My wife and I have an 2003 Cooper S, live in upstate NY (Vermont border), love the Mini but dislike the tire noise. Recently replaced the tires and have found them to be very loud. Thought at first that we had a rear bearing problem but with just 35,000 miles and after several tests we have concluded that it is simply the tires. Is this common? Any suggestions?

Pete & Cheryl

 

very common on performance tires... thus why i switched to all season
tires (sumitomo HTR+) this time as i dont drive as aggressively like i did
in the past. some a/s tires will be very noisy too over time. wear,
tire just getting harder from drying, etc.

you might want to consider getting new tires and it shall be nice and
quiet.

 

My current tires, Nokian Vs, are the most quiet tire I have ever used. Its a summer tire too, but the sidewall says 'all season in north america only.' Your guess is as good as mine. Anyway, this was the best tire in 195/60/15 I could find. They grip really well too, as good as my old kumho 711s, but have better traction & braking.

 

 

What tire did you switch to and what size?

Tires vary on noise with tread design, rubber compound and road surface.

Some are very loud and some are very quiet.

Some will be high performance and some will be the opposite. Cheaper tires tend to be noisy. Some very high performance tires are reasonably quiet but they tend to be very expensive.

When searching for tires at tirerack they have ratings for each tire which include tire noise and comfort. These are good indicators if the owners are happy enough with the tires for daily street use.

If you have tires that are too noisy, you can try to shop for better ones and sell your old ones. Since you didn't use them that much you can dismount them and sell them on ebay for cheap or locally to others in car clubs that need basic tires.

If you need more info talk to Alex@tirerack.com, he knows MINIs.