Well I made the mistake of getting run flats on my '13 Paceman S at the dealership and Ty is stupid loud on the highway. On I-45 south of Houston he averages 74 dB in the interior at 72 mph. Has anyone swapped to non-run flat tires on 19" rims and noticed a reduction in the interior noise? I am the grandpa commuter who only occasionally sees a corner that needs carving so performance handling is secondary to ride quality and noise. Living in Texas, there's a lot more highway than city driving to be done and after a drive to visit family in Dallas I felt VERY fatigued because of the cabin noise.

While we are at it, has anyone put in sound absorption padding or noise insulation in their R60/61? I'm looking at the thickest Noico pads but I haven't bought anything yet. Any advice on past experience would be appreciated!

 

Hahah, I have 19's or I should say had them this morning. I had the same problem and when you find out how fast they wear out, you'll be even more upset. On my first set of tires, I kept the 19" rims but went to a taller tire (245/45/R19) and non-run flat. Made a huge improvement. But still wasn't satisfied, so I bought 18's and bumped up the tires again to 245/50/R18. I addition, I bought new control arms to remove all of the camber form the rear and had to add 13mm spacers to the rear for clearance. Work is being done as I write.

 

Let me know how the reducing the camber and the tire swap changes your ride quality and more aggressive handling! If the cabin sounds better as well I'd like to know too. Should the smaller rims make the ride better? It's very specific to the body style so I'd love to know all about the upgrade when you've had a chance to see the difference. TIA

 

No experience with a SPaceman, but I thought I would share my input...

If you want a quiet tire, look for a tire labeled for Grand Touring with Low Rolling Resistance. This type of tire is typically found on your grand touring sedans from Mercedes, Lexus, BMW, etc.

 

I put non-runflat Falken's on Lucy and they have been great. factory runlets got about 20K and were shot. I have over 40K on the Falken all weathers and they are in great shape. I will replace the before snow flies since tread though acceptable now is a little scarce for winter.

 

Lucy is a tiny girl compared to Ethel. I like Lucy!!

Ok, so I'm following this too. I need tires soon. just bought it a couple weeks ago with 27K now. Factory ones about shot. Someone mentioned Michelin Sport Touring sumum, sumum! They look nice. And they have 500 tread wear, and AA or maybe A traction rating. I think it was 50k mile warranty. I though those were good numbers. https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...lar=Cooper%20S

Oh...already bought a plug kit......Dynaplug.....check it out. And the pump. https://www.google.com/search?q=dyna...hrome&ie=UTF-8