Hi all, 1st post, retired Eng. living rural SW Ireland
Really pleased with this car, practical, economical & more fun to drive than I'd expected. (I have a 'classic' early 90s E36 BMW 325 as well, used in summer - I like driving & passed advanced test on m/bike 40yrs ago.)
Bought with a nearly done set of (original?) Michelin Energy Saver tyres, and only realised road noise was quite high when I got it back to my home area on roads I knew, & could compare with my previous car, a Toyota Auris E150 model. Ireland's roads, esp rural, are typically rough & often with noisy tarmac, surface choices possibly b/c very little salting is ever done despite some snow/ice every winter even in SW region (nearest Gulf Stream).
Living up a steep hill ~ 1 mile has meant I moved to all season tyres a few years ago, as they are a vast improvement over summer tyres & I can get away without the snow chains I had to use before a few times, just to get up/down my hill.
So, for reasons of lower noise spec - 68dB - this time I went for Kleber Quadraxer2 all season tyres (per link), & decided that the 84 (std Jazz) load spec in 185/60/15 'T' speed rating tyre (118mph) preferable to the only other size option in 88xl load & 'H' (130mph) speed rating.
I had hoped for some improvement, if not a revelation, but remarkably, I can report that these new tyres are dramatically better in road noise & ride quality on any surface so far encountered here. Honestly, if I hadn't experienced it myself, back to back, I would not have believed the difference possible. (I have no pecuniary interests btw in Kleber, Honda, or indeed any other investments etc.)
Caveat? The Michelin tyres, pressures checked to spec 33/32psi, were still legal, but only just. Is that a factor, I don't know?
All I can tell you is that ride quality, low noise (up to ~70mph thus far), grip & handling are all very good indeed. IMO, handling & steering weight is very well balanced & neutral. (Probably with understeer if I *really* pushed it, along with some 'tramping' on rippled/lumpy tarmac, likewise.)
The lower 'T' speed rating than std. - ie with less stiff side walls - is likely an expected factor. But even(!) with 60 profile 15" tyres, steering remains fast & precise. I'm likening this car to an old school Mini - nippy, & turns on a dime, great fun
As you might expect - & driven by German TUV legal requirements? - Kleber spec their 88XL load/'H' speed tyre for this car, as they don't offer an 84/H in this 185/60/15 size.
But imo (& that of the tyre garage that fitted them), the 'T' rating - 118mph at the full loading of '84' index 500Kg per corner - is more than adequate & safe for this car.
Max. vehicle weight GVW for this model Jazz is ~ 1,660Kg - so I'd have to be hitting the cars claimed max. speed of 118mph, whilst simultaneously & illegally overloading the vehicle by ~300Kg+, before I exceeded the performance capability of these tyres. That's not going to happen, & tmk is certainly not a legal, insurance or MoT issue anywhere in Europe, with the possible latter bureaucratic issue in Germany.
I've ridden motorbikes a lot in my life (incl. 100hp+ sports models), so understand that tyres can vary in how they match or mismatch, as the first line of 'suspension', the geometry, damper & spring rates of the vehicle. But this extent of change from just a tyre is unexpected & a very pleasant surprise.
Bar a bit of side wind noise (assumed windscreen edge created?) at speed, which I can live with, I'm loving everything else on this car. A remarkably flexible & adequately powered engine (w/o turbo or GDI points of unreliability imho) - economical, 4.4l/100km (64mpg UK) indicated ave. over 600km so far - and a great drive for a car of this size & weight. 5 stars from me.
https://www.kleber-tyres.com/auto/tyres/kleber-quadraxer2
