Tyres and road noise.

[RedRobin]

I've never been particularly aware of tyre noise and I've had Conti, Bridgestone Potenza, Goodyear Eagle F1 directional and now asymmetric. Noticed tyre noise on Hurdy's R888's though - Army lorry!

Irrespective of any performance modding, are you guys expecting or wanting caccooned silence from a Golf?

[bowie]

I had a conversation with a guy from Avon once about tyre noise . At the time I had their ZZ1 on my 02 S3.  After a few thousand miles they became very noisy (the dreaded wheel bearing sound) so I called Avon to compain and he said that they had had quite a few complaints about excessive noise and suggested that he send me replacements in the form of their new ZZ3s .
These were fine until about half way through their life. Then they suffered the same symptoms as the ZZ1.  The guy from Avon put this down the the directional pattern and the 'big block' design.  Not long after I had Dunlop 19" on the S3 , again big block directional pattern, and these were noisy from the off.
Since then I have vowed to stay assymetric. It does mean that your price bracket moves up a little but , tbh, I'd rather pay £20 a tyre more than suffer the excessive noise of the Avons.

Chris.

[nc35]

Irrespective of any performance modding, are you guys expecting or wanting caccooned silence from a Golf?

Hi

Think you may be missing the point of my question. 

Some tyres appear to be much noiser than others.  Culprits so far seem to be Dunlops, Contis, Brigestones & R888's.

As mentioned before I am not a driver who hoones around all the time or gets near the limits of the car and its handling.  I am also in the minority on this forum that doesn't want more power from Stage xxx tuning or better handling from coil-overs etc etc... Though I do enjoy reading this forum an looking at the mods you guys bestow on your cars.  (I bet the bug will bite before too long.)

I love my Golf, never expected this, it ticked all the right boxes when I found myself car-less.  Must be getting old as the car makes me feel young again, and makes me want to get my hands oily working on it polishing it etc.  Honestly I never thought I would like a small car after nearly 20years in large cars.

Improvements I would like are to the day to day driving pleasure.  For me road noise is high on the list.

Sorry for the rant. 

It looks like Assymetric tread patterns are the way to go.

[RedRobin]

^^^^
I did see the point of your question, nc35 - You made it very clear that you would choose a quiet tyre over a 'performance' tyre. I guess that the difference between us might be that I would always choose a tyre which performs more safely in the great variety of road conditions without pushing to any limits and accept how noisy or quiet that happens to be.

Our only points of contact with any road consist of 4 small areas each about the size of a CD.

Asymmetrics are gaining an excellent reputation as an allrounder tyre. Personally I don't find them noisier or quieter than most other everyday road tyres.

[nc35]

^^^^
I did see the point of your question, nc35 - You made it very clear that you would choose a quiet tyre over a 'performance' tyre. I guess that the difference between us might be that I would always choose a tyre which performs more safely in the great variety of road conditions without pushing to any limits and accept how noisy or quiet that happens to be.

Our only points of contact with any road consist of 4 small areas each about the size of a CD.

Asymmetrics are gaining an excellent reputation as an allrounder tyre. Personally I don't find them noisier or quieter than most other everyday road tyres.

Hi RR

Think we have had a similar discussion a few months back.  I do respect your opinion I just don't share it.  Sorry.

I am a biker love track-days, but all the weight saving extra grippy tyres can all be outweighed by what we eat/drink before we go out, tyre pressures and so forth.  Yep I am the saddo who the night before, has his bike on charge checks all the tyre pressures, suspension settings, lights, oil, etc etc.  No alcohol for the Saturday night...  As a group we also stick to the 30, 40, 50 limits.
Though it makes me laugh when we all end up having a full breakfast when we get to Scarborough then talk about new titanium weight saving whatits...    What we have just eaten will way more than any weight saving bolt, screw, nut.

In my opinion a good driver knows and drives within the limits of his car or bike be it a 1960's mini clubman (the worst car I have ever driven) or a 997 Porsche T4S (Probably the best).

To the point a good Police Motorcyclist on a Big Heavy BMW with touring tyres can catch the Sunday loons on the highly tuned super sticky shod "road legal" super bikes. 

Ducking for cover, but if anyone honestly believes they need better handling, better tyres for "safer"road driving,  their money/time is better spent with IAM training. 

Road awareness hazard perception keeps everyone safer, than a tuned car.  Its the "nut" behind the wheel at the end of the day.

Don't wish to argue or offend this is my honest opinion.

Perhaps my question could have been put better - what is the quietest "performance tyre" - was it Pirelli said "power is nothing without control"
Looks like the VREDESTEIN ULTRAC SESSANTA are winning the vote.

Rant over again.  Sorry

Real sh*tty day, on set all morning in the freezing snow & wind.  Looks like I need two new tyres (and probably wheels) went down a huge pothole full of water, so I didn't see it until too late...  Green Flag to the rescue with the tyre foam!!!
Awaiting insurance claim form from the Council.  Yes they knew of the hole since last Thursday, but still getting round to it.
So life goes on 

Hope we are still friends RR

[RedRobin]

^^^^
Of course we are still friends - I agree with nearly everything you've been saying (I have done driver training and agree about that too).

I wonder whether the asymmetric Vredesteins are noisier or quieter than the Goodyear version.

[winrya]

I wonder whether the asymmetric Vredesteins are noisier or quieter than the Goodyear version.

They are quieter red, I had the Goodyears before them. I think the ride is slightly firmer on the vreds but I'm told thats due to them having stiffer side walls but the trade off for that is sharper steering feel

[Phil Mcavity]

Ive been a big praiser of the Vred's since installing them, but an interesting note from the rolling road day is that they took some time to warm up on the rollers, which was hampering phylis RR result.Apart from that, i will be re-wrapping Vred's next time again.

[nc35]

Don't know if I dare ask. 

Been offered some Pirelli P-Zeros anyone running these?

[Kings]

Don't know if I dare ask. 

Been offered some Pirelli P-Zeros anyone running these?

Hi mate, as long as they are just Pirelli P Zero and not P Zero Rosso, P Zero Nero or P Zero Assimetrico then they are an excellent tyre. I had them on the rear of my old car a Nissan 350Z they grip excellently, good feedback & predictable on the limit. road noise I couldn't comment on as the 350Z was a nightmare for road noise in the cabin, they were a little quieter than the Bridgestones RE050A I took off.
The only pay off was they wear pretty quickly.

Generally they are one of the more expensive tyres, but I reckon worth it.

[tony_danza]

I see your point NC35 totally - there's nothing more miserable on a long journey than the drone of tyres. Diff whine comes a close second. Exhausts I can handle, as they're not monotonous and change all the time/go silent on overrun.

Reminds me of the bit in Dumb and Dumber where he does the most annoying noise in the world.

From what I've had in the MK5.

Parada Spec 2 = noisy
GY F1 V groove = noisy
GY F1 Assym = much better
Michelin PS2 = best

Thus I would conclude anything with big diagonal treads causes more noise.

[bowie]

x2


Anything assymetric. G'yr , PZ nero, pilots, vredesteins.  I recently put more pilot exaltos on the front of mine , going for longevity and low noise rather than ultimate wet grip.

Chris.