HELP!! front wheel noise when driving

[Martin]

Also talked to the tyre centre manager and was told the scalloping is usually due to faulty shock absorbers esp in the front-wheel-drive cars and it's becoming more common as manufacturers dont design their cars properly?? what do u guys think of this?

It's not that simple

Certainly springs/shocks and the rest of the suspension are factors - as is tyre design
Worn ball links and wrong alignment can result in scalloping
Under inflated tyres can also be a factor

My hit a rock at 70kmph in the Mazda3 - bent the left front wheel
This car was 4 years old at the time, we had never encountered scalloping/sawtoothing or other alignment issues
The repairs included a wheel alignment (given the impact one would assume the alignment was toast)
I rarely drive this car - at the next service the Mazda dealer rotated the tyres
I drove the car some months later and was applauded with the noise, feel and handling
All the tyres had a funny sawtooth wear pattern and were toast - you could visually see it
I took the car to a trusted tyre shop, got a set of Michelin MC5's on the 4 for the price of 3 deal, and had them do the alignment again, all good again

[MkVIGTI]

Did you get an alignment down when you got the new tires? My tires were noisy at certain speeds and it was found to be out of alignment.

[wai]

This is what has happened to the tyres on my MY11 Caddy Maxi Life. The dark parts on the inside of the tread are where the tyre is not contacting the road. This was reported to the dealer at the 15,000 km service and they shrugged their shoulders and said "it was standard for that type of vehicle"! Tyres have been inflated at recommended pressures checked each time refuelled.

Now at 32,000 km I have to replace them. The issue for me is that they have to have a load index of 94, and the majority of tyres have a load index of 91.

So far, I have managed to track down:

Toyo Proxes 4
Toyo Proxes C1S
Toyo Proxes T1
Maxxis MA511
Maxxis M35
Maxxis IPRO
Continental ContiSportContact 2
and
Roadstone N8000

Any thoughts?

Left Rear


Right Front


Right Rear

[ParaBul]

Directional and asymmetric are different things. Bridgestone RE050s are directional tyres, but symmetrical. They are not asymmetric.

My RE050s started the well-described 40km/h rythmic thrumming within the first 12 months. I reported it at the first service, was told it was probably the tyres, and would probably get worse if they were rotated. I told them to rotate the tyres anyway, and the noise became worse. And has continued to become worse.

I work somewhere with a 40km/h limit, and the noise is definitely worst at 40km/h. I don't notice it at 60 - 80km/h (travel both speed zones on my daily commute, and during my work day) but passengers regularly comment about the noise.

VW shrug their shoulders about the noise. They shrug their shoulders about my DSG leaving me without drive. I like my Golf, but I have developed an intense dislike of VW.

[Steveo]

I have found the problem on two cars - my previous Honda Euro and with my current GTI. The common link was the RE050s.

The Honda sounded like I was running off-road 4WD tyres or the bearings had gone so I replaced the tyres when they still had 20% of their life left. Went to Pirelli and the noise stopped.

On the GTI I had the same tyres and the noise was starting to become very noticeable around 30K so went to Michelin. Noise stopped. I now rotate the tyres every 5k. I have done almost 20k on the Michelins and they are still quieter than the RE050s. I raised the issue with the VW dealer and the service manager just ran his hand over the RE050s and said - yep they are scalloping.

My wife recently bought a new VW. Interesting their test/demo cars seem to have Pirellis or Michelins, but her car came with Bridgestones, so I wonder if VW is aware of the problem and puts more expensive tyres on demo cars.

[wai]

Well, Goodyear Dunlop got me to take it in for an inspection. It went the way I expected it to. They weaselled out of it.

Now I had checked the tyre pressures just the day earlier. It was 39 psi at the service station with the new automatic tyre pressure inflators, and also read 39 psi when I got home and double checked it with a pen type gauge. When the tyres were checked by Beaurepaires (the agents here), he could only get 36 psi on his gauge. Funny, when I got it home, I checked them again after letting the car sit for around an hour, and guess what...it read 39 psi on all four wheels.

Basically, they are saying that it is a wheel alignment issue. What I can't understand is why the inside tread blocks are not touching the road? The toe in is on the limit at -2 mm (i.e. toe out - VW say it should be +/- 2 mm), but I would expect that the tread would be wearing away, and if it is not touching the road surface, how come it is wearing?

Anyhow, this combined with the fact that I have let it go for 32,500 km, they are not willing to do anything as they say that the tyres have a life of around 40,000 km.

I did not really expect any other outcome, but thought I'd give it a try.

Anyhow, seeing as there are not that many suitable tyres with a load index of 94, I have done some hunting, and one that looks likely is a Hankook Optimo K415. Seems to have some good reviews.

[greg32]

The front subframe can move around with heavy bumps. First thing to do is get a tyrolsport collar kit then a four wheel alignment. The kit ties the front up nicely and stops it moving. The factory stb doesn't do much to fixing the design sloppyness. There is a group buy on vwgolf forum or just go to tyrolsport.com