Could do with some advice here.

I purchased a full set of Dunlop SP Bluesport Response tyres for my 55 plate Mk2 Focus 2.0 TDCi Ghia in mid-October at Halfords, who also fitted the tyres.

Since then, I appear to be getting an awful lot of tyre noise. In fact more recently it is proving rather annoying.

I didn't think of anything of it back then as I put it down to certain road services.

My Dad was travelling with me today in the car and he said this sounds like there is something not quite right.

Apart from this tyre noise, there is no issued with grip or braking.

He strongly suggests that I go back to Halfords (I still have the invoice), but after 2 months I m not sure I have any comeback here.

Any ideas or suggestions here for the cause, or have other Mk2 Focus owners have issues with tyre noise?

Are the tyres directional / asymmetrical? An easy first check would be to see if they are fitted the right way round. Running such tyres the wrong way can cause tyre noise. 

The focus is notorious for tyre noise of certain makes, I have Kumho,s on mine and they are fairly quiet.

I've got those tyres on my focus and although quiet initially, I found they become very noisy after a year or two of use. I had some Dunlop fast response s before and thought I had a wheel bearing going but changed the tyres and noise went. Don't know for it's and Dunlop issue but both sets of tyres became very noisy and also they crack inbetween the treads

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13 hours ago, Simon_K said:

Are the tyres directional / asymmetrical? An easy first check would be to see if they are fitted the right way round. Running such tyres the wrong way can cause tyre noise. 

I have just checked and they are on the right way round. 

I've got these on my mk2.5 titanium and they are noisier than the Michelin premecy 3s I had on before. It's not off putting but I can definitely say they are louder. But the grip and wear is countering the extra noise for me. 

My Uncle just came down and had a ride in the car whilst I was driving and seems to think it could be to do with the constant velocity joint.

Any thoughts on this?

Quote:       I've got these on my mk2.5 titanium and they are noisier than the Michelin premecy 3s I had on before. It's not off putting but I can definitely say they are louder. But the grip and wear is countering the extra noise for me. 

Thanks to the EU, all tyres have to show a decibel noise rating, varying between 67 and 72db, although most tyres seem to be 70 and above.  From what David posts, is it true to say that the lower the db rating, the poorer the grip because the lower db means the tyres are softer?  

I would not go as far and say that the 'focus is notorious' because it is not true. 

My old  MK3 Focus had Conti's 850 for Winter. 

Once you had a wet surface, they would whistle like a kettle. 

Our Family Focus Estate Had Contis 830p for Winter. 

On the same roads, the whistling was barely noticeable! 

You had to focus (no pun intended) to actually hear it. 

 

Summer wheels. My MK3 had Michelin PS3 and they were noisy at high speeds on certain Autobahn surfaces. 

Summer wheels on our MK3 non-facelift Estate Focus were Michelin PS3 MO. The bold moniker here is very important as they did not make any noise. 

 

My current car, the RS, has P Sotto Zero and they have a gentle whistle on the roads I used to drive my old MK3 Focus with Contis 850. 

 

Bottom line :  tires are supposed to make noise. They all do, some more than others. 

 

 

From a post above "Thanks to the EU, all tyres have to show a decibel noise rating, varying between 67 and 72db, although most tyres seem to be 70 and above.  From what David posts, is it true to say that the lower the db rating, the poorer the grip because the lower db means the tyres are softer?  "

Softer tyres does not mean less grip. Normally softer would mean more grip. but there is more to it. some tread patterns will create more noise but may have benefits like chanelling rain water away better to avoid aquaplaning or have a chunky tread pattern which will dig into mud and snow better to provide traction but make a lot of noise. It's a compromise of different features against eachother, you can't have the best of everything on the same tyre.

when you look at a tyre website eg. asda tyres it shows the db rating for each tyre but I think which car they are on can accentuate the noise if it causes a certain amount of resonation throughout the car. Whilst I can't prove it, I reckon if you chose two different sets of tyres with same DB rating, they might sound different compared to eachother on the same car at different speeds due to the different speeds where resonation will occur. 

I agree with the above post. Softer doesn't mean less grip automatically. There is so much more to how much noise a tyre generates than just grip levels. I only Mentioned my situation as I find the Dunlops noiser  than the premacy 3s I had fitted but they seem more grippy to me. 

Turns out it was one of the bearings.

Getting it sorted tomorrow.

On 12/25/2017 at 9:10 PM, D J Hilton said:

Could do with some advice here.

I purchased a full set of Dunlop SP Bluesport Response tyres for my 55 plate Mk2 Focus 2.0 TDCi Ghia in mid-October at Halfords, who also fitted the tyres.

Since then, I appear to be getting an awful lot of tyre noise. In fact more recently it is proving rather annoying.

I didn't think of anything of it back then as I put it down to certain road services.

My Dad was travelling with me today in the car and he said this sounds like there is something not quite right.

Apart from this tyre noise, there is no issued with grip or braking.

He strongly suggests that I go back to Halfords (I still have the invoice), but after 2 months I m not sure I have any comeback here.

Any ideas or suggestions here for the cause, or have other Mk2 Focus owners have issues with tyre noise?

Mr Hilton.

Interesting post, I have a 2007 Mk2, hatchback 2.0L Ghia petrol with road noise problems, after much research I fitted four new Yokohams Advan Decibel

tyres which are supposed to be "Silent" they most certainty are not, no better, if not worse than the old Falkens that were on there. Mechanically my car is perfect,

all new wheel bearings etc and I would love to find a solution. Would you post back here and let us know if your noise problem gets fixed. I am curious to hear

how those new Dunlops are doing for noise.

These are my tyres.   http://www.y-yokoham...enger/advan_db/

Thanks. Tim.

 

On 12/25/2017 at 11:40 PM, eddie eastwood said:

The focus is notorious for tyre noise of certain makes, I have Kumho,s on mine and they are fairly quiet.

Eddie, can you confirm exactly which Kumho tyres you have on your Focus ?

How quiet are they ?

Cheers.

My road noise was reduced when I had my doors sound deadened due to an audio system upgrade. 

I've heard gd things bout the kumho escasta tyres.. Contemplating them to Replace my sport blu responce this Yr. 

2010 2.0 petrol titanium. 

4 hours ago, Dave1981 said:

My road noise was reduced when I had my doors sound deadened due to an audio system upgrade. 

I've heard gd things bout the kumho escasta tyres.. Contemplating them to Replace my sport blu responce this Yr. 

2010 2.0 petrol titanium. 

Dave, how do you find your sport blu response for road noise and what did you use for sound deadening in the doors ?

 

 

Tbh they are noiser than the Michelin premecy 3 I had before but the trade off is improved handling and feel in my opinion. They aren't loud but I cud hear a bit more than with the the Michelins. Though h when I had the sound proofing done it quiet ended it back down. Couldn't tell u the brand as source sounds did it when they did speakers an headunit

19 hours ago, Busterbvi said:

Eddie, can you confirm exactly which Kumho tyres you have on your Focus ?

How quiet are they ?

Cheers.

Info on the invoice.

205/55R16       V    KUMHO   HS51

Fuel:   C,       Grip:  C,     Noise:   69dB,2

They have been on the car for just over year and I find they are still quite quiet. Certainly a lot better than the chunky treaded   Kingpin re-moulds that where on when I bought the car, it sounded as if the car was falling apart, they where that loud and the front ones only lasted just under 3k. Another problem with the Kingpins was the whole valve center core came out when I removed the cap on one of them to check the tyre pressure one day.

Rather than relying on the rather narrow testing carried out as per EU regulations.  Auto Express motoring magazine tend to do an annual all weather tyre round up that covers far more bases and make quite interesting reading when you compare the performance of different tyres in relation to different scoring elements i.e. some tyres are good in the dry but crap in deep water etc.

Auto Express motoring magazine "All Weather" tyre group test

Personally I've been using Nokian Weatherproofs for the better part of 2 years and haven't regretted it for a moment,

22 hours ago, Busterbvi said:

Dave, how do you find your sport blu response for road noise and what did you use for sound deadening in the doors ?

 

 

I sound deadened my previous Mondeo for audio purposes too, and the road noise reduction was noticeable. 

If I had the time I'd do my focus too.

 

I used the following:

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/silent-coat-40-sheet-bulk-pack-of-car-sound-proofing-deadening-vibration-2mm-mat

Just to clarify, the EU noise regulations on tyres have nothing to do with interior cabin noise. The EU standard is "Pass by Noise" that is measured when the car goes through a sound recording trap at a set speed.  I think its fair to assume that if the exterior noise is low then it might be low in the cabin but should only be regarded as a very general guide.

My Yoko's have a low db rating but horrible cabin noise.

 

 

 

 

18 hours ago, 1979Damian said:

Rather than relying on the rather narrow testing carried out as per EU regulations.  Auto Express motoring magazine tend to do an annual all weather tyre round up that covers far more bases and make quite interesting reading when you compare the performance of different tyres in relation to different scoring elements i.e. some tyres are good in the dry but crap in deep water etc.

Auto Express motoring magazine "All Weather" tyre group test

Personally I've been using Nokian Weatherproofs for the better part of 2 years and haven't regretted it for a moment,

 

Damian, how are your Nokians for road noise inside ?

Another very good one here for reviews with added comments from customers so you can see what car they are running. http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/

This thread is mainly concerned with tyre noise in the cabin. Personally, I dont care too much for wear, grip or cost, Of course I want a safe tyre but mainly I just want a quiet tyre ! I started a similar thread over at Wheels in Motion which may be if interest to those members here. https://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=17280

 

 

5 hours ago, Busterbvi said:

 

Damian, how are your Nokians for road noise inside ?

Another very good one here for reviews with added comments from customers so you can see what car they are running. http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/

This thread is mainly concerned with tyre noise in the cabin. Personally, I dont care too much for wear, grip or cost, Of course I want a safe tyre but mainly I just want a quiet tyre ! I started a similar thread over at Wheels in Motion which may be if interest to those members here. https://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=17280

 

 

They're the quietest tyres I've had fitted to this car, a lot quieter than LingLong "Ditchfinders" and also quieter than whichever versions Michelin Premacy the car came with.  They're also really compliant which with the state of the roads in this country makes for a less unpleasant ride.

3 hours ago, 1979Damian said:

They're the quietest tyres I've had fitted to this car, a lot quieter than LingLong "Ditchfinders" and also quieter than whichever versions Michelin Premacy the car came with.  They're also really compliant which with the state of the roads in this country makes for a less unpleasant ride.

Thanks Damian, well that another one to add to the list to look at. Can you confirm the exact type of Nokian ? Maybe a picture of the sidewall ?

Cheers.

20 hours ago, Busterbvi said:

Thanks Damian, well that another one to add to the list to look at. Can you confirm the exact type of Nokian ? Maybe a picture of the sidewall ?

Cheers.

These are the exact ones I bought and also from the supplier I used back when.  16" Nokian Weatherproof tyres

Funny thing is, my wife knows nowt about cars and is the kind of person that previously ran a Fiesta with no pads left until the discs went purple from heat scorching!

A 2-3 weeks ago when we had the cold/bad weather, the wife (who has been perfectly happy with her recently acquired 58 plate Focus on non-Nokian tyres) stated something to the effect of "I wish my car had the same tyres on it as the ones on your car, your car has much more grip".  My car itself definitely doesn't have "more" grip as it's a 12 year old MK2 Focus saloon with original suspension bushes but I think it showed how nothing is more important in terms of grip than the tyre on your car.  I also pointed out that if she wanted to get the nice bad weather grip that I've got she'll have to get her hand in her purse! 

The same tyre is also available with an increased maximum speed rating of 149 MPH (V rating) rather than 130 MPH (H rating) but unless you're driving a ST or RS you ain't going faster than 130 MPH in a Focus  oh and the tyres with the faster speed rating drop the wet weather grip level from "A" to "B".