Improving road noise on the GTI

[its_neil]

Currently got a MK5 GTI with the stock 18" monzas which tbh are a bit shabby and need a refurb/replacement.

Most of my driving is becoming the boring commute and the road noise is beginning to get to me and was thinking of going to 17" wheels if it offered a better ride, however I am a bit concerned that the little wheels would look silly on the car! Whilst my car is currently getting it's front wings done on warranty I've been given a Golf plus courtesy car which is absolutely beautiful going down the motorway...

[Scottymon]

GTI has a stiff ride... I've only ever had 18s on the Mk5 but people say the 17s don't make a huge amount of difference.

It's one of the reasons I'd like the adaptive suspension in my next car (Rocco R).

[john87]

When I ran my winter (17") wheels on my GTI, I noticed a slight improvement in comfort. Road noise is of course, mostly influenced by the road surface quality (or lack of) and the tyre tread/type.

When I bought my GTI, it had sh!tty budget tyres on the front, which made some racket. When I changed them for Eagle F1's, the noise was noticeably reduced when doing motorway speeds 

[OSB]

The wife has 18" on hers, mine has 17". Both with top range tyres.
IMO the 18s are a little noisier but the ride is def worse! Especially over the mass of potholes round here. Really thumps. Not too much difference on a smooth motorway.
Look good though ......

[Human Joist]

Mine has got 17's on and I think it look just fine. If you go for OE wheels you won't really notice the difference. In fact I prefer the look of slightly bigger tyre on this wheel as when I bought this there were two. Mine with dsg and 17's and one with the same age and mileage but manual and 18's. I thought these looked better.

Do to get me wrong I like bigger wheels my mk4 R32 runs the factory 18

[rallycross]

they are noisy with the larger wheels, I found my Gti with 17" was a lot quieter than with the 18"s (same make of tyres).

[Gra]

Pirelli p6000 are nice quite tyres mot jags come with them for the comfort and quite ride


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[gobbleplease]

Tyres mate , I can't recommend a quite one though most of mine have had the same sound characteristics although some have been quiter than others.

Obviously sound insulation will help if you find it that intrusive