REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

metal · 03-31-2011, 03:44 PM

I bought my car with winter tires mounted on it, but the previous owner gave me the cheapo all seasons (Sumo Akina ST-09) that she had mounted on the car last year before she bought the winters. I just had the winters taken off, and the all seasons mounted and balanced yesterday.

Immediately after leaving, we noticed a vibration and howling noise coming from the right side of the car passing 20kph on the dot. The vibration only lasts mostly in the 20-30kph range, but the noise gets louder as speed rises. I had someone sitting in the back and they said that it was super loud from the back seats, so I'm pointing it towards the rear right for now. I went back to the shop today, they rechecked the balance, rotated them and checked everything out.

Everything checked out fine, so I left and nothing changed, still the same sound, same speed cutoff, vibration etc. They told me that the most likely cause was because they were cheap tires, but I've run tons of tires, from cheap, to expensive, worn to the cords, etc and I've never heard something like this before.

I took a quick vid down the street with my phone, turn the sound up to hear it a bit better. It was from a stop to about 70-80kph, then hovering around 60 for a few seconds, then slowed down to a stop.

Any ideas, wheel and tire gurus?

HondaGuy · 03-31-2011, 04:00 PM

As you have mentioned, if wheels are straight and true (no bent nor damage) and tires are all even tread, mount and balance are all done well...then the only thing I can think of is tire noise.

Oftentimes, certain tires are more noisy than others. I know that Sumo tires are not the best quality but decent for regular driving.

I remember my old Pirelli back in 2001 were quite noisy after 70km/hr.

Berzerker · 03-31-2011, 04:09 PM

If it's localized to 1 specific tire though like the right rear as you mentioned it could also be a wheel bearing noise.

After listening to the vid I am going to have to agree it's just road noise from the tires.

Berz out.

1990TSI · 03-31-2011, 04:34 PM

sounds like a muffler bearing. cheap and easy fix

any shop should be able to get that fixed up for about $50

metal · 03-31-2011, 04:37 PM

It legitimately sounds like the skytrain is hitching a ride on the side of my car haha, much louder than it sounds in the video; the howling, higher pitch sound, just the road noise from the other tires. I guess I'll check a couple more things out, and just live with it if I can't find another solution.

metal · 03-31-2011, 07:20 PM

Just drove at hwy speeds, I think the culprit is on the front now since they rotated them today as well. I can feel the vibration through the steering wheel, shift knob and pedals on super smooth new pavement at city speeds. The noise is even loud enough to drown out/be heard over above average volume. I just can't see this being road noise, especially on a newer car that's much more sound dampened than most of the cars I've owned. Also a slight pull to the right as well.
Posted via RS Mobile

n.mah · 04-07-2011, 05:13 PM

Hmm i work at a tire shop, and we usually move the tire that is the most dynamically unbalanced to the right rear when rotating summers/winters on. Try moving the faulty "tire" to the left front and see if the noise is still there?

triplexcel · 04-11-2011, 09:05 PM

i'm currently running the same tires and i notice a little bit of vibration and humming from the tires. At first, I thought it was my car but after doing some further research and reading this thread... it was the tires after all. so your not the only one with this issue.

whitev70r · 04-11-2011, 09:34 PM

It's the Sumo Akinas ... friend has them and said same thing ... NOISY! I think it gets worse as the tires have more mileage on them. Here are the reviews and you'll see that 80% of the people say tires are noisy. I suggest you do a few donuts/burns and get yourself a new set of summers.
http://www.1010tires.com/Tires/Reviews/Sumo/Akina+ST-09

tubbs · 04-11-2011, 11:37 PM

I'd say try mount and balance re and re again ?

civicyvr · 04-12-2011, 01:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by metal

Just drove at hwy speeds, I think the culprit is on the front now since they rotated them today as well. I can feel the vibration through the steering wheel, shift knob and pedals on super smooth new pavement at city speeds. The noise is even loud enough to drown out/be heard over above average volume. I just can't see this being road noise, especially on a newer car that's much more sound dampened than most of the cars I've owned. Also a slight pull to the right as well.
Posted via RS Mobile

Well, if the noise is coming from diff location when you rotate then it's prob not a suspension/bearing issue but the tires.

Do some burnouts to true them round again. Kidding...sort of.