alvam

I have not noticed a big difference from my 20's on the A6 to the 21's. I do not notice any major increased road noise and the ride itself is very smooth. Maybe they lowered the tire pressure prior to me taking delivery but it is very smooth and compliant on the road. Love the feel and quite quiet.

JeremyZ

I've been in my SQ5 on 21s for about 10 months, and kinda understand what the OP is talking about. In NYC, driving on poorly paved highways is really, really rough. I think it was a smidge better on the 20 snow tires. I wouldn't characterize it as "bouncing," though - that sounds strange.

As far as the vibration in the cabin, that's not cool or normal at all. You have the right to get that fixed.

lawnmore

My take is that its the suspension on the SQ MUCH more than the wheels and tires. I recently put SQ5 21's on my 2015 Q5 TDI and was very skeptical about the resulting ride. I was ready to immediately go back to my original 19's however there was very little difference in ride comfort. There is a slight hollow sound I believe coming from the tires on some surfaces that I didn't notice previously.Its completely ignorable.
There is nothing about the setup I would change and I fully intend to stay with the 21's--they look great!!

KeilwerthSX90R

Thanks for all the replies. I do need to get the tire pressure checked. I'm guessing it's high. I have the Pirellis. My old Q5 had 20s.

Moving to the S and from 20s to 21s I'm not surprised it's stiffer than my old Q5, but the ride quality is almost on par with my friend's Honda CRV and that makes no sense to me so I'm pretty sure something's wrong. I live in DC so the roads are pretty bad and I'm fine with a stiffer ride than my old Q5, but this seems very excessive.

I'm taking it back out to my dealer to do a drive with their shop foreman. I've told them I'd also like to test drive another SQ5 on 21s to compare. I'll report back what I find. I think something's up because the cabin vibration makes no sense. I was just reading through the car manual while parked with the engine on and the pages were noticeably vibrating since I had rested the manual on the steering wheel. That can't be right.

gronk

No offense, but why not check the pressure before setting up appointments with the shop? It takes 10 min with a $10 tool. It's a good thing to have moving forward as well, as you should be checking them periodically and not depending on the warning system.

big residual

Yesterday, Audi reminded me it's been a year with my SQ5, on the 21s. I read all of the posts about ride quality and then tire sizes before I bought. I test drove with the 20s and 21s. I really couldn't tell much of a difference -- what I could tell is some roads in WA were ****tier than others. Actually, most of the suck almost as bad as the NE.

Anyway, the 21s do look great. I never really thought twice about the ride since. It's not jarring, it's not too slushy, it's fine. I've never really gotten this concern... but I also don't like a really soft ride like when I rent a car and get a big US sedan.

rkdiddy

So what PSI is everyone running their 21"ers at?

SuperQkc

I'm very interested in hearing the answer to this question as well.
Who is using what tire pressure on 21", is the vehicle heavy with people or belongings/work equipment etc?

I test drove a 2015 SQ5, they sold me a 2016, I sure hope theres no difference in ride quality from the vehicle I test drove, the 2015 was a dream ride!!

lawnmore

Let me qualify my answer first. I put SQ5 21's on my 2015 Q5. I am running 41 f and 36 R with 1or 2 people and no significant load. If I load the back to any great extent I will up the R to 41.

big residual

I'm running 41 on all corners.