Tyre Noise

[John H]

I don't often contribute to forums but I've picked up some useful information over the years from them and wanted to share a recent experience hoping it may be useful to someone.

I bought my A7 3.0tdi S-Line FWD (61 plate, 2012) when it was around 9 months old, it has the standard 19" S-Line wheels with PZeros fitted. From the start I have been plagued by a noise intruding into the interior of the car, like a worn 'wheel bearing' sound from the front drivers side wheel, I've also heard it described as like the noise when you blow over the top of a bottle. It was evident from around 40mph and was pretty much constant but was more obvious on quieter road surfaces, it was loud enough to be heard over the radio and seriously detracted from an otherwise perfect car. The Dealer said the bearings were fine and that they couldn't hear anything abnormal when they drove the car (rubbish of course) I had noticed this noise during my original test drive of the car but thought it was the road surface as an earlier test drive of a similar car was very quiet with this noise definately not present.

Reading comments on various web sites I've now discovered that this issue appears to be fairly common with the new A6 and the A7 presumably because it's the same chassis and it may or may not be related to the 19" wheels rather than other sizes. No one seemed to have a definitive fix for it.

I changed the front tyres (they were at about 4mm) for new PZeros - no change, if anything worse - had the wheel alignment done - again no difference - moved front tyres to the back - again no difference. I managed to find a picture of the 1st car I test drove and noticed that it had Goodyear Eagles fitted so in desperation I changed the new PZeros for Goodyear Eagles and got them swopped to the front again, so I've now got Goodyears on the front and PZeros on the back.

The good news is that it is now like a different car, no 'wheel bearing noise' to drive me mad and a reduced level of road noise as well. It really has made a significant difference and the car is now as quiet inside as you'd expect from a car like this.

I've been through the pain of having to go back to the dealer and paying for 2 sets of new tyres so if anyone has this 'droning'/'worn wheel bearing' type noise then hopefully this may save them from the same experience. It seems that the new A6/A7 platform is very susceptable to tyre noise from certain tyres, maybe because of the aluminuim suspension set up?

John

[jk88]

Have a similar issue with excessive road noise on less than biliard like surfaces with an SE on 18" wheels I bought as a used car a few months ago. It also has PZeros fitted which are around 3mm front and 4mm rear now. Just ordered 4 Goodyear Eagle F1 A2s to be fitted next week. Will let you know if it makes a difference.

[John H]

Hope it works for you, if it does then it would seem to back up the theory that PZeros and the A7 are not a good match for some reason. I had PZero Rosso tyres on my last car, an A6 Avant, also with 19" wheels and there wasn't a problem.

[jbanfie]

I too have 19" standard s-line's on my Bi-Turbo, with P-Zero 255/40R19 100Y

From mytyres.co.uk these appear to be C rated for fuel consumption B for rain grip and 73db for noise.

Good things about mytyres is you can order by any field, so the quietest tyres are the Vredestein ULTRA SESSANTA at 67db, sadly these are E rated for fuel, but C for rain grip.

Perhaps the best compromise is the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, C fuel, A grip and 70db, but these are pricey

My favourite the Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 2, 2 db noiser than the Michelin, but £70 a corner cheaper!!!

However you look at it, P Zero's will never be on my car again.

Your can waste an amount of time researching tyres with the new EU labels!!!!

[John H]

I'm always a bit dubious about 'official figures' - look at the official mpg figures as an example! Like you I looked through all the EU ratings but decided it was best to go on my experience with the test drives. It would be really useful to have comments from other A7 owners about their experience of different tyres and the A7. The Hankooks sound good value & I expect you'll be getting through tyres pretty quickly with your Bi-Turbo!

[jk88]

So Goodyears F1s fitted yesterday, have just been out for a short trip, around 20 miles. First impressions are that they are night and day better than the PZeros in the road noise department, which probably says more about the PZeros. Will update again once I covered a few hundred miles over a wider variety of surfaces, but I'm already fairly confident that the car has been transformed.

[robbyg]

same here. unhappy with my pzeros noise. will never fit them again. Am surprised audi fit them really, i took my car back reporting bad wheel bearings, mechanic claimed he couldnt hear anything. 6k miles later they got much quieter.
Had good year F1 on previous cars, was very happy with them, will probably get them again in 20k miles from now.

[@mark]

I had some new boots fitted to mine yesterday. Like you, I couldn't wait to get the PZeros off.

In my case a set of Continental Sport Contact 2s have been fitted (as the dealer was footing the bill I didn't have the option of the Goodyears this time round) but again the difference is night and day. On the way home the ride was near silent.

So next time round (when I am paying for my own tyres) I might be tempted to give the new Sport Contact 5s a try

On a side note I have noticed on cars where tyre noise is higher, this only tends to be the case when driving in the UK. When driving across Western Europe I have found tyre noise to be greatly reduced on many of the roads over their so assume their surfacing methods must be different. Might be why this sort of thing is not spotted in testing

[robbyg]

JK88, have you got an update for us? F1s still recommended?

I have done 9k miles so far and pzeros tyres almost good as new, i am almost wishing them to wear out, though they are much much quieter now than when new.

[ASeven]

I've had 2 punctures on my P Zeros, resulting in total tyre loss on both occasions (full scale blow outs). They did a decent job of allowing the car to stop without flipping me into a hedge or destroying the rims, but I can't help but feel that this may be a P Zero issue. My old Alfa Spider has P Zeros, and I was plagued by punctures in that, too.

I've now got F1s on the front of my A7, and as others have reported, they're light years ahead.