I've had a problem with increasing road noise on my 2007 MCS (17" web-spokes)

I replaced the tires with Kumho Ecsta SPT's 1 year ago, and although there's plenty of tread left, the rear tires seem to be wearing a bit unevenly (but I really can't be sure) and the car just hums and resonates at higher speeds, louder than engine noise. It's not related to RPM, but to speed, and isn't road surface noise. There's nodes -- at 50MPH it's loud and annoying, at 55 it's not quite as loud, but higher pitched, at 65 it is at peak volume again, etc. Below 40, it's low enough pitched and low enough in volume that engine and wind noise dominate. But as I slow to a stop, there is a bit of a wub-wub-wub sound.

There's no perceivable vibration, no perceivable alignment or handling issues, and the noise has been increasing over the past few months.

What appears to be uneven wear could just be the way this tread pattern deals with water and the way I'm looking at it -- I haven't really looked closely, but if it's uneven with cupping, that'd point to suspension. Other than the tires, it's dead-stock mechanical-wise.

Any others with experience with these tires? Tire rack reviews say things get noisy after 20K miles, and it's had nearly 20K put on it since then.

Should I consider early replacement, or just bite the bullet and have the dealer check the suspension? Any sure-fire way of checking for uneven wear? (Heavy tire + heavy wheel == bad?)

 

How many miles on your MINI? How often do the tires get rotated?

I think it may very well be tire noise. High performance low profile tires seem very susceptible to that as they get more miles on them. It's been my experience that if the tires on a FWD car are not rotated the rear ones will cup.

 

Yup, my money is on you either never, or very rarely rotating your tires. Fwd cars cup rear tires, rwd cars cup front tires if not rotated. Time to buy a new set and rotate every 4-5k (depending on how agressively you drive).

 

Yeah, this is making sense. Rotation hasn't been as often as it should have been, and that will definitely be a factor. After I get a set of tires, the first rotation gets done, and then I'm lucky if I remember any after that.

About 48K miles, I believe about 17K on these tires. I'm pretty sure only one rotation, now that I think of it.

The negative camber on the rear wheels of a MINI probably doesn't help there either, and is probably more reason to rotate. I think the question now is whether it's worth rotating or just replacing. I think I'l get 'em rotated and then see.

Thanks!

 

Thinking about it more, rotation now is closing the proverbial barn door.

I think I may take the opportunity to go non-runflat as well. Looking at the Bridgestone Potenza G019 Grid now.