Tyre Noise - Not Wheel Bearing Noise

[entice]

Heel and toe wear is what everyone is describing.
It is not due to hard cornering etc etc.
It is exacerbated by lower profile tyres, and also made worse by tyre rotations - ie front to rear axle.
Some block patterns also make it worse.
Re050's are prime suspects.
Live with it, as trying o rotate it out will be unsuccessful. Or, cough up for new tyres prematurely, and hope it won't affect the new ones.
My gti suffered from it at around 15000kms after a tyre rotation. Never again.
Made me corner harder to promote tyre wear to advance the need for tyre replacement. Sold the car with 22000kms and it was still making the noise.

Oh, mk 6 golf is very prone to it. Factory alignment specs will lead to this.

[Sentinel]

Thanks for the extra information.

There seem to be a lot of fingers pointing at Bridgestone tyres. Is there any particular brand or model of tyre that is less prone to this problem?

[Jamar]

Is there any particular brand or model of tyre that is less prone to this problem?

Had some Goodyear NCTs on another car that were incredibly bad for this. Everyone that got in the car tried to convince me I needed a new wheel bearing.

[Umai Naa!!]

Directional tyres are usually the worst for scalloping.

But I'd ask the tyre shop what they'd think would be the best compromise.

[Transporter]

I think it's more to wheel alignment than brand and model of the tyre. As long as the tyre you have doesn't have the chunky blocks in the the tread close to the edge of the side wall.

We had GY Eagle NCT5 15" on our MK5 TDI and at 45,000km, when we sold the car the tyres had 1/2 the tread reamining and no faults in, not even the sign of the scalloping.

[Frankenstrat]

I rotated the tyres today, front to back. I noticed that the driver's side rear tyre had scuffing on the inside, the passenger rear tyre had scuffing on the outside, the tyres look in remarkably good condiditon otherwise. I also reinflated them to the specs shown inside the filler cap, 300kPa rear, 250kPa front.

Tomorrow I'll be heading along the freeway so I'll know whether or not rotating has had any effect, the tyres are Pirelli P7s.

[Frankenstrat]

Tomorrow I'll be heading along the freeway so I'll know whether or not rotating has had any effect, the tyres are Pirelli P7s.

No difference, the noise is still there and doesn't appear to have shifted from the back end to the front. More investigation is called for.

While the wheels were off I cleaned the rims on the inside, I noticed they were made in Turkey, they also appear to be some kind of aluminium alloy, Al Mg Si I think it was.

[tonymy01]

My R has made a humming noise which is either the diff or rear tyres since new.
I gotta get and book it into the dealer for a 6 month and mention it.

[BluChris]

Scalloping, feathering, saw tooth, call it what you will this is very common in the earlier chassis and may be in the Mk 6 if it is not too different. My Skoda Octavia (Golf chassis) had a Godawful noise that mimicked a wheel bearing beautifully but was a tyre.

Wheel alignment front and rear is critical - there is plenty about this on the forum if you search. I'd certainly start with getting the tyres checked. Regardless a 4 wheel alignment by someone who knows their stuff is worth it. Surprising how many cars leave the factory with poor alignment leading to premature wear, noise and ultimately early replacement.

[Frankenstrat]

Wheel alignment front and rear is critical - there is plenty about this on the forum if you search. I'd certainly start with getting the tyres checked. Regardless a 4 wheel alignment by someone who knows their stuff is worth it. Surprising how many cars leave the factory with poor alignment leading to premature wear, noise and ultimately early replacement.

BluChris, very valid points indeed, and this was to be my next course of action.

[Rob Burns]

My Skoda Octavia (Golf chassis) had a Godawful noise that mimicked a wheel bearing beautifully but was a tyre.

Tyre noise and wheel bearing noise sound very different. A wheel bearing noise will be a constant hum while a tyre noise sounds like you're being chased by a helicopter.

[Frankenstrat]

a tyre noise sounds like you're being chased by a helicopter.

Damn that pesky PolAir One!

[moniker]

Got to agree on the tyre front, at around 25,000 the TDI started being a bit noisy (wocka wocka wocka noise from front left at low-med speeds). At 30k service the wheel bearings were ok according to mechanic. (I asked him to check to rule them out as I did suspect the tyres). I did have tyres swapped front to back at 15k service as the fronts were noticeably lower in tread I thought. As others have pointed out maybe that makes noise issues worse later down the track?

[kaanage]

some kind of aluminium alloy, Al Mg Si I think it was.

Aluminum, Magnesium, Silicon - pretty normal cast aluminum alloy (300 series - most likely 356, solution heat-treated).

I agree with the earlier post about cornering having nothing to do with the scallopping. The car that I drove the most gently had the worst scalloping, though I did get 75,000km from them (Goodyear NCT 5). Get new tyres and a GOOD alignment

[Frankenstrat]

Kaanage, are you a foundry worker, or a fellow mechanical engineer?