Excessive road noise _Elegance tdi on Michelin Primacy HP's?

[TheTokRa]

Hey guys,

 

 So I've had a my Octavia (hatchback) for about 2 months now, but the weather has been so bad this summer that until yesterday, I'd never actually ben on the motorway, in the dry.  I went a 100 mile round trip to visit a friend who was recently in a car accident  (He's fine BTW, luckily!!) and it became very evident that the tyres are making a heap of road noise that's much worse than in any other car I've driven.  Also a horrid droning noise too.  The tyres are Michelin Primacy HP's 225/45 x 16 (It think, stock elegance wheels)

 

TBH at first, I thought, traveling up and down A roads on my daily commute, that perhaps I had a wheel bearing that's going bad or something, but considering the car is just over a year old, and only has 6,000 miles on it, I wouldn't have thought that would be the issue.  I've checked the tyre pressures and  they are at the factory set 2.2 bar.

 

At one point on my motorway journey yesterday I hit a section of road that was nice and smooth (old road surface) and all the horrible road noise and eternal droning went away, until I went on to the newer road surface again.  I've been up and down that motorway many, many times and never experienced anything like this level of road noise.

 

I've read a few tyre reviews of the Michelin Primacy HP's and they seem to generally get good reviews, including comfort, which I assume means tyre noise, so I don't get it.

 

Any ideas??, I've heard anything so bad in the dry, but in the wet the rain seems to dampen the road noise significantly, as I've not noticed the road noise so much at all in the wet, though I've not been up that motorway since buying the Octavia.

[Mallettsmallett]

It's not so much the tyres, more the car. It seems to be fairly moaned about that they're lacking in panel soaund deadening. Even my 6 year old agricultural passat diesel estate was quieter on motorways.

[ords]

Look at this thread

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/367422-octavia-cabinroad-noise/?hl=+road%20+noise

[TheTokRa]

Hi, thanks for the links guys. This is rather concerning!!  But here's the thing.  long story short, prior to getting the 2.0 TDI I have now, I had a  2014 1.6 TDI elegance and I didn't have any issues with road noise on that car at all.  It was fine, not deadly quiet, but more than acceptable.  I wish I'd taken a note of the tyres it was running on, but I don't think it was running on Michelins. This 2.0 TDI is much worse for road noise.  I just don't get it! my BMW 325 runs on 18 inch rims and the road noise in it is a lot less than the road noise I'm getting in the Octy

[andyvee]

It is the tyres creating the noise, but the O3 is sadly lacking in sound insulation as well.

[TheTokRa]

It is the tyres creating the noise, but the O3 is sadly lacking in sound insulation as well.

O.K. thanks Andy,

 

Can anyone recommend tyres that will give me less road noise and the same sort of grip / wear level?

 

Thanks!!

[Mallettsmallett]

All tyres nowadays will come with 3 metrics on them, one of which is a measurement of noise measured in db. If its simply a noise reduction you're after, use that to pick. Most are around the 72db Mark (not sure what speed the measurement is made at) butbive seen some as low as 67, which technically is over half as quiet (although it's commonly agreed that an 8db difference is an audible halving, as opposed to a 3db linear halving- if that makes sense)

Goodyear asymmetric seem to be very well regarded here and they're quite quiet.

Edited 24 August, 2015 by Mallettsmallett

[Matt Pez]

I've just swapped over to Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2's today! Finally chucked the Dunlop Sport Maxx GTs after 56,000 miles of bone shaking, and they still had 3-4mm on one pair, 2mm on the other pair, rotated front to back at 39k so very hard wearing but noticed last week or so with all this rain that their reputation for ditch finding was too much of a risk, as found it sliding coming off roundabouts in the damp!

First impressions of the F1A2's, seem OK, only done 50 miles so far but much quieter, seem more forgiving over rumble strips and much more grip than the aging Dunlops, I'm on 18" Golus rims with Eibach Pro Kit and Bilstein B4 dampers so not fair comparison to standard Elegance set up, I assume the OP is on 17" rims but mine rides better than how it left factory, but then it is well documented on here that I had major ride quality issues with mine being very early April 13 build when IMO the suspension settings were not fully developed!

Edited 24 August, 2015 by Matt Pez

[andyvee]

I hated those Dunlops on my early O3 Elegance on 18", they were lethal in the wet and hard as rock over every bump.

 

I have Bridgestones on the L&K and they are a lot better, but I still can't wait to Eagle F1 AS2's on there, just need to wear these damn tyres out!

[Matt Pez]

I hated those Dunlops on my early O3 Elegance on 18", they were lethal in the wet and hard as rock over every bump.

 

I have Bridgestones on the L&K and they are a lot better, but I still can't wait to Eagle F1 AS2's on there, just need to wear these damn tyres out!

They look great too, loving the built in rim protectors! You can't beat a bit of rim protection!

[TheTokRa]

O.K. Thanks guys ,  That's a great help RE the db ratings!!   As frustrating as the noise is, I'll probably leave the Michelins on for now though, "Winter is coming" LOL!! and these tyres are a bit better in the damp and wet, so I guess, since there is still plenty of tread on them, I'll just need to put up with them for now.  I can't justify the expense of 4 or even 2 tyres (fronts)  just because of the noise.  I've always fitted Goodyear's to my cars in the past, so I guess some Eagle F1 AS2's or perhaps something a little more hard wearing (with low road noise) will be the order of the day when the dry weather comes round again.

 

Anybody think it would be worth my while booking it in to get the wheel bearings checked?  I still can't get my head around the fact that all that noise and rumbling in just down to the tyres.

[Matt Pez]

I would hazzard a guess that bearings are not at fault, and new tyres would have marginal effect, more likely to be the standard shock absorbers/springs coupled with minimal sound insulation. Others have reported big improvements after fitting Golf 7 rear shocks. You should also check your rear hatch is adjusted to close as tightly as possible.

[Gerrycan]

What Matt Pezz says about suspension may well be correct and probably not what you want to hear on your new car.

His experience with his Dunlop tyres should not be taken as typical as I also have Dunlop on my current Mk3 and they are proving to be quiet, with good grip, but will be nowhere near as hard wearing as his so goodness knows what hard compound his had.

Having said that the Dunlop fitted to my previous Mk2 (7 years ago) started ok then quickly became incredibly noisy, much as you describe and sounding like bearings going.

The problem was that on close examination of the tyre tread I found that each block had worn unevenly front to rear so instead of being flat it was chamfered.

I rotated the tyres to see if that made any difference but with little effect on sound.

SO bad I was forced to changed them prematurely at about 15k miles with Yokohamas when I also had a 4 wheel alignment for camber and toe-in (which resulted in minor adjustments)

The mk2 was then much better and the replacement tyres wore normally, but was never a quiet car especially on typical Australian interstate course chip roads.

My Mk3 is proving to be a much quieter car for road noise on the same roads, so I am sure I do not have the suspension issues that some have reported.

 

In short, have a close look at tyre wear on each tyre first, if you getting the scalloping at such low mileage it may just be due to alignment issues.

If wear is not apparent then it may be due to suspension issues in which case the ride is likely to be inferior to your previous Octavia as well. In which case good luck with getting Skoda to agree to replace the units, some have been successful but most have not.

If the ride is not unduly harsh then you could just have tyres  from a 'bad batch' fitted. Considering the variety of opinions expressed about tyres in this forum I am not convinced that tyre manufacturing standards are that consistent.

Edited 25 August, 2015 by Gerrycan

[TheTokRa]

O.K. thanks again guys!!

 

In regards to suspension. The 1.6 TDI I had previously was  first registered April 2014.  The 2.0 TDI I have now was first registered in July 2014, But I guess they would use different suspension on the front to deal with the slightly bigger engine?  Maybe it's the same block bored out larger IDK.   I'll try running the fronts a little harder by a few PSI, see if that helps or hinders.

 

Cheers!!!

[kiwiboy]

I've got Michelin Primacy HP 225/45 R17 91W tyres on a  1.8TSI Elegance 4x4 Wagon and have never thought them noisy tyres even on our coarse chip New Zealand roads.

 

Out of curiosity I just looked up the decibel rating on the tyres on www.mytyres.co.uk and they are rated at 70dB. The slightly different 91Y was rated at 69dB.

 

There may be some other versions of the tyre but the Primacy doesn't seem to be rated as a noisy tyre.