You can get quieter tyres when a change is due (i have and better ride too), Nokian Z is reputed to be quiet (and every bit as high quality as your present fitment) and there are other alternatives but to be fair your tyres are very very good quality so would be a pity to change.

I have effectively reduced tyre roar on several modern vehicles with extra soundproofing, some modern cars are poorly soundproofed in the areas of the boot and particularly the rear wheelarches, behind the plastic trim you may well find only the bare metal of the wheelarch, boot floor and side panels may be similarly skimped.

You might get better results by purchasing some self adhesive car sound insulation pads and making a better job than the maker did of these areas which wouldn't be difficult in many cases, worth checking under floor and the front wheelarches for insulation or lack of it but nearly always the rear wheelarch and boot area where most of the racket is coming from.

Yeah, my Saab 9-3 Aero came with Sport Contact 2s as well. In fact these are OE fit.

I've had Goodyear Eagle before on a Rover Turbo (and made the mistake of changing them for Toyos), so I've just had a set of standard load Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric 2s fitted to my Saab.

I can report that the car is now almost totally silent on just about any good tarmac right into 3 figure speeds. It's even fairly quiet on the concrete section of the A50 near Utoxeter, when there was a right old cacophony going on with the Contis.

I can thorougly recommend them.

Size is 235/45R17. I went for standard load rather than XL deliberately to get the slightly softer sidewall.. This strategy has improved the ride comfort no end. I have lost a small amount of steering precision, but on our rough roads these days it's a worthwhile trade off. I drove through rain like stair rods a few days ago - solid as a rock!!

Edit: Oh, and they have a seriously chunky rim protector built in - very welcome as I've just spent out having my wheels refurbed to black.

Edited by Cyd{P} on 07/08/2013 at 22:03

I've only been in one Octavia (estate, c. 2011) and it was a perfectly decent car, but the thing that spoilt it for me, and ruled it out as a potential purchase, was - the road noise. It was fitted with tyres that proclaimed they were "low noise" (can't remember the make). I would say that it's probably a "characteristic" of the car and not inherently a tyre problem. Having said that, Contis are in my experience nearly always noisy, and an alternative make *might* help.

Not sure I made it clear above, but I found the Contis to be noisy on my Saab. I thought it was the car for a while, but the Goodyears have transformed the car. It's like driving a completely different car. It was defo the tyres!