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Tyre noise question.

Whilst driving up a bit of dual carriageway today I was taking notice of the tyre noise as I moved on and off different surfaces and it was apparent there was quite a difference.

On most of that particular road it seemed quite noisy but that would often reduce considerably as you went over a 'quieter' bit.

So that set me wondering if you might typically get similar results (the change in noise and in the same direction) with different (make / model) tyres?

Now I'm guessing that chunky tread 4x4 tyres might be noisy on most surfaces and so you might not be able to notice any difference when going from what I currently note is a noisy to quiet(er) surface.

So has anyone here noticed anything as extreme as say one make / model of tyre being noisier on one surface than a different make / model was quieter on, or is it likely the case that the surface will dictate the noise level and in the same direction across all makes / models?

OOI, there have been Continental Premium Contact tyres on the Meriva from new until they seemed to lower the good wet weather ratings and so we currently have some Firestone (Roadhawks) on the front and will put the same on the rear when the Contis (5's) wear out. I *think* the Firestones are quieter but it's difficult to be sure when only changing 50% of the tyres (and so difficult to tell if either tyre is quieter or louder on any given surface).

I guess if I had microphones recording tyre noise front and back you could tell from the order the road noise from each went up or down but I don't. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m
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New tyres on the front is not recommended, get them swapped to the rear for optimum safety.

Tyre noise varies between every model of car and every tyre and every road surface. All you can pre-guess is that the lower the db rating of the new tyre, the quieter it is likely to be overall.

When I first got Alpin3 tyres on the Focus I actually thought that I had an induction air leak, since the noise changed so much during acceleration as opposed to cruise, the Alpin4 is silent in comparison.

I would expect that the harder the tyre compound (longer life) the quieter the tyre will be under all conditions.

Reply to
MrCheerful

I 'get' the hydroplaning rear / control thing MrC but given the rears were fairly new when the fronts were worn out, I didn't want to accelerate the wear by re-positioning them etc.

Sure.

I think the Firestones were supposed to be a bit quieter than the Contis (on paper) but because I have a pair of each, I can't really tell. And new tyres might sound different to old in any case.

Crazy across a basic version upgrade eh.

That was the thing, knowing if anyone had ever experienced a tyre that was particularly noisy on sections of road that were particularly quite previously.

The only instance I could imagine that if a tyre was to 'sing' on a particularly / otherwise quiet surface?

I have had blocky tyres on the kitcar and they 'sang' making it sound like an electric train. ;-)

I know most road tyres vary the size / spacing of the tread blocks around the tyre circumference to spread the range of frequencies a tyre might otherwise sing at (spread spectrum). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

One of the many reasons for putting the new tyres on the rear is so that the lesser-wearing rear tyres DO get worn out, otherwise you end up with overly old but not low-tread tyres on the rear.

Front tyres wear about three-four times quicker than the rears on the average FWD car.

Reply to
MrCheerful

Hmm, good point, especially if you aren't doing millions of miles a year.

Sounds about right.

I was checking the rear tyres on the Meriva a while back and noted there were some fine splits between the tread grooves running round the tyre. Checked the date code and they were what was supplied with the car and so maybe 9+ years old. ;-(

I replaced them straight away (even though they still had plenty of tread left) but their replacements are probably due soon [1][2]. So, I will have the part worn Firestones on the front and new Firestones on the rear. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[1] FWIW the new Conti replacements soon showed similar signs of splits between the main grooves and the tyre fitters suggested it wasn't that uncommon? I typically run the rear tyre pressure a bit higher than the book suggests for 'One up unloaded, non-high speed' because I'm typically two up and with the dog and 'something' in the rear load space. [2] I probably ''push-on' a bit harder than Dad did when he had it. ;-)
Reply to
T i m

I very clearly remember going to a Quikfit place about some retreaded runflat metric tyres, a Metro had come in for an mot, it failed on splits between the retread and the carcase of the tyre, since the receipt was in the car and was less than one year old I visited a local QF to ask for a couple of new tyres under their guarantee, they said that the splitting was quite normal and nothing to worry about and that they would not replace them! I pointed out the MOT failure, and asked them to put in writing about the tyres being alright, this very quickly brought the offer of two new tyres, which as far as I know were OK, but I never encountered that car again to find out. Ah, happy days!

Reply to
MrCheerful

It's funny how that sort of thing often works.

That said, I didn't need to with a pair of fairly old remoulds on the kitcar that started to crack on the sidewall that were supposed to have a 'lifetime guarantee'. I sent them a photo of said cracking and they arranged to have a new pair sent to my local fitter and have them fitted and balanced for free. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

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