Firestone Vs Goodyear decibel comparison

[Dennis Rech]

I received my new Firestones from Luke the other day and before and after installing them, I made a circuit of local roads with a sound level meter. I have been hearing about how much quieter the Firestone Runflats are but could find no real numbers supporting the claim. Here is my mesurements. Covette at a standstill at idle...... 60dba. Freeway testing at a steady 60 mph. Goodyears on smooth asphalt..... 70 dba Firestones on smooth asphalt ..... 67 dba Goodyears on rough asphalt ... 75 dba Firestones on rough asphalt .... 72 dba Goodyears on really rough concrete... 78 dba Firestones on really rough conctere... 75 dba. Goodyears on really rough concrete at 70mph ... 80 dba Firestones on really rough concrete at 70 mph.... 77 dba In all cases the Firestones were 3 dba quieter than the Goodyears. A 3 dba difference represents a reduction of sound energy levels by 1/2. (Ears work funny. 10 decibels SOUNDS like half). In real terms, the car is somewhat quieter. I now hear a small wind leak in the hatch and a rattle in the dash. A 3 db rating also means that normal conversation can be heard without raising your voice. On a long trip, there should be a noticable reduction in fatigue. For what its worth, the Goodyears had the same sound levels when new. I compared my car with Road and Tracks tests back then and we had almost the same numbers. The Firestones don't look as good as the Goodyears but they steer lighter. Dennis

[Luke@tirerack]

good info

[DoctorV8]

Great info!

I noticed the same thing when switching from nearly new GY's to the SZ50 RFT's. Now that my Firestones are 1 yr old and the rears are bald....they seem to have gotten much noisier.

Trying to decide if I should just replace the rears with non runflats...