Hi all

I bought an Active X with the low profile 17 inch tyres (that seem to come on every 'premium' car now) about three years ago now, and the road noise has been driving me nutty since day 1. Tyre choice seems to make a minor difference - it was on ditch finders when I drove it home, then I put 4 Primacy 4s on it, then replaced the fronts with Eagle Asymmetrics, all in the pursuit of some motorway quiet. The car is just incredibly loud particularly on the coarse aggregate, aged road surfaces around Bristol - anyone who has done the M4 from Hungerford to Wales knows what I'm talking about. On some surfaces the bass roaring is down to about 10mph and drowns out all bass from the super special Bose subwoofer which fills the entire spare wheel bay... 😬

My partner and I are both autistic and are fed up - to the extent of considering dropping several thousand on another car, but we have found many of our preferences also ship with /45 tyres because they look better. I suspect these thin, reinforced sidewall tyres are a large part of the noise transmission issue. The local Ford dealer wouldn't allow me to test drive a Titanium with the 195/55 wheels  So I have three questions for the community:

1. What is your experience with the Mk8 and noise? Are the Active/ST-Line/Titanium X with the low profile tyres generally known for loudness?

2. Does anyone have any particular recommendations for actually quiet (both the Primacy and Eagle F1s were purported to be quiet) fitments for the 205/45 R17s? Perhaps differing slightly from the manufacturer noise ratings!

3. Is there any traction (PNI...) in looking to replace all 4 corners with the 195/55R16s from the Trend/Zetec/Titanium spec?

 

Cheers all, happy bank holidays.

Pretty much par for the course with 40 or 45 profile tyres (on various cars) in my experience, I'm afraid. The surface dressing (or "tar and chip") method of resurfacing is widespread practice where I have to drive. Listening to music or having a conversation is difficult on such surfaces.

When I get the (all too rare) opportunity to drive on a road that has been properly resurfaced with smooth tarmac the difference is very marked.

Low profile tyres are of course to be expected on "sporty" cars but Ford's wheel/tyre choice for the Active has always seemed strange to me,  Smaller diameter wheels with higher profile tyres may make some difference but is an expensive way to go and an alteration to the standard spec of course.

I've tried different tyre makes myself on previous cars but found little difference between makes of the same profile.

I'd try and get a test drive of, say, a Titanium elsewhere if you can and see what you think before committing to expense.

20 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Pretty much par for the course with 40 or 45 profile tyres (on various cars) in my experience, I'm afraid. The surface dressing (or "tar and chip") method of resurfacing is widespread practice where I have to drive. Listening to music or having a conversation is difficult on such surfaces.

When I get the (all too rare) opportunity to drive on a road that has been properly resurfaced with smooth tarmac the difference is very marked.

Low profile tyres are of course to be expected on "sporty" cars but Ford's wheel/tyre choice for the Active has always seemed strange to me,  Smaller diameter wheels with higher profile tyres may make some difference but is an expensive way to go and an alteration to the standard spec of course.

I've tried different tyre makes myself on previous cars but found little difference between makes of the same profile.

I'd try and get a test drive of, say, a Titanium elsewhere if you can and see what you think before committing to expense.

Ah, I suspected as much but thank you for confirming. So far tyre changes seem to be tinkering around the edges of a very large noise problem. I am trying to get a test drive, but it is definitely a little unfortunate insofar as main dealers seem to consider a test drive to be time-wasting unless one expresses an intention to buy.

I am test driving a Fabia next week but realised it has 215/45R16s. Can't see that being any better!

I also thought it rather odd to put low profile tyres and fragile diamond cut alloys on a crossover. If the idea of a crossover was for it to be a bit more 'sport' but also more 'utility' - to my mind, the sort of car that my grandparents would pick for its practicality - then adding the firm tyres was just silliness. Some strange engineering choices on modern Fords.

1 hour ago, Owesteken said:

I am test driving a Fabia next week but realised it has 215/45R16s. Can't see that being any better!

Skoda are supposed to be sensible! But are you sure? Just had a look at the online brochure and the only tyre sizes I could see were: 

185/65x15, 195/55x16 and 215/45x17 (on the Monte Carlo, but even on that the slightly wider tyres  mean a few mms more sidewall depth than you have now).

No doubt you'll have a close look next week but it'll be interesting to see what they are and what you think to the Fabia generally.

The Fabia will probably be worse.  They keep production costs down by fitting less sound deadening to them.  Most people won't notice or care.  But for those of us with over-sensitive hearing it's a nightmare trying to find a quiet car nowadays.

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

They keep production costs down by fitting less sound deadening to them.

Ford have certainly cut back in the Mk 8.5 (and the late Mk 8 Fiestas). One guy on another forum actually stripped out the interior of his Mk 8.5 to prove there was less compared with his previous early Mk 8.

The Mk 8 originally had an acoustic windscreen, the later ones don't. My 2018 did have it, possibly Owen's might still have one?

10 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Ford have certainly cut back in the Mk 8.5 (and the late Mk 8 Fiestas). One guy on another forum actually stripped out the interior of his Mk 8.5 to prove there was less compared with his previous early Mk 8.

The Mk 8 originally had an acoustic windscreen, the later ones don't. My 2018 did have it, possibly Owen's might still have one?

That's certainly worth checking.  I'm not sure the windscreen would make much difference to the tyre noise though?  It seems to get transmitted through the suspension and chassis as far as I could tell.  The engine noise was very intrusive on my Mk4 Focus as well.  I'm not sure whether that had an acoustic screen or not, but if it did, I can't say it was noticeable.

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

I'm not sure the windscreen would make much difference to the tyre noise though?  

Yeah, I'm not sure either and there seems to be some debate about it. I guess you'd have to drive two  otherwise identical cars back to back to check and there's not much chance of that.

 

19 hours ago, Owesteken said:

I am test driving a Fabia next week but realised it has 215/45R16s. Can't see that being any better!

One other thought is to try and pick your own test drive route to take in roads that you know to cause noise problems in your current car. Sales people (understandably) try to steer you in a direction that shows their product in the best light.

(I used to have a "special test drive route", but nowadays the run from my house to the nearest Tesco is as bad as anywhere!😀).

20 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Ford have certainly cut back in the Mk 8.5 (and the late Mk 8 Fiestas). One guy on another forum actually stripped out the interior of his Mk 8.5 to prove there was less compared with his previous early Mk 8.

The Mk 8 originally had an acoustic windscreen, the later ones don't. My 2018 did have it, possibly Owen's might still have one?

Sat in the car right now and the O/S/F corner of the windscreen does say "Soundscreen" so I got lucky on that one.

I consigned the Fiancée to the back of the car earlier on the A38 to try and diagnose the roaring tyres. It seems to be the rears (Primacy 4s) causing the problem, possibly not helped by the extremely low recommended 26 psi pressure? Both rear corners are slightly sawtoothed on their outer edge and have 1mm more tread on the innermost groove than the outermost - is that normal or indicative of maybe an alignment issue?

I'm increasingly convinced that the right path is to pursue quiet in this car, as I otherwise love the interior, and dispense with the notion of spending ££££ on a sidegrade. Yes, I will need to get the wet belt changed (I'm thinking around 80k miles, probably 2 years away at least which is close to the 10 year recommendation anyway) but that is cheaper than another car. Then I can wear this one out and go EV after that.

Perhaps you could try adding some self adhesive sound deadening mat to the inner wheel arches behind the boot panels?

I'd also try a bit more pressure in those tyres.  You should be able to feel if they become too hard as the rear end will start to feel 'loose'.

Michelin PS4s on my current and previous cars. I have found they wear slightly more on the outside of the tread, but not noticed any "feathering" or "sawtooth". Might be worth an alignment check if you're unduly concerned.

I have tried playing with the tyre pressures on various cars - up of down a couple of psi - but not noticed a significant difference. Having a try will cost nothing, though - you could try the "higher speed" pressures as shown on your door pillar plate for example.

I'm also interested to see what an EV would be like road noise wise, but up till now it would be difficult to make a direct comparison as they're dissimilar cars.The Alpine A290 variant of the new Renault 5 is the closest thing yet to the Fiesta ST, so I may well look at having a test drive in that at some time, if only out of curiosity.

I did find a Corolla hybrid quieter riding, but that's a slightly bigger car, and the version I tried had smaller wheels and normal (not "sports") suspension. Still handled pretty well, though.

 

 

4 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I did find a Corolla hybrid quieter riding, but that's a slightly bigger car, and the version I tried had smaller wheels and normal (not "sports") suspension. Still handled pretty well, though.

 

Notwithstanding that comment I headed over to the TOC forum to see what owners thought and as with our much discussed battery issues, there are several threads on there regarding noise issues, such as: 

https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/201964-corolla-road-noise/

https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/215473-so-much-noise/

If anything, it just confirms our earlier discussion that the issue is nowadays pretty common and probably road surface related.

I do wonder, all humans being different, if our perception of sound does vary from person to person anyway. I've seen instances on other forums of Fiesta owners selling their cars because they simply can't cope with the noise,while others don't seem to notice.

I've even seen suggestions of using earplugs. Never tried them in a car, but I used them all the time when motorcycling, and found them very effective at cutting wind noise, while still letting you hear what was going on around you. 

 

Our perceptions of sound definitely do vary.  And brightness, contrast, smell, vibration, taste, touch, pain etc.

I've pretty much given up asking others for opinions on those things now.  As I'm clearly not experiencing the world in the same way they are.

Obviously I can't say how closely two 'normal' peoples experiences are.  That would be very interesting to find out, though I'm not even sure how we could devise a suitable experiment for that comparison.

I've a 2020 ActiveX with 205/40/18s and can't say that it's particularly noisy. It's got Michelin Pilot Sport 4s on the front and Yokohama Advan Flex? On the rear, I have found that the car is VERY sensitive to tyre pressures.

I have a titanium with the 45 spec 17’s, have the same annoyance.

Will be ripping most of it apart and fitting some extra sound deadening over the summer as it does my ***** in. It’s better on the all seasons that are now on it, but still really annoying. 
 

 

On 4/21/2025 at 5:45 PM, Bxzx16v said:

I've a 2020 ActiveX with 205/40/18s and can't say that it's particularly noisy. It's got Michelin Pilot Sport 4s on the front and Yokohama Advan Flex? On the rear, I have found that the car is VERY sensitive to tyre pressures.

Have just had 2 EfficientGrip Performances fitted to the rear to see if they're any better than the Primacies and I think they are, marginally.. But a deep roaring still remains. I will check the wheel bearings are OK I think, but perhaps it really is mostly a sound deadening issue.

On 4/22/2025 at 1:01 PM, RyanClarke said:

I have a titanium with the 45 spec 17’s, have the same annoyance.

Will be ripping most of it apart and fitting some extra sound deadening over the summer as it does my ***** in. It’s better on the all seasons that are now on it, but still really annoying. 
 

 

Have you any idea where is best to start on sound deadening? I have seen people mention the rear wheel over arches. If those are just voids it would explain a lot.

Part of the issue may also be that some sound deadening is actually neglected with the B+O subwoofer setup, because it fills the spare wheel well and obviously shouldn't be deadened. The issue being, the tyre roar drowns out the subwoofer anyway.