Tyre Noise
- Thread starter MJB
- Start date
I had an unusual enquiry yesterday when a member phoned me to ask which of the rated tyres are the quietest, most are concerned mainly about grip, wear and cost so this was unusual. But it's an interesting point we can get decibel ratings off the tyre makers own sites and even some of the suppliers but how do you all rate your tyres.
Unfortunately, the councils of the UK do not seem to recognise the difference in low noise road surfaces compared to what they put down, nor in the efforts spent in containing the noise with trees and baffle walls but anyone who has spent time driving in Germany on the autobahns has seen the difference whereas some that I drive on sound like they're designed to achieve maximum noise.
Unfortunately, the councils of the UK do not seem to recognise the difference in low noise road surfaces compared to what they put down, nor in the efforts spent in containing the noise with trees and baffle walls but anyone who has spent time driving in Germany on the autobahns has seen the difference whereas some that I drive on sound like they're designed to achieve maximum noise.
If you can hear your tyres your exhaust is obviously not noisy enough....[
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Are your wheels 18", 19" or 20"?
Thanks, I keep hoping to hear of 20" N rated ones..
Chaps, It's not clear to me how the external rolling noise figures are obtained by the individual tyre manufacturers (on a rig? in an anechoic chamber? what road surface? what speed?). Presumably there's an approved spec such that they can be compared directly, although I remain sceptical since publishing single sound pressure level (SPL) figures is, in my experience, somewhat meaningless without qualification. And I presume that the levels are only vaguely representative of exterior noise levels generated by the tyres and therefore have very little bearing upon interior noise levels generated in a specific vehicle since there are many routes in which sound can enter the vehicle, both airborne and structure-borne, the sound being modified by the body itself and any acoustic treatment. Just to put all this into perspective, a 3dB increase/decrease in the level of noise is a doubling/halving of the SPL (or in the energy contained), but we would only just notice this increase; whereas if we actually perceived a doubling or halving, the noise level would have changed by 10dB. Jeff
True Jeff and the road surface differences are extreme in the levels of noise generated, so far the tyres I have got details of in this regard are between 70 and 75 Db but since the percieved sounds coming from the tyre/road surface contact area will vary in other aspects such as frequencies due to tread patterns and differing surfaces plus of course differing structures within the body will vary the transmission of the internal noise pitch, frequency and volume maybe we should rate tyres ourselves. On my Cayman I have used, Continental Sport Contacts, Michelin Pilot Sports and Bridgestone 050A's. The Conti's had good driving characteristics but wore rapidly, Michelins were good all around and the Bridgestones in my opinion compared well to the Michelins but are far less expensive. It could be just that I'm using them now that they appear noisy but when I was using my winter tyres ( Michelin Alpins ) they are not a lot quieter and I have noticed that since I had a realignment done at CG there is less percieved tyre noise, this being that the alignment was just within tolerance but with a worn steering joint ( replaced ), hopefully this indicates that the wear will also be reduced. But, the majority of noticeable tyre noise is from the rear when at any speed and most likely due to the cabin chamber effects over the engine and rear arches. At least the "Buzz" from the hatch is now gone![]
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