Noisy tyres

It is now that time that my front tyres need replacing. I was wondering whether tyres generally get noisier as they wear? Because if not, it's either my imagination that the car has got noisier or the car has broken.

I am replacing some Mich Energy's and, of course, everybody's blurb claims marvellous wet grip and ride comfort. Bridgestone Turanza (how do they think up these names?)or Conti Premium Contact seem to fit the bill. Thoughts anyone?

Reply to
DavidR
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"DavidR" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Yes, they can.

I've been very unimpressed by Mich Energies, compared to Pilot Primacies. I've not tried the Bridgestones, but I've got a pair of PremiumContacts on at the mo - they're not quite as good as the Pilots, but way better than the Energies. I'm not expecting a long life from them, though - they appear to be wearing much more rapidly than the Pilots did. I don't think I'll be replacing with another pair of Contis, because of that alone.

Reply to
Adrian

I also have Mich Energies on an 02 reg Nissan Primera P11-144 and agree they are noisy, and getting worse as they wear. I kind of wish they'd wear faster. Noisy tyres are apparantly associated with tread patterns that have wide gaps.

I'm interested in recommendations for a low noise tyre.

Reply to
Fred

Thus spake DavidR ( snipped-for-privacy@4bidden.org.uk) unto the assembled multitudes:

A cautionary tale, about which I feel very stupid:

I have used Michelin Energy for a number of years (Astra 1.6 Club). In 2008 I became aware of a noise that sounded - from experience - like wheel bearing wear on the rear wheels. I had new rear hubs fitted, as I was advised there was a bit of play. After that was done, however, the noise remained. It was then suggested that the noise was from the tyres which were nearing the end of their service life. I had new ME's fitted and the noise vanished, so I'd just wasted £££ on new hubs that I didn't really need.

That said, I don't have any complaints with Michelin Energy tyres. They do what I ask of them and that's good enough for me, but I'll be more cautious about the noises I hear from now on :-)

Reply to
A.Clews

snipped-for-privacy@DENTURESsussex.ac.uk gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

How low were they?

Reply to
Adrian

On Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:50:35 +0000, A.Clews boggled us with:

My brother had exactly the same problem with a Michelin on the back of his MK2 Golf GTi. It sounded exactly like a worn wheel bearing.

As for tyres, I just swapped 4 knackered michelins for 4 Goodyear Excellence tyres. They grip better than the Michelins, are quieter. Other than that they are rubbish. They seem impossible to balance and it now seems to be impossible to have the car go in a straight line. It's been on the laser rig 3 times at the tyre place, each time they swear it's spot on. It's also been checked over at the Citroen specialist who says there's nothing wrong with it. I'm going to try swapping the fronts over today to see if it pulls to left instead of right. It drove bob-on before.

Reply to
Mike P

You have verified the tyre pressures? I had someone in once complaining that their car felt weird: all the tyre pressures were over 60psi.

years ago an old cortina kept pulling left quite hard, but nothing was obviously wrong, I swapped the front wheels and it was fine! same size wheels, same size tyres, but different makes was the only difference and that should not be easy to detect by driving in a straight line, and you would think the problem would swap sides, not disappear.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

On Tue, 05 Oct 2010 13:17:49 +0100, Mrcheerful boggled us with:

Yes, of course. Checked and checked again. They were well out when I got it out of the tyre fitters - I don't know why they never set them correctly!

I'm *guessing* that they've not centred the rack before doing the tracking, and only adjusted it at one end, so it's reading right on the machine, but isn't right. If I hold the wheel straight, it goes straight. If I let go, it wanders off to the right. It's not "pulling" as such, it just slowly drifts to the right.

Reply to
Mike P

Mike P gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Ah, that's an easy one. It's because they're all pig-thick and bone-idle, and just cannot be arsed to properly do the job you're paying through the nose for.

Reply to
Adrian

On Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:47:02 +0000, Adrian boggled us with:

It's even more irritating because I'd *told* them what pressures to set them to.

Reply to
Mike P

Quite possibly, but equally likely that there are big variations in what their gauge reads, and what yours does.

I was amazed when I tested a number of tyre pressure gauges a few years ago; they were mostly new, but read +/- 25% from actual!

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Male sure you rotate your tires so they don't cup and make noise. If you move one tire and the car doesn't pull anymore the belt may be broken in that tire.

Reply to
Airport Shuttle

I tried that at a tyre depot too and found it didn't work - just got blank looks.

My local village garage (1 man in a shed type affair) is superb with tyres. Gets anything you want same day, is cheaper than most local places and does a proper job. Asks for required pressures or even (gasps) looks it up! Also handles alloys with care and lets customers help! Couldn't balance the Peugeot alloys with no centre hole though.

Reply to
Doctor D

I also like Contis, but can't afford the wear rate. Switching to Turanzas on my Touran added a third to front tyre life without any significant drop in pleasure or grip.

Reply to
Doctor D

"Doctor D" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Interesting, ta.

I've been looking on BlackCircles & MyTyres since posting that, and haven't seen anything that jumps out as a likely, so was getting a bit miffed.

Tyre choice really is the biggest drawback to running an older performance car as a daily-driver. As modern stuff moves to ever rubber- bandier sizes, the choice of decent tyres in older, higher-profile, narrower sizes gets ever smaller.

You're talking about the Turanza ER300?

Reply to
Adrian

I am sure most of us have fixed something that wasn't broken.

That's comforting.

On my last car I had Avons that lasted longer and were less tippy toe in the wet.

Reply to
DavidR

Yep, the ER300 is the one to go for. Also had them on the wife's Fusion. Hardly high performance I know, but a big improvement over the Bridgestone B390s it came with.

Reply to
Doctor D

Thus spake Adrian ( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) unto the assembled multitudes:

I don't recall exactly, but very close to the limit.

Reply to
A.Clews

Thus spake Mike P ( snipped-for-privacy@nosososospam.gmail) unto the assembled multitudes:

I'm glad I'm not the only one, then!

Reply to
A.Clews

On Tue, 05 Oct 2010 22:01:10 +0100, DavidR boggled us with:

Well, thanks for all the suggestions. Last night I decided to swap the front wheels round. My missus took it for a spin with me in it and the car now pulls to the left not the right, so it looks like I've got a faulty tyre..

Reply to
Mike P

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