need to put a set of tyres on our Bora today. This car has a fair amount of road noise coming from the tyres. What tyres will give me the quietest ride and which are the ones to steer clear of?
Could be worse, could have a Focus!
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I can't give an absolute answer but the Michelin XH1 fitted as OE to my Astra were noisy. Since then I've had two sets of Goodyear NCT5 which were quieter. I'm now on a set of Goodyear Excellence which are quieter that the NCT5s.
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Don't know about the quietest, but Pirelli P7s are VERY NOISY!
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I suggest you keep clear of directional tyres, in my experience they run noisier. i.e. tyres which can only be fitted one way on the rim, they will have an arrow on the sidewall showing the direction of rotation.
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Goodyear Excellence are supposed to be quiet, although I've never tried them myself.
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i used to have a montego with very bold bridgestone tyres , it was suprisingly quiet
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Avoid open tread patterns. Harder compound (higher treadwear rating) tyres are quieter, as are "fuel saving" like Michelin Energy, Continental EcoContact or Firestone FuelSaver.
However you lose out with wet grip. Our leasing company used to insist on Firestones FuelSaver'ss and they were quiet after the originally fitted tyres, but they led to dangerous situations if you didn't change your driving style. I refused to have them again after after trying one set.
Don't know if they're available in the Bora size, but I'm pretty pleased with the all round performance of Michelin Primacy HP's - they're noticeable quieter and softer riding than the Bridgestone Turanza tyre my car came with. However they're pretty expensive. Costco is often best for Michelin, if you have access.
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Don't know about the quietest but Pirelli P7s are VERY NOISY!
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I have them fitted to a Civic and do not find them noisy at all, could it not depend on which car they are fitted to, some cars must absorb road noise better than others.
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Is the focus really that bad for road noise.??If so, after all the millions spent on r&d how could Ford make such a basic mistake ??
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doesnt the grade of tarmac they slap on the roads affect noise, i recently recall that they were resurfacing part of the M1 jnc 21 with quiet tarmac because of complaints from the braunstonites ( local chav community) living near by
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I found the new Goodyear F1 assymetric are very quiet compared to the old directional F1, Pirelli P Zero Neros or Michelin Pilot Sport's I used previously.
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"Don't know if they're available in the Bora size, but I'm pretty pleased with the all round performance of Michelin Primacy HP's - they're noticeable quieter and softer riding than "
I found these tyres dreadfully noisy and pretty poor at everything except wearing out.
Conversely, also found Pirelli P7s quiet, but not as quiet as Goodyear Eagle F1s on my last car. It would seem it depends a lot on the application.
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FWIW, the Autoexpress Tyre Test 2005 (which tested 19 different 185/60 R14 H tyres ) rated the Maloya Futura Primato as the quietest tyre. Second was BF Goodrich Profiler. Third was Uniroyal Rallye 550. 4th was a tie between Barum Bravuris and Vredestein Hi-Trac.
ADAC also do tyre tests.
www.adac.de/Tests/Reifentests/default.asp?Componen...9
Of the summer tyres they tested this year, the Yokohama C.Drive was the quietest, the Uniroyal Rallye 550 was 3rd. (A Falken tyre came 2nd for quietness, but was the worst tyre overall.)
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Its developed in Germany, where the road surfaces are very much smoother. No limestone chippings in the top surface. Downside is that while Ford NVH measures work OK in Germany, they don't over here in Affen Insel!
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My reply relates to question on why Focus is so noisy. Should have gone earlier in the thread....
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The Focus is exceptionally noisy, I certainly won't be having another one! I can't wait to get rid, from that point of view. Our other car, an Octavia, is limo-like by comparison. Good to drive,yes, but in most other respects, vastly over-rated.
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The Focus is exceptionally noisy I certainly won't be having another one! I can't wait to get rid from that point of view.
It's very tyre sensitive. My Focus came from the factory with Conti SportContacts on it which were fabulous tyres. Grippy and long lasting, and very little noise. Unfortunately, the lease company used by my employer had a deal with Dunlop which meant it spent the rest of its life saddled with dreadful SP Sport 200 Es and later on, SP01s. When the first set of SP200Es went on the front at about 19,000 miles, the noise levels increased dramatically. When the rears eventually gave up the ghost at about 55k, it went up again!
I've put cheap remoulds and dodgy Eastern European-branded tyres on cars in the past when I've been skint, and can categorically state that none of them come close to the SP200 for sheer nastiness. The 01's were better, but what a racket!
I would rather fit part worn remoulds than ever a Dunlop tyre near a car (or bike) of mine again.
Cheers
DP
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A lot seems to depend on the car's suspension characteristics - what is rated as a quiet tyre on one often seems derided on another! Misaligned wheel geometry doesn't help, either - often causing the tyre to 'scrub' unintentionally.
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I've never had any problem with tyre noise. When I was younger I turned the radio up loud enough to drown any tyre noise. Now I'm older and my hearing is damaged by having the radio on too loud I can't hear road noise anyway!
--
L\'escargot.
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Perversely, as my hearing deterioates I get more annoyed by noisy tyres - I think it's because I (we) can feel audible frequencies through the vehicle structure even if we can't actually hear them.
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Great response! thanks. Had to get them done this morning so Googled Goodyear Excellence and found loads of stuff about them being quiet so thanks to first poster to mention them! Bought a full set at £64 a piece (205/55/16) but havn't driven the car yet as my wifes used it to go to Staffs. Not sure about the invoice I've been given , it says Goodyear NCT3. Are these those excellence ones, I hope so, I'll check the tyres when she gets back!
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Great response! thanks. Had to get them done this morning so Googled Goodyear Excellence
In case you didn't find their website, this is what Goodyear say about them tinyurl.com/yrxa2q
--
L\'escargot.
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My 2001 Mondeo had '4 new tyres' when I bought it a couple of weeks ago, and they are the groovy looking chevron pattern, but a 'dodgy' make: Linglong, whoever they are! Naturally I will be getting it re-shod asap - any recommendations?
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but a 'dodgy' make: Linglong whoever they are!
Made in China. tinyurl.com/38283a
--
L\'escargot.
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That's a good price Matstro, maybe you were charged for cheaper NCT3s by mistake! :o)
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Actually it's very common that hearing loss makes you hear background noises more. There are several reasons for this.
Hearing loss usually affects the higher frequencies, so since you can't hear these any more you will be more aware of the lower frequencies like tyre noise. Also, when you have hearing loss your ears are less able to distinguish between sounds and so you are unable to block out undesirable noise. This is also true in a pub situation where there are a lot of people talking. A normal hearing person will not notice the background noise and will hear individual spoken words clearly. But for the hearing impaired person it is the opposite. You can hear background noise very well but trying to pick out individual words is very difficult.
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I use Continental Premium Contact 2 on my 1999 Seat Toledo TDiSE ( sister car of the earlier Boras). I am thrilled with these tyres. They are quiet and very comfortable at long distance motorway cruising. They have excellent grip. I used to use Dunlops and Firestone before that. I would only recommend the Continentals.
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Michelin Primacy HP, good for grip, handling and economy too. An impressive tyre.
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The review in the March issue of Which? magazine gives 12 brands/variants four stars, 14 brands/variants 3 stars (i.e. not much between them), and one -- Pneumant PN250 -- 2 stars. What's more, the rating is dual-purpose -- "noise and eco rating" -- so is less helpful than it could have been. Personally, I've never had any problems with Michelins.
The 4-star tyres:
Dunlop SP30
Michelin Primacy HP
Pirelli P7
Conti PremiumContact2
Fulda Carat Progresso
Uniroyal Rallye 550
Hankook Ventus Prime K105
Firestone Firehawk TZ200
Kumho Ecsta SPT
Avon ZV3
Goodyear Excellence
Nangkang Unltra Sport NS-2
Falken Ziex ZE 512
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