Road noise after tyre rotation

[Stuart Thomson]

Hi All,

I noticed this morning that one of my front foglights has fallen out of it's hole in the lower bumper.  It was trapped by the inner wheel arch guards, so I thought I'd better have a go at reattaching it.  Removed the front wheel to allow access got the light out but it looks like it's glued in place, so it'll wait 'til next service where the job can be done properly.

Anyway I looked at the front tyres, inner edge is shagged so I thought I'd be good and rotate the tyres front to back.  After doing so the road noise is really bad.  The inner edges of the now front tryes did seem to be worn so the had a lip towards the leading edge of the tread blocks, would this cause the noise?  It's essentially the opposite wear pattern so I'm thinking it'll wear away pretty quickly, made me check the wheel nuts three times!!

Car is a 156GTA BTW.

Cheers
Stuart

[greengtv8]

The answer is yes...your tyre's are 'scoloped'. My girlfriends car has done the same thing recently. So, time for new tyre's. Usually due to time spent with incorrect tyre pressure and wheel alignment not perfect. Is the rear tyre's on g/f car and it's only 2yrs old, So as soon as new tyre's are fitted, i guess i'll be doing a four wheel alignment.

[Stuart Thomson]

Thanks Andrew,

So, should I rotate them back, or live with the noise for another coupla days?

Cheers
Stuart

[Thmpar]

Hey guys yeah the road noise is bad from scalloped tyres. See it all the time at work,
Hey green your g/f's car doesn't have bridgestone's on it by chance,It is more than common for them to go funny for no reason,
The best tyre for your money at the moment is the Toyo's they are quality to rival Michelin and Pirelli but are at least half the price.
Providing the pressure are kept up at 36 psi for anything from 15" up and rotated regularly they will outlast almost every other brand around.
We rotate all tyre's every 5,000 klms for our customers free of charge alot of places will do this but you would need to ask. 

[156oro]

Hi.

I had the same probelm after buy a car in Sydney & driving it back to Melb.
So bad indeed that I pulled over on the highway & rotated the wheels.
(Not much better but at least drivable.)

I later found out what caused the scalloping thus turning round tyres in 50 cent peices... Buckelled rims...!!!

They were out by around 10 mm....

So off they came & I sent them to a company in Heidelberg called New Wave....
For around $70 a rim they strightened them.

Apparently this is common for Alfa factory rims...

So if you get scolloping or wheel vibration even after alighnment and/or balancing..then checK the rims.


Now she's as smooth as a babys bottom.......
Although it is dam hard to get those babies to lay still while you try to drive on their bottoms....LOL

[156oro]

BTW...

If you buy new tyres and fit them it will fix the problem for a little while but they will soon chew them out again...so do the rims....

Thmpar suggestion of the TOYO Proxes 4's is a very good one.

I have had these tyres on an XR6, AUDI, CELICA & 156 and can only praise them.
We get approx 45-50K before they hit the wear indicator, but are a soft compound grippy tyre.
I have had to on occasion had to throw a car at approx 60K/h into a hard 90 degrees turn (No brakes or even under accelleration) and these babies will hang on with no tyre squeel at all.....!

For the Price (Approx $175 fitted & Bal per wheel) on 17 Inch rims they are great value...!

Also when they do wear they wear evenly across the tyre...not just the edges or centres...36Psi with regular rotation 5-10K is the secret...

Cheers