GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I've read the reviews, and everyone says the Pirelli P4s are quite, much quieter than the stock Goodyears (which I got 58k out of). I've had the P4s on for 2 weeks now, and when I approach highway speeds, there's a strange noise that resonates in the car, almost like a rubbing/grinding noise. It has nothing to do with brakes as it doesn't change at all when I hit the brakes. Does it in turns too. It started the day I got the tires so it has to be them. Any clue why I'm having this problem? Maybe I got some defective tires. I didn't see and direction arrows on them (of course I was checking in the dark) so they can't be on backwards.

The P4 isn't a directional tire so that shouldn't be the issue. I would take it back to the shop that you got the tires from and ask them.

I totally agree. I went to the tirerack.com site and looked at an enlargement of the sidewall. As lovemyraffe states, there are no directional markers. If these "low noise" P4's are noisy to you, something must be wrong. I had the same thing happen to me with the BF Goodrich TA tires. You can indeed get a bad batch (out of round) of tires. Demand action from your tire store.

Turns out the noise was a result of a broken plastic clip underneath and some plastic trim was flapping in the wind. Tires: A+Mr. Tire: F-

Isn't that so often the case? Two things go wrong at once or something crops up right after a change. Diagnosis is hard. Glad you got it figured out without too much hassle.

Now that you've had them a while, how are they holding up?