So I'm driving my 8 and I can barely hear my radio because the noise coming from the back is really loud. Now I know I need new tires but would that really cause all this road noise I'm getting in my cabin. It is definately coming from the rear of the car. Any ideas on what this noise is?

-Brett

 

Depends, do you still have the RE-040s? How many miles? They're REALLY loud at times as they age or if you rotate them. There isn't much sound dampinging in the back so it's amplified. New tires make it better, and sound proofing the trunk helps even more.

 

Could very well be unevenly worn tires. Have you rotated them regularly? In any case, run your hand around the tread and feel for irregular tread such as cupping (i.e., low spots) or high spots on the edges of the tread blocks. Also, IMO, this car seems to be especially sensitive noise-wise to some types of road surfaces. Especially roads in Pennsylvania.

 

It's the tires. My Potenzas were shot by 15,000 miles. Put on a set of Yokohama ES100 and now I can finally hear the engine.

And the gearbox.

 

lol. Well I just picked the car up on Tuesday used from my dealer. I haven't had time to do anything to it yet. It does have 17k miles on it and I am planning on new tires soon but I was also planning on possibly rotating them today.

 

Rotating them won't make any difference in the road noise. The Protenzas after about 14K made LOUD road noise. It only went away after I replaced them. I have the Cooper Zeons now, and over 40k. They're starting to get a little noisy, but not too bad. The Protenzas didn't seem to do all that well with me.

 

is it a loud whistle noise? if thats the case then its probably tire feathering. check your tires to see if the inside and outside of the tires have uneven wear.

 

Got that right... haha

Anyway, im gonna just go ahead and rotate the tires with a few buddies of mine today, ill let you know if that solves anything.

 

Experience says the noise will get even worse...unless the dealer rotated them before selling it to you. Good luck... those tires are a piece of work to be sure.

 

After the Potenzas on my 8 were rotated, the road noise was much worse. I only have a little over 12k on them.

 

I have almost 19k on mine.

...oops

 

Ok so we rotated the tires and now it seems to be a little better. Not as bad before but keep in mind I have been driving in the rain since we rotated them. But new tires are in the verrrrrrry near future.

 

The stock Potenzas are a piece of crap. When I planned to get winter tires, my dealer warned me that they
might increase the noise.

The service manager is usually right, but here he was wrong - fortunately! My Dunlop Winter Sport M3 are
wonderful quiet

Q-chan