Noisy Hankooks, am I a dumb ass?: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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March 5, 2010 7:28 a.m. Adrian_Thompson HalfDork

I sentence you myself to be exposed before you’re my peers…

OK guys am I a dumb ass?

The back story, my C30 came with really expensive, really noisy, really E36 M3ty Pirelli Pzero Rosso's that gripped as well as mayonnaise on Teflon, wore like an A6 on hot rough concrete and were bald at 14K miles. After much deliberation and a thread here I replaced them with the new Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110's ( I like quoting the full name as it's so utterly ridiculous!!!). They've been on about 6k now. When the Pirelli's were going bald they made a sound like a wheel bearing going out.

I just had to take my C30 in for some minor warranty work. I've also been experiencing an intermittent buzzing sound from the rear so got them to look at that as well. It occurred between 27 and 28 mph, not there at or below 26mph or at or above 29mph. Only happened once the car was warmed up, not engine speed related. The dealer spent over two hours trying to locate the noise and eventually rotated the tires, amazingly the noise moved to the front. Now because I had noise issues with the Pirelli's, getting really bad as they went bald I'd looked at the tires. The Kook's still look almost new with no noticeable unusual wear patterns, in fact most people would think they look brand new. Should I have realized this myself, i.e. am I a dumbass?

I'm pissed as I didn't think it was the tires, insisted to the dealer that there was an issue in the rear of the car/bumper/trim and now I've had to pay for the first time in my life for someone else to rotate the tires!!! It's not too bad as diagnosing non warranty issues is supposed to be $150 and the rotation was only $29.99, but still.

I now plan on trying to scrub the noisy tires, now on the front so that will be easy with all that FWD torque from the spinning hairdryer, to see if I can change or eliminate the noise.
March 5, 2010 7:34 a.m. John Brown MegaDork

I will guess you have a rear alignment issue, probably a toe in or out condition and you are chewing the tires down.

Pothole, curb, or zombie, whatever you hit has got you chewing stuff right up.
March 5, 2010 7:58 a.m. VWguyBruce HalfDork

Don't beat yourself up. You assume tires are good when new. I've seen Kumhos and Falkens go funky when brand new. Call Hankook and see what they'll do for you.

It's crazy how loud those Pirelli's get when they're worn huh?
March 5, 2010 8:15 a.m. Junkyard_Dog HalfDork

Make sure they are mounted facing the right way if they are directional. Recently had a local tire shop mount a Hankook backwards and it made a helluva racket until we reversed the tire on the rim.
March 5, 2010 8:23 a.m. Adrian_Thompson HalfDork

Junkyard_Dog wrote:

Make sure they are mounted facing the right way if they are directional. Recently had a local tire shop mount a Hankook backwards and it made a helluva racket until we reversed the tire on the rim.

They are on the right way round.
March 5, 2010 8:24 a.m. Adrian_Thompson HalfDork

VWguyBruce wrote: It's crazy how loud those Pirelli's get when they're worn huh?

Yup, I used to buy into the 'you get what you pay for' but holy crap those Pirelli's really were crap. To replace they would have been like $260 each, double the Kook's
March 5, 2010 8:29 a.m. Adrian_Thompson HalfDork

John Brown wrote:

I will guess you have a rear alignment issue, probably a toe in or out condition and you are chewing the tires down.

Pothole, curb, or zombie, whatever you hit has got you chewing stuff right up.

I think your right. I know I have a slight pull to the left, I assumed it was from the front as the steering wheel is slightly cocked. With Michigan winters and pot holes it's an annual thing.

I was/am planning on living with it until the 1st week of April. Then the plan is to put the car on a friends hoist, loosen all the suspension bolts and push/pull/shove like hell to get the max possible camber with the stock suspension/bolts/holes. Then tighten everything back together and take it for an alignment. Being in stock class means that's the only way to get camber.
March 5, 2010 8:35 a.m. P71 UltraDork

FYI, we just found a bent tie-rod on the RR of the Grand Prix causing the same problem: a noise at a certain MPH and a pull. Turns out the RR wanted to go a different direction then the rest of the car. Double check your alignment, especially rear toe
March 5, 2010 8:39 a.m. nderwater Reader

For what it's worth, a bad pothole strike can break the steel belts in a tire so that even a new-looking tire will ride like crap.
March 5, 2010 9:31 a.m. rob_lewis Dork

I have found that the tire/car combo makes a difference, also.

We bought Pirelli's for my wife's Z3 years ago and like them so much, we put the exact same tire on our Maxima.

After about 5k miles, the Maxima had a roar coming from the front. The local shop thought it was a CV going bad and put in a new one. Mechanic drove it and still heard the noise, so he swapped back in the original CV (which seemed fine) and charged me nothing. Borrowed Maxima wheels from a friend and the noise went away. Back to my tires and the noise was back. On the Z3, they were quiet the entire life of the tire.

Don't beat yourself up about it. Nobody would expect it to be the tires making that noise, because it's uncommon.

-Rob
March 5, 2010 9:54 a.m. oldsaw Dork

In reply to rob_lewis:

Tire noise is much more common than you think. Sometimes is a matter of proper alignment, sometimes it's incompatibility between the car and the tires.

I once installed Falken RT-612's on my Prelude and simultaneoulsy had the car aligned. While they were outstanding performance, their road noise was unbearable; you could hear them growl on the road at any speed over 25mph. Less than 8,000 miles later the car was sporting Yoko AVS's and the noise was gone. It's still gone with Sumitomo's now on the car.

Some tires are just damn noisy.
March 5, 2010 9:59 a.m. DeadSkunk Reader

I won't buy any tire that has a simple V-groove tread pattern (like F1 rain grooves). My experience that they all start making excessive noise as they wear, some to the point where I couldn't carry on a conversation in the car.I look at tires that have a more conventional tread block pattern. Example, the Miata and MINI are currently on Kumho ASXs.
March 5, 2010 11:22 a.m. Appleseed Dork

Yeah, we car guys always think of the worst, most technical, things first, don't we? Never the simple things.