HELP!! front wheel noise when driving

[vRS Carl]

Sorry, don't agree with that from my own experience.

I ran Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta and Goodyear Eagle Assym 2's on both my vRS' (including the one I had Sawtoothing on) and neither suffered with the problem on those tyres.

It was only on the factory fitted Dunlops and another friend had the same on RE05's

The problem for me was completely eradicated after switching tyres and the 4 wheel alignment. I got Sawtoothing after 11k miles (ish) on the Dunlops. I sold the car when it had 72k miles (in 3yrs) and through the Vreds, GY F2 & Mich PS3 I never had the problem return.

[Martin]

has more and more intrusive “hump hump hump” noise when driving at 40km/hr either accelerating or decelerating. I have taken the car to be road tested and the dealership mechanics told me it’s due to scalloping of the tyres and not related to wheel joint therefore nothing can be done. i wonder if this would be due to other more serious causes?

Have you hit a rock or curb in the last 6 months???
If the wheel alignment is knocked out you can wreck the tyres
Then at the next service, they rotate your tyres, ensuring you wreck all 4 tyres

[brad]

I had the same problem... seems to be particularly an issue with BS Potenza RE050... mine started at about 30k... replaced the tyres at 45k. Same problem of noise & vibration at 40km/hr,less of an issue athigher speeds. The problem is saw-toothing, worse with uni directional tyres. Unfortunately will only be solved by replacing the tyres, and I would suggest avoiding unidirectionl tyres at all costs to try to prevent this from occurring again.

Do you mean RE050 (directional) or RE050A (assymetric)?

If by uni-directional you mean non-directional (assymetric & conventional tread patterns) then I'd disagree.

I avoid directional patterns like the plague & prefer assymetric for their ability to be x-rotated.

[Richo64]

Sorry... I meant single directional... ie...rotate in one direction. I was referring to REO50's, not the RE050A. I aggree that I would stick to tyres that can be cross rotated. Currently using Michelin PS3 which so far have been quite good. Much better than the Bridgestone RE050's.

[hogs]

thanks for everyone's input! appreciate all ur comments

finally decided to change all 4 tyres after one got punctured and very happy to report the noise is completely gone! (Hooray)
changed to Continental Contimax MC5 which is more of a touring kind of tyre and hopefully the scalloping wont recur. i suppose they are asymmetrical, any suggestion how i would rotate them when i reach 10,000km?

also talked to the tyre centre manager and was told the scalloping is usually due to faulty shock absorbers esp in the front-wheel-drive cars and it's becoming more common as manufacturers dont design their cars properly?? what do u guys think of this?

cheers

[Martin]

Also talked to the tyre centre manager and was told the scalloping is usually due to faulty shock absorbers esp in the front-wheel-drive cars and it's becoming more common as manufacturers dont design their cars properly?? what do u guys think of this?

It's not that simple

Certainly springs/shocks and the rest of the suspension are factors - as is tyre design
Worn ball links and wrong alignment can result in scalloping
Under inflated tyres can also be a factor

My hit a rock at 70kmph in the Mazda3 - bent the left front wheel
This car was 4 years old at the time, we had never encountered scalloping/sawtoothing or other alignment issues
The repairs included a wheel alignment (given the impact one would assume the alignment was toast)
I rarely drive this car - at the next service the Mazda dealer rotated the tyres
I drove the car some months later and was applauded with the noise, feel and handling
All the tyres had a funny sawtooth wear pattern and were toast - you could visually see it
I took the car to a trusted tyre shop, got a set of Michelin MC5's on the 4 for the price of 3 deal, and had them do the alignment again, all good again

[MkVIGTI]

Did you get an alignment down when you got the new tires? My tires were noisy at certain speeds and it was found to be out of alignment.

[wai]

This is what has happened to the tyres on my MY11 Caddy Maxi Life. The dark parts on the inside of the tread are where the tyre is not contacting the road. This was reported to the dealer at the 15,000 km service and they shrugged their shoulders and said "it was standard for that type of vehicle"! Tyres have been inflated at recommended pressures checked each time refuelled.

Now at 32,000 km I have to replace them. The issue for me is that they have to have a load index of 94, and the majority of tyres have a load index of 91.

So far, I have managed to track down:

Toyo Proxes 4
Toyo Proxes C1S
Toyo Proxes T1
Maxxis MA511
Maxxis M35
Maxxis IPRO
Continental ContiSportContact 2
and
Roadstone N8000

Any thoughts?

Left Rear


Right Front


Right Rear

[ParaBul]

Directional and asymmetric are different things. Bridgestone RE050s are directional tyres, but symmetrical. They are not asymmetric.

My RE050s started the well-described 40km/h rythmic thrumming within the first 12 months. I reported it at the first service, was told it was probably the tyres, and would probably get worse if they were rotated. I told them to rotate the tyres anyway, and the noise became worse. And has continued to become worse.

I work somewhere with a 40km/h limit, and the noise is definitely worst at 40km/h. I don't notice it at 60 - 80km/h (travel both speed zones on my daily commute, and during my work day) but passengers regularly comment about the noise.

VW shrug their shoulders about the noise. They shrug their shoulders about my DSG leaving me without drive. I like my Golf, but I have developed an intense dislike of VW.

[Steveo]

I have found the problem on two cars - my previous Honda Euro and with my current GTI. The common link was the RE050s.

The Honda sounded like I was running off-road 4WD tyres or the bearings had gone so I replaced the tyres when they still had 20% of their life left. Went to Pirelli and the noise stopped.

On the GTI I had the same tyres and the noise was starting to become very noticeable around 30K so went to Michelin. Noise stopped. I now rotate the tyres every 5k. I have done almost 20k on the Michelins and they are still quieter than the RE050s. I raised the issue with the VW dealer and the service manager just ran his hand over the RE050s and said - yep they are scalloping.

My wife recently bought a new VW. Interesting their test/demo cars seem to have Pirellis or Michelins, but her car came with Bridgestones, so I wonder if VW is aware of the problem and puts more expensive tyres on demo cars.