Tires Sound Like a Truck

[toolman44092]

2003 Coupe - 15,000 miles I've noticed over the last couple of days that my stock Good Year runflats are making much more road noise than usual at speeds of about 40 MPH and faster. It almost sounds like they're out of balance. There's a humming that seems to vibrate. I'm not sure if this means I need an alignment or if a tire went bad. Any ideas?

[sjc*2]

According to the bulk of listers this is the downside of the runcraps. With mileage they get harder and very noisy. I am in the process of replacing my 2002 tires for non runflats. My current tires have about 20K on them and sound like studded snow tires.
The general feeling amongst the group is to shed the run flats and take the risk. Carry a tire repair kit and small compressor for those in the middle of nowhere emergencies. Lots of tire choices out there and comments on the forum.

[Luke@tirerack]

the Goodyear runflat tires are notorious for the amount of noise they make ... it's just the tires (probably) ....

The Firestone runflats are much quieter, smoother, and offer better performance along with more tire life

[BBates]

Mine is doing the same thing without the noise. I have narrowed mine down to a bad driver front wheel bearing hub unit. I have one ordered and should be switching it out next weekend. I had the Firestone runflats and just switched to nonrunflats. The ride is totally different. Much smoother and no road noise to speak of. Good Luck, B

[F16 1UB]

My runcraps are at the point where you have to wear ear plugs or muffs to drowned the noise or just put the top down and crank up the Bose. 22,000 on my runcraps. Still have tons of tread remaining but don't know how much longer I'll put up with the noise. I don't drive radically just straight line acel. I even installed a sound killer 2 years ago thinking that would help. Again, refer back to top down.

[vermjpv]

I could have sworn that I had bad wheel bearing. Put on new NON run flats, and it is like a new car. If it wasn't for my "sweet" sounding Corsa's, I would think I was floating on a cloud!!!!!

[GeorgeB]

I would think I was floating on a cloud!!!!! [/quote]

No joke, my new PS2s are like driving on NASA space foam

[cenzo]

Check the inside edges of your front tires. You know, the part you never see? If they're scalloped and flat-spotted, that'll be the source of 90% of the noise. If there's lots of tread left, it might be wothwhile to remount the tires on the opposite rims so the funky part is on the outside. Get a front end alignment before you replace the tires.

[rohde88]

Originally Posted by cenzo

Get a front end alignment before you replace the tires.

Would you want to replace the tires first? The new tires will have a different height across the tire and might affect the alignment.

Ron

[the blur]

Tires don't affect alignment.

Originally Posted by rohde88

Would you want to replace the tires first? The new tires will have a different height across the tire and might affect the alignment.

Ron

[rws.1]

My runcraps make more noise than my Borla exhaust...
At highway speeds I hear them.... not the Borla
I can't wait until the spring when she is back on the road with the the GoodYear GS-D3's