Dunlop tire noise?

[team_v]

The sidewall advised 'max of 50psi or kpa' I've been running them at 40, maybe dropping them to 35 might help?

I have read that the reccomended PSI is 10% less than teh maximum on the sidewall.
That means you should be running 45PSI.

[brad]

rotated them front to back (directional tires). and sure enough, now the noise comes from the front.

.

This is the one & only reason i don't like directionals.

May I recommend Goodyear F1 Assymetrics? Tirerack has stupidly low prices on them.

[brad]

I have read that the reccomended PSI is 10% less than teh maximum on the sidewall.
That means you should be running 45PSI.

ummm....no.
That's a very rough & ready way of doing it. The other rule of thumb is tyre placard on the fuel flap plus 10%, which would make it around 33psi. The answer is probably somewhere between the two figures.

Personally, my happy medium is 36F/34R but that is on 205/55x16. My Mk3.5 Golf had 205/45x16 & was much happier on 40F/36R. So it's all down to a bit of experimentation & testing & if you change tyre brands, then it starts all over again.

What matters is the load in the car, style of driving, suspension setup & the tyre. There is also the compromise between grip (lower pressures give more lateral grip) & sidewall stiffness (reaction speed, turn-in, etc).

[mintygreen]

Think i'll look at non-directional tires next, to allow more flexibilty to rotate for uneven wear.

In the meanwhile i'll play with tire pressures.

Ta for the info.

[indulis]

Still interesting http://www.silentroads.nl/downloads/...asurements.pdf, especially figure 4 on page 11.

3dB change is a doubling in intensity=loudness, so the differences between tyres is significant. db(A) is just a weighted sound measurement that takes into account that our ears are more sensitive to some sound frequencies than others.