I've been reading and hearing a little more about this as of late.

At about 15 000km I took the car to the dealer and asked them why tires were making a lot more noise. They looked at them and we took a drive, then it was concluded that they were wearing in an uneven manner, call it feathering/cupping whatever. The reason, when they put the car on the rack it was way out of alignment in the front and a little in the back. I hadn't done anything to cause this( that I could think of) so after a little talk the dealer paid for 2 new front Bridgestone's.

Now as I put the car away for winter I hear that same noise again and fear its happened all over again. Seems that other may have that problem as well. Just thought I would throw that out there to see if anyone else agreed...

I have a few conclusions, actually one...These Tires Suck..

 

You should consider getting some Falken Potenzas. They have excellent noise and wear ratings.

 

I will look at them among other, when the car comes out of winter storage, I am going to get a new set of something..I'll suss it out over the winter, but I doubt I'll go run flat..

 

I would not recommend Falkens myself. I've only had negative experiences with them.

I'm planning on going to PZero Rosso's next. They are supposed to be aimed at performance YET quieter than the older PZero. I am pretty confident that going to non-run flat will greatly improve the ride quality.

 

My PZeros are extremely quiet. NEWSFLASH for everyone, once again. Runflats suck, they are noisier and low profile tires are noisy. Hop in a BMW, same thing.

 

Drive a Mini Cooper S with those damn run flats and you in for one hell-of-a rocky ride (worse than the SC430) .... regular rubber greatly improves the ride as I test drove one with normal Michelins too....

 

What negative experiences?

Huh, what do you mean? (Wouldn't it be the same for
all cars?

 

No, BMW specifically have harsh rides and as well as noisy ones. I suppose they do it for the sport. They alos try and put the lowest profile tire andthe biggest rim possible on their cars. Its nice for looks and if you need to take a turn at mach-1, but its not a gentle soothing ride. Hope in an LS or even a damn towncar and youll see.

No offense, but you gotta get over the whole BMW thing, they are nice cars, but this is an SC forum. Im not saying BMWs are garbage, just comparing them to it. If I had wanted an M3 covertible I would be driving it right now, but instead i am of course driving...

Falkens are a cheaper product of one of the tire manufacturers. Much like Nitto is a cheaper Toyo.

 

I've used almost every brand of tires and the best overall experience I've had has been with Yokohamas.

Just my $.02.............

 

Yoko's are the one brand I have NOT tried YET...


My negative experiences with Falkens?

Main Problem: Tire Run out BAD and noisy after just 5K miles
2nd problem: cupping due to bad belt in on of the tires
3rd problem: bubble formed on sidewall of 3rd tire

I now stay away from falkens! Just MHO

 

My friend went from stock tires on his new E320 to 18" low profile Yokohama "DB's". His #1 priority was road noise. According to him, there was no increase in road noise compared to stock, even though he went to the lower profile tires.

Yokohama designed the DB's specifically to be quiet performance tires.