasher]

Only the sports springs feature a yellow mark in the paint code but there are sports springs that do not have yellow marks. There are two variations of sports front spring, 1 x Green, 1 x white, 1x yellow and 1 x Green, 1 x white, 2 x yellow. For sports suspension it would be G03 at the front but either the L10 or L12 weight range. Once you know the weight group, someone has to take the heady responsibility of working out which spring type (G02 or G34) and weight group (there are 7 and 6 respectively for each design SO as a guess I would say G02+L12 equals 911>955kg. I would think that a G02+L11 spring would be my choice, which is part number 5N0 411 105 AB at £94.90 and this has 1 x green and 1 x white paint marks. A G02+L11 damper is easy to work out, 5N0 413 031 L at £89.03. Instead of genuine dampers you could use a Boge 36-E64-B but no one lists the springs and I would only trust one company, Suplex, if they did. Then you have to work out the rear parts.....

[EssexGonzo]

I would have thought that changing the wheels would be easier than changing the suspension as you'll easily be able to sell the wheels on to someone who values bling looks more than ride comfort. I've an A2 and went down from 16" to 15" tyres, albeit higher profile to maintain the same wheel circumference and the difference was very noticeable indeed. And I sold the old wheels and tyres.

You'll also save money on tyres in the long run too.

The obsession with larger wheels to try and look "sporty" has ruined the ride of many cars that should be more comfortable. You can even get 21" wheels nowadays on an A6 diesel estate which is ludicrous!

[Crasher]

Yes, you can roughly say that the problem will be 50% wheels/tyres and 50% the sports suspension. I would probably choose to change the wheels first to see if it was satisfactory.

[dtmorgan]

Did you ever fix the harsh ride? I have the 170 Sport and find the ride too firm.

[shropslad]

after having a test drive in an r line tiguan and the match to compare,, I found the ride fine in the r line tbh,, it had the 18 inch wheels on,, picking ours up on Friday :-),, it is obviously a little firmer than the match,, but does sit better on the road and corners with less body roll.

[carl350i]

Hi,

My wife has an r line 170, and I love the ride. My everyday car is a Touareg which is as soft as s**t, it's all down to personal taste.

cheers,

[Boblell]

Had my R-Line about a month now and at first the ride was far too firm for my liking, it has 18" wheels. I emailed the main dealer I bought it from for advice on tyres and wheels, after receiving no reply I decided to get rid of the Bridgestone's and replaced with Michelins all round, tracked and balanced everything, and its a lot quieter and smoother now and I am well used to it now and happy. What a nice car!

[carl350i]

Good point on the tyres, ours is fitted with dunlops all round, need replacing soon, so going to use the same, also has a large tyre protector rubber edge to them.