A lesson learned to pass on: For years we have heard random cars on the road in front of the house issuing a whoo - whoo - whoo noise. When close by the road it is always one tire making the noise. My curiosity about the cause was satified after we got our 2007 HHR. It had a good set of Bridgestone tires on it. Car had 41k miles, unknown miles on tires. The tire noise grew & grew. A tire shop plus mechanic both said "directional tires" is the cause. The left rear tire inside tread was severly cupped about every inch or so !! Another tire had the beginnings of cupping. $650 solved the problem. Lesson: NO directional tires EVER ! Comments ??

 

I replaced a set of nice tires and the alignment was screwed up and the tires started cupping, I had an alignment but the damage was done. I rotated the tires and the noise got louder and louder. They sounded like snow tires on dry pavement. Broke down and got another set of tires, noise was gone.

 

Good alignment is peace of mind..

I have directionals & they sounds quieter than the oe flintstones they replaced.

 

My new Michelin Ice 3 tires are directional and they are very quiet.

Quieter then the All Season tires they replaced.

1. Do not let them start cupping by poor alignment or other issues.

2. Make sure if your tires are Rotated that they do not make a mistake in wheel positioning.

3. Once cupping starts, it's usually Game Over for noise control.

 

[QUOTE=howardt;696202]A lesson learned to pass on: For years we have heard random cars on the road in front of the house issuing a whoo - whoo - whoo noise. When close by the road it is always one tire making the noise. My curiosity about the cause was satified after we got our 2007 HHR. It had a good set of Bridgestone tires on it. Car had 41k miles, unknown miles on tires. The tire noise grew & grew. A tire shop plus mechanic both said "directional tires" is the cause. The left rear tire inside tread was severly cupped about every inch or so !! Another tire had the beginnings of cupping. $650 solved the problem. Lesson: NO directional tires EVER ! Comments ??[/QUOTE]


I have directional tires on 3 of my 4 vehicles (also had them on the past 3 vehicles).....never experienced your problem....or any problem for that matter. I would suggest YOU and YOUR maintenance schedule are not one. Your tire shop and mechanic were each pointing you in the correct direction...the fault was PROBABLY your tires but do to other mechanical problems that caused it. The tires may even had cupping started from the previous owner. As another member mentioned, once it starts, you own it. JUST MY COMMENT AND OPINION.

Oh, and of course the problem would be gone with the installation of new tires......removing defective tires for good makes sense. But if you had not found the nature/cause of the problem, you will have the same cupping problem, sometime down the road.

 

I have Goodyear Assurance Triple Treads - and they are directional - and they are stoopidnoisey! I bought the car used and all 4 tires are like brand new. They aren't cupped, feathered, belt shifted, nuthin'. Oddly, 2 tires seem louder than the other 2 ...

It has 112K on it now, so I'm in the middle of shoring up the suspension. I gotta do it anyway. I was gonna lower it, etc. But now I'm gonna replace struts, springs, etc. with the thought of giving these tires a second chance.

I can't fathom Goodyear putting out junk like this at the price point these things occupy. But maybe it is a directional thing like those Bridgestones you speak about ...

MD

 

& mebbe you have some wheel bearing issues that are making the noise ?

 

i bought some way more expensive junk. Goodyear F1 As the belts separated at 17k, were great till then. try some General G-max mine are still working good at 25K....

 

Haha! I thought the same. Had to be a wheel bearing. The only time I ever heard a tire that loud was when I put a Goodyear Gatorback on backwards on a Mustang GT.

The carfax showed a RF Wheel bearing replaced at 103K at the dealer by the previous owner. So I bought a MOOG unit and replaced left one - as it turns out - for ships an' grins. No change. I'll chalk that up to 'preventative maintenance.' haha!

MD

 

Definitely thinkin' bout it! MD boetie: