Horrible Noises coming from 17" OEM Wheels and Dunlops

[E-Man]

Well, I got my lug nuts for the used 17" OEM wheels and Dunlop SP9000 tires that I had bought used recently. I put the wheels on the car - torqued everything to specifications and the directional arrows on the tires are pointing in the correct direction and the tires seem to be extremely loud when driving and I even got some vibration when braking. I had none of these problems with the 16" steel wheels with hubcaps that came with the car. I can understand a little extra tire noise from the high performance rubber but not as much as I am getting. I took the front wheels to Discount tire and had them balanced and the vibration under baking is mostly gone - but they are still loud as hell when going down the road. I am wondering if this has to do with the tires coming off another car with the alignment being off on that car or my car and this is causing the extra noise. The tires have 9,000 miles on them - I put the (2) tires with the most tread on the front (they where most likely on the back on the sellers car). Any other ideas as to what could be causing this. I am wondering if by putting on a couple hundred miles on the car if things will quite down as the tires start to wear to my alignment. I have driven a few vibes with the 17" wheels and Dunlops and they seemed fine. Any other thoughts?ThanksEd

[ragingfish]

Did you check the pressure? Make sure they're 32 all around...Have you had your alignment checked to be sure?

[DavidPIL]

Hi E-Man...Since you had the fronts Balanced, I would suggest an alignment. Well, maybe you don't need one but have your dealer check to see how things are.I have the 17" OEMs and didn't really notice anything too noisy with them until it started getting cool. They have gotten a bit noisier, not so much in braking but just over-all, since the weather has dropped. Even on warm afternoons, since it's garage-kept, it does start out a bit louder than they are after a few miles. Maybe the cooler temps in Michigan is causing the problem and it's just something we'll have to get used to.Dave

[E-Man]

The tire pressure is set at 32 psi. It has been a little cooler her in Mi the last few days but not enough that I think it would make that much of a difference. I think I will give it a few more days and see if anything impoves.

[ragingfish]

Perhaps just something with Dunlops then...*shrug*

[shibaman]

I have the Bridgestones and when I park it in the cold they develop a flat spot and vibrate until they warm up. Some tires are louder than others.

[bckersey]

My dad has Dunlop Sport A2s on his Grand Prix. They are loud as hell. Must just be a Dunlop thing.

[E-Man]

Found out the reason. I took it to Discount tire last night and they told me the fronts tires where wavy -- I bought the wheels and tires used. The reason for the waviness is that the previous owner did not rotate the tires often enough. He told me that he rotated every 3,000 but that is obviously not the case -- come to find out it is not the only thing that he lied about to me. Anyway - discount tire told me the excessive noise will eventually go away after a few thousand miles - so I guess I will have to live with it for now. To all -- rotate tires every 6,000 miles.

[E-Man]

It was a forum member, not sure I want to give them a bad name.

[TimLambo]

Before I bought my 17s (Matrix with Firestones-now on sale on classifieds) I drove several Vibes and Matrices with 17" wheels/tires. Quite frankly I thought the ride of the Dunlops was terrible; noisy and harsh. I couldn't really check out the performance (did my evaluation on new vehicles). The Firestones are quite amazing ride quality and noise-wise for their size. You might want to check the surveys on tirerack.com-they reinforced my initial impressions. There is a big difference in the 16s and 17s. The 17s are performance summer tires. Even though they spec only 10mm wider, if you actually look at the profile the difference is huge. I'd dump the Dunlops and pick up Firestones or the Sumitomo HTR+ .

[AKLGT]

quote:Found out the reason. I took it to Discount tire last night and they told me the fronts tires where wavy -- I bought the wheels and tires used. The reason for the waviness is that the previous owner did not rotate the tires often enough. He told me that he rotated every 3,000 but that is obviously not the case -- come to find out it is not the only thing that he lied about to me. Anyway - discount tire told me the excessive noise will eventually go away after a few thousand miles - so I guess I will have to live with it for now. To all -- rotate tires every 6,000 miles.hmmm... i haven't rotated my tires yet either. but, won't matter since i have to put winter ones on anyways...

[GT-X]

I can't hear tire noise over my exhuast or intake.... Tire psi max on the Dunlops is 51psi I run around 45 to 48, autocross at 51 to prevent tire roll.

[E-Man]

The tire specs in the glovebox I believe say 32 psi for the dunlops. Maybe that is GM's specs so the car does not ride too hard.

[ragingfish]

Yeah, GM says 32 psi for all four tires. Brand shouldn't matter.

[GT-X]

On the side of the tire says max PSI 51.What GM says 32 psi is for customer staifaction not the preformance of the vehicle, it's not a FORD explorer.if you were to put drag tires on your vibe your not going to put 32 PSI because thats what it says in the glove box.I'm pretty sure if you look at a vibe with 16's or 17's it's going to say 32 psi, if your doing any high speed turns etc, without proper tire perssure you could experience tire roll, which can be more dangerous..with a lower profile tire you are going to want more perssure so your not killing your rims on pot holes...

[ragingfish]

quote:Many people ask "what air pressures do you (meaning tire companies) recommend for cars under normal conditions?" The answer is "we recommend what the vehicle manufacturer recommends." Many people mistakenly believe the only reason vehicle manufacturers recommend certain air pressures is for ride comfort. What criteria do the car manufacturers use to determine inflation recommendations? Ride Load capacity Traction, wear Fuel economy/Rolling resistance It's not just satisfaction. It's for overall performance of the vehicle.

[MadBill]

Yes, the 51 psi quoted above is the max safe design pressure , not necessarily "best" for any vehicle under any conditions!

[GT-X]

Tire roll is a horrible thing, Like I said I only run the max when I autocross (which is racing) Generally in an autocross you'll never see speeds in the excess of 45 mph. but you will see excessive wear on the outside of your tire, if you are not running the proper PSI you will get tire roll, which happens in a turn under high speed, which will wear on the side wall of the tire....which is not good under any condition.

[Devlop]

I think that the 32 psi is a very general statement meant to to provide the best performance possible in all categories for all driving conditions. I don't think the manufacturers are going to spend the time to figure out what tire pressure would be good for autox, dirt roads, paved roads, off roading, 200lbs in the car rather than 400lbs, 40 deg outside versus 80 deg, etc. It really depends on what you prefer for ride quality and how you drive. If you want the most performance for handling out of your tires, pump it up to 45 or so. If you want to race in the sand dunes, drop it down to 20. If you drive like a safe, appropriate citizen, then leave it at 32.

[DavidPIL]

Well, my Dunlops were very noisey in their last few days on my car. I've had them rotated twice (once every other oil change). They sounded horrible just before the last rotation but not too bad afterwards. They did however progressively get worse. I did go from Illinois to South Carolina with an increase of about 20 degrees in temp. THey didn't start sounding overly bad till I got back to IL and decided to change em. They were making a rolling sound.. kinda like they were out of round. When the tire place changed the wheels, I traded in my Dunlops and they noticed a smoothing of the rubber mainly on the rears and mostly on the inside portion of the tires. I noticed it as well. THey suggested that I take it back to my dealer to have the rear toe alignment checked. I haven't done that yet since the change just happened today but the new ContiExtremeContact tires are whisper quiet though they do tend to howl lightly on concrete. I'm happy so far but will take it in before it abnormally wears these tires.Dave

[DavidPIL]

hmmm, well, got an appointment to have the alignment checked... took it back to the dealer and guess what? They're not equiped to check alignments... why in H*LL would they bother to make an appointment for me for something they couldn't do?!?!?! I'm honestly not happy at all with my service or sales from my dealership. I'd rather drive an hour to someplace with a decent rep that to deal with this... and btw, they tell me that since it has 14k on it, if there was something wrong, it wouldn't be covered because the warranty ran out at 12k. This is another thing that made me very angry because they had just rotated the tires 3 weeks ago. The place where I got the tires said that it had to of been a progressive issue and should have been noticed on that last rotation. If they would have noticed it, it would have been covered but they either didn't or didn't bother to tell me the tires were wearing oddly so they didn't have to cover the Alignment costs or the possible replacement of the tires. (ok, they weren't excessively worn but it should have been noticed). Oh well, they were going to set me up an appointment with some off-site place that does their work but I decided to go back to the tire place. THey checked it and yeah, the toe alignment on the front was out by about 1/4" (one side, don't remember which though). I'm not happy at all with the dealer on this. Dave