I had tires put on my Rav4 and, since then, there is road noise especially when I get to 40mph and turning my wheel slightly left or right it gets slightly louder, kind of a rhythmic whirring/knocking sound but only at about 40 mph and higher… going slower doesn’t really make that noise— edited to add… I replaced all 4 tires with new tires; however, they were very cheap and I will have to posted the brand bought when I get off work. It almost sounds like a helicopter whirring sound when it gets up to about 40 mph and above and, if I even slightly move the steering wheel to the left it gets louder, almost a rhythm to the thump thump thump noise it makes, and when I slightly turn the wheel to the right it makes the same noise just quieter I think
- How many tires did you replace? 2 or 4
- Did you put new or used tires on it? Used tires could be cupped/feathering
- FWD or 4WD/AWD?? If 4WD/AWD, if you only replaced 2 then you might want to replace the other 2 asap
- What tires did you go with? Tires are not all created equally and can be the cause of the noise
- Did your old tires make noise before replacing them?? Could have been masking your current noise complaint, such as bad wheel/hub bearings
I took this picture from an AWD Lexus Owners Manual and I have seen it in many different models of Toyotas and Lexus vehicles over the years…
Open the driver’s door. There should be a sticker near the door lock pillar that lists the proper tire sizes for your car. Do your new tires match up to one the sizes on that list?
Dave’s response, I suspect is the most likely cause.
Some tires are very noisy.
Will we hear back from the OP?
Highly unlikely.
Most tire brands will allow you to return them within 30 days. I’d speak to the shop about that. You would need new other tires of course.
Speak to the shop ? Why do that when you can make what may be the only post to that worthless ( Ask someone ) site.
how long ago were the new tires installed? On my wife’s Rav, the new tires were loud for a couple hundred miles and then quieted down quite nicely.
Also, as has been said: some tires are louder than others. What tires did you purchase? and which positions did they go on?
Tire test results on tirerack.com and in Consumer Reports include Noise as one of the performance criteria. It would be interesting to know (if your new tires are in these reports) how they rate for Noise.
Some are tires are directional, and can make noise if the are installed backwards. There will be an arrow on the side of the tire indicating the correct forward direction.
Tire road noise is almost exclusively from tread pattern. The more aggressive the tire pattern, the louder they are.
Make and model tire are needed for us to help with specifics.
Try to make a reply and not an edit to your OP as we don’t always go back to the top to see if an EDIT was made…
Sounds like you got what you paid for then… Tires can/will make or break a vehicle… You may be stuck with the noise until you replace them again, or maybe the tire shop will let you upgrade for better tires…
EDIT: Quality of tires can include dry traction, wet weather traction, noise level of tires (road/tire noise), acceleration grip, braking grip, handling (cornering)… To me, a few of those things are a safety concern…
It doesn’t matter if you drive slow and very careful, sometimes you might have to make a defensive maneuver due to a careless driver… Remember the only thing between you and your vehicle and the road is the rubber touching the road…
+1
Normally, I will only buy Michelin tires, but when I thought that I might have to replace tires on my Outback before I traded it in, I considered buying Hankook, or General, or other reputable but “cheaper” tires. I could have considered some of the really cheap Chinese-made tires, but my safety is too important for me to consider going to that extreme with tires–even for the short term.
Luckily, I was able to get my new car fairly quickly, so I didn’t have to replace my Outback’s tires before trading it in.
Sounds like a defective tire with a flat spot or broken belt. Or maybe mounted badly or unbalanced.