I decided to rotate my tires (@ 15 K , kinda late i know). When I did there was much increase road noise and the frequency increased with speed. No vibration, just noise. I changed back and the noise reduced greatly. Question is, it seems that the noise is associated with one or both of my rear tires. Will balancing help?

 

Possibly. Didn't they rotate with 10K service?

 

No, they did an oil change only and did a "visual" inspection of the car

 

I would associate the noise with having additional tread up front where you haven't been used to it. 15K is a long way to go without rotating and I'm sure the rear tires have much more tread versus the fronts. Did you just do same side rotating or is it possible that the tires were rotated from the other side. If so, it is possible that you have switched the direction of the tires which would make them very noisy! I know that the Dunlop run flats I had could only be rotated on the same side. Just a thought.

 

Sounds like possible heel and toe wear.

What tire are you using?

Look at the tread blocks, see if the block are warn more on one end that the other. easier felt across the tread than seen. If thats the case, balace will not help, if it is, it should quiet down a bit.

We need to be rotating every 5k to keep them quiet. tires wear exponentially faster when there new, so early and often are keys to quiet tires.

Alex

 

Thanks for the replies. I have Dunlop SP5000, so they are directional. I kept tires on the same side when rotating. I looked closely at the wear and don't seem to see any unusual wear. Also I do not have any suspension modifications.
I probably should just go to a local tire shop & have them take a look. I have a very long trip planned soon and listening to the whaa-whaa-whaa coming from the rear tires is going to get annoying over several 10 hour days in the car.

 

let me know what you find!

Alex

 

>>let me know what you find!
>>
>>Alex
______________
Alex, to go one further on this thread, I notice that TireRack's website shows several configurations for tire rotation. Using the above case (Dunlop SP5000) can you tell us if the two rear tires can be rotated diagonally up front as shown on Scheme A and Scheme B on your your website? Keep in mind that these Dunlops carry a label which reads "Mount this side out"

Example: to rotate the left rear tire to right front, one would have to make sure that the label faces out. This would change the tread pattern from the left side, and I notice this directional tread pattern is most pronounced in the Yokohama AVS ES100 tires.

 

unless you re-mounted the tires, you can't rotate that way.
You have to keep directional tires on the same side of the car to maintain their correct rotation.

Momini, since you understand this, the increase in tire noise is because you waited WAY TOO LONG before rotating, and now the tires are weirded-out, and need to wear a bit with their new position in life. Give it a thousand miles or so, and they'll be quiet as normal.

 

scheme D is what should be used for directional tires.

thanks Ryan, your right on as usual.

Alex