Noisy New Tires

I recently purchased a set of Dunlop tires for my 07 Chevy Impala. They made a noise from the moment I drove away from the dealer. I complained and they checked for balance and alignment–ok they said. I drove about 3 months and still so noisy that I went back and complained again. They ordered 2 new tires (not Dunlop) and put those on. Same noise. After 2 more months I had them rotated–same noise. It seems to be worst around 40-50 mph. No vibration in the steering wheel. Can’t hear it after 65mph. This is driving me crazy!

“a noise” is impossible to diagnose over the internet. We aren’t standing around your car drinking beer and lying about how fast we can drive, after all.

If it’s making a throbbing noise, your tires may be defective or improperly balanced. Or underinflated.

If it’s making a howling/whirring noise, your tires are just noisy as hell. Either make them replace ALL of them, or live with it.

If it’s screeching loudly, there’s a cat in the tire, and it wants to be let out :wink:

Not All Tires Are Created Equal. It Could Just Be The Tires. Tires Vary In Traction (Dry, Wet, Ice, Snow) Wear, Comfort (Ride), Noise, Price, Etcetera.

If you’ve got a relatively quiet car and put noisy tires on it then you will really notice it, especially if you took off quiet ones. I drive a Bonneville and appreciate a quiet, comfortable ride.

Some folks buy their tires from companies like Tire Rack online. Tire Rack has reviews on many tires and will often tell you about the noise level of certain tires.

Here’s a link to some quiet tires listed by Tire Rack.
http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/all-season-tires-for/0/0/quietest-tires-available-at-tire-rack

CSA

www.1010tires.com is another site with good consumer feedback. As others have stated, some tires are just plain noisy, and some vehicles just plain transmit the road noise too well. Been there.

Selecting Tires Is A Game Of Trade-Offs. Sometimes The Quietest Tires Don’t Offer The Best Traction Or The Longest Wearing Don’t Offer The Most Comfortable Ride Or . . .

Sometimes bargain tires aren’t.

CSA

Years ago when I needed tires for my 1965 Rambler, I bought a set of Atlas tires from the Standard Oil station where I did business. I found the tires were noisy on wet pavement. It bothered me until I realized that these tires also gave much better traction on the wet pavement than did the previous tires on the car.

Back in the 1950’s, my dad put snow tires on the rear wheels of the car. They made noise on dry pavement, but did give us good traction on snow covered roads.

Since your noise is only between 40-50 mph, I think I would turn up the radio and live with it, particularly since you have no other problems.

Yup. That’s why I like these consumer feedback sections on 1010tires and tirerack. They compile consumer feedback on various specifics like noise, handling, and ride as well as traction on various road surfaces.

I viewed that 1010tires and it just didn’t have the selection in size I am looking for(235/55R19), and they price is more for the same tire than tirerack. Pirelli scorpion is $245 at TR, $358 at 1010. Heck, they don’t even have 2010 model year Mazdas listed, you can only select up to 2009

Maybe This “Dealer” Will Let You Trade-In These Tires. You Might Suffer A Little Loss, But Rather Than Drive For Possibly Several Years With Something You’re Not Happy With Isn’t Right.

The dealer knows what’s up or they wouldn’t have ordered more tires for you. As I said, I enjoy the quiet of my car and wouldn’t want to hear my tires. I enjoy quiet conversations in my car and good music without turning the radio up loud. That’s why we don’t drive shxx-shakers.

My car is so quiet and stress relieving that I get silenty upset with the local road commission when they “cheap out” and put that crappy tar / stone crap on the roads instead of asphalt. That stuff is just too loud to be a substitute for real resurfacing. Come on, it’s 2010 ! I’m not in a covered wagon. I pay taxes up the #@^.

I’ll bet they’ll work with you. After all, they failed to advise you of the problem and you were probably trusting them to deliver. You’ve cooperated with them, but it’s not working.

This issue is important to you or we wouldn’t be here trying to help you.

Enjoy your new tires and your 07 Impala.

CSA

If you put on different tires and the noise is still there, then it probably isn’t the tires.

But you said they ordered 2 tires (not Dunlop). Does that mean that you only replaced 2 tires and perhaps the 2 old tires are the ones that are the problem?

Please help us by describing the noise. A buzz, whur, zzzz, etc. would help us determine what the noise might be.

Capri Racer, Based On The Statement, “They made a noise from the moment I drove away from the dealer.” , What’s Your Theory Other Than Tires ? A Coincidental Wheel Bearing Failure Or Something ?

CSA

It’s not just the tires that make the noise, the vehicle does it as well. I know I posted awhile back about stating that even the cheap factory tires(Eagle RS-A) on my CX-7 aren’t as noisy as the quiet tires(Michelin Pilot Exalto) on my Civic, especially on that chip’n’seal stuff.

CSA,

When I am confronted with contradictory information, I look for other things that are also inconsistent.

  1. The question about 2 tires is still unanswered. It’s possible that the source of the noise is the old tires that are now in a position that the noise is more noticeable. (and perhaps I should have said the noise probably isn’t the NEW tires.)

  2. It’s also possible that the noise is something that was bent during installation - like a brake shield. Even though this should not sound like a tire noise, some folks won’t know the difference. Which is why I asked what the noise sounded like.

There are other things that can happen. Perhaps some other work was performed at the same time. Perhaps the noise was there before. Many a consumer has omitted info that would be valuable to diagnosing a problem - sometimes on purpose, sometimes not.