CaptPJB

I have a 2002 SC430 the origional Bridgestone tires were howling like crazy at 14,000 miles so I replaced them with Michelin PS AS. It was great to have quiet again however now at 27,000 the noise is returning.

Is it the car or just the choice of tires I have never had this excessive tire noise with a car before my wife's GS300 with the origional Bridgestone tires at 25,000 does not have this problem?

Any commenst would be appreciated

RON430

Man I wish I could get a straight answer from anyone on this. Everyone always seems to have a different reason for any particular brands problem. All I can say is that the noise issue is probably the biggest reason I change tires now. The tread has a lot of life left but I get tired of the how. I have not found a brand/type yet that doesn't get louder and louder as they wear. The higher performance tires get the problem sooner but they all do it. I know roads are going down hill, at least around here, but this is ridiculous. I think some of it is the price we pay for the manufacturers making the tires we want, particularly long life. The last ones I went through were Yokohamas and the reason given was cupping of the tread blocks that were much worse on the AVS db 2s than the originals. Whatever, I went to Pirelli and they were much better, initially. Now I have about 17K miles and I have about had it with them.

ATSOU

As tires are wearing down, tire noise do get louder, especially with low profile performance tires.

e-diddy

Agree, also tread design plays a major role in the road noise of tires. In the future when purchasing new tires, check out the customer reviews from dealers like tirerack.com.

SSK0771

It has to do with how the tire wears. If there is a uneven wear, it will cause noise. Most tires low profile tires will make noise when you put lot of miles on them.

I know for a fact that earlier (2003 & 2004) 350Z has road noise issue do to tire feathering or AKA cupping. It has to due with their front suspension system.

Also if a tires has thick sidewall, it also tends make more noise than tires with softer sidewall but thick sidewall are more firm when cornering and better for performance.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

I've thought in part it is the heat cycling over time. Probably some huge chemistry thing involved with the rubber compounds as they age also.

mmarshall

I'll give you as straight an answer as I can. I don't know ALL of the reasons, but a major one is the way that today's radial tires have the tread not only just on the bottom of the tire, like years ago, but also curving around the bottom of the tire up a little into the sidewalls....ever notice that ? That is done to enhance cornering traction so that the tire can continue to displace water as it leans over in turns and the camber changes. Well, when you have a setup like this, the corners of the tread blocks stick out over the sides of the tire. So when they rotate with the tire, the ends of the tread blocks wear in one direction...otherwise known as "feathering". Run your hand along the outer edge of the tire back and forth and you can usually feel it....like sawteeth in one direction and relatively smooth in the other.
So....how does this cause noise? Well, when the outer edges of the tire wear in one direction like that, the small sawteeth-shaped spaces open up in the tread on the outer edges and let in air in as the tire rotates...this in the space that was formerly taken up by the solid rubber. These sawtooth-shaped spaces whirling around and the air being continually forced in and out of the spaces is what causes the howling noise. Unless you have uni-directional tires, it can be minimized somewhat by cross-rotating the tires on the opposite sides of the car so that you get the saw-tooth shapes in the opposite direction that cancel each other out and leave a relatively flat surface.
This usually happens no matter where you have an alignment done, how carefully they do the job, or what specs they use. Sooner or later, with today's tires some of it is inevitable. it is one of the penalties of anti-hydroplaning and cornering performance.There is very little that can be done about it short of putting on yesterday's bias-ply tires with the old-fashioned tread.