Feeling the road through the pedals

maurice28

Having driven a 2009 Vauxhall Astra for years, I was recently fortunate enough to be able to lease a new car through work. Having a family who enjoys camping I was looking for something a bit bigger and when a deal for a Kia Ceed SW fell through, I went back to the estate/SUV drawing board.

In the end, I settled on a Hyundai Tucson (the manual, non-hybrid version). It's a great car, but my main criticism is the feeling of road feedback it gives through the clutch and brake pedal. On rougher road surfaces, when slowing and stopping, it's like I can feel almost every road imperfection through my feet. I even drove another Tucson as a comparison to check it wasn't just mine, and it felt the same, with the salesman confiding that he felt the same about the ride quality.

My question is, how often do you find this in cars? Other than the aforementioned Astra from 2009 we own, I haven't had much experience of newer cars. Do bigger cars with bigger wheels tend to feedback the road surface through the pedals to some degree? Or is the Tucson just particularly bad in this regard?

Ectophile

Many modern vehicles have massive alloy wheels, and correspondingly thin strups of rubber wrapped around the outside.  It's a fashion thing, and does nothing at all to improve the quality of the ride.

The best thing to do when buying a modern car is to turn down the option of big alloys, and get the smaller wheels and correspondingly fatter tyres.

Uxb1

Yup
I had and Astra F and then an Astra G, both hatchback and both with the same engine in them.
not much between them but one difference was that the wheels were now alloys rather than steel with plastic cap on them and bigger so the profile (ie height) of the tyre was now smaller/slimmer however you wish to call it.
The result - a distinctly rougher harder ride.

Oh yes and they changed the gear ratios so at motorway cruising speed in 5th the engine ran at a higher rpm- which resulted in a lower mpg figure on long journeys for the later Astra G compared to the earlier Astra F.

400ixl

Can't say I notice it in our Tucson. Don't have my feet resting on the brake or clutch pedals though when travelling which may be why. Tyre pressures and even tyre makes can have an effect on what you feel through the pedals.

maurice28

400ixl said:

Can't say I notice it in our Tucson. Don't have my feet resting on the brake or clutch pedals though when travelling which may be why. Tyre pressures and even tyre makes can have an effect on what you feel through the pedals.

Ah, that's interesting, thank you. Which specific model do you have? 

This feel is very much when slowing or stopping, rather than just resting feet on the pedals. 

Bigwheels1111

Feeling it through the steering wheel I understand, but not the pedals.
I have 17” inch alloys and 215/50/17 tyres.
Its a nice ride but on some roads I feel it, the lower the middle figure ie 50 in tyre size the harder the ride.
Unless it’s an Sri, then it’s a hard ride all the time.

molerat

Certainly nothing through the pedals here with 19" 45 profiles.  I can feel it through the steering wheel if the road is particularly corrugated. It did feel rough when it came back from a service last year, I checked the tyre pressures and they had set them to the high figure, reduced to normal and all fine.

maurice28

molerat said:

Certainly nothing through the pedals here with 19" 45 profiles.  I can feel it through the steering wheel if the road is particularly corrugated. It did feel rough when it came back from a service last year, I checked the tyre pressures and they had set them to the high figure, reduced to normal and all fine.

That makes sense. Which car is that, out of interest? 

iwb100

I’m sorry but don’t listen to anyone who tries to tell you this is normal cos you have big wheels. It’s not. I’ve driven plenty on 19 and 20 inch rims and not luxury brands either and never once had an issue. The only car I’ve driven where I had that sensation of vibrations through my pedals was a 15 year old Yaris that was clearly in need of scrapping as it was falling to bits. 

But yeah. Not normal. At all. A bumpy ride through your seat - yep bigger tyres can be the issue. And smaller rims are much better for general ride comfort. But I’ve never once experienced the issues you are in any car including suv style with large rims. Check your tyre pressures. Then get it checked to see if Hyundai have skimped on something.

molerat

maurice28 said:

molerat said:

Certainly nothing through the pedals here with 19" 45 profiles.  I can feel it through the steering wheel if the road is particularly corrugated. It did feel rough when it came back from a service last year, I checked the tyre pressures and they had set them to the high figure, reduced to normal and all fine.

That makes sense. Which car is that, out of interest? 

Ford Kuga

maurice28

iwb100 said:

I’m sorry but don’t listen to anyone who tries to tell you this is normal cos you have big wheels. It’s not. I’ve driven plenty on 19 and 20 inch rims and not luxury brands either and never once had an issue. The only car I’ve driven where I had that sensation of vibrations through my pedals was a 15 year old Yaris that was clearly in need of scrapping as it was falling to bits. 

But yeah. Not normal. At all. A bumpy ride through your seat - yep bigger tyres can be the issue. And smaller rims are much better for general ride comfort. But I’ve never once experienced the issues you are in any car including suv style with large rims. Check your tyre pressures. Then get it checked to see if Hyundai have skimped on something.

Yeah, I've never experienced it before either. But then:

I test drove another Tucson of the same type and it felt the same.

Another owner on the Tucson forums said they get the same. 

A local Hyundai dealership checked mine and said all looks fine and normal. 

One of the Hyundai salesmen who came from Ford said he felt the same when he first drove a Tucson, having been used to a Kuga.

The tyre pressures are currently at 35psi, the recommended levels. Might take them down a few more to see if that makes a difference, wary of taking them too low though.