A3 tyre advice

[tomlinp76]

Hi,

I’ve lived with increased tyre noise for a while now - quite high pitched so not your usual low rumbling - mainly coming from the front driver side, and much less so from the drivers rear. Day to day I've tried to analyse the noise, noticing it is pretty much always there but only quiet on the smoothest newest tarmac, every other road is so noisy and because of the frequency audible over even loud music.

A week ago I swapped out this tyre with the space saver and the noise virtually disappeared, so I thought that probably pinpoints the problem. However today I did a diagonal swap from driver front to passenger rear and the exact same noise is back in the same place. No difference whatsoever.

Am I being a bit stupid, or is is safe to assume that I've just got crap tyres - i.e. no matter how I swap them around I'm still going to end up with the same noises? The space saver was just so quiet, and I'm itching to get some proper Audi approved Pirelli tyres on. The current batch are Barum 235/35/19s.

At £140 each the Pirelli's are not cheap but they must surely be better than the Barums?!

Thanks in advance for any guidance you can give!

 

[Shortyian]

I love my Michelin Pilot Sport 4's - quieter than the conti's I had on originally and much more grip. Might just be my personal preference. If you look on any tyre website national tyres, kwik fit etc - stick your reg in and will show all available tyres with noise ratings etc if that's your main concern pick the lowest I think 68/69db is the lowest you can get but this is rated exterior noise not what it may be interior

 

[Daz Auto]

I'm sure people will not understand me saying this...

Noise is the only thing that disappoints me with the PS4 tyres.

I decided to give the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 a try. I do like the tyres performance. However, I don't think they are much quieter than the OEM Bridgestone tyres that came on my GTI. Other people on the GTI forum have reported the same thing. Though some people do seem to find them quieter. Maybe it has to do with the speed rating of the tyres. My PS4 tyres are ZR rated.

You might want to consider another tyre if you are concerned about noise.

 

[tomlinp76]

Thanks, I suppose my initial concern is whether I should have expected to hear a change by rotating tyres. However Barums are totally budget and they’ve all got an amount of uneven wear, but unfortunately still 6mm of tread!

So I’m stuck between living with the noise whilst the tyres wear down, or taking the plunge and spending best part of £300 on two tyres...

 

[CornishRattler]

Just re shoed mine with 4 Falken FK510 for £240. For the style of driving I do I can’t fault them tbh

 

[Carefree69]

Thanks, I suppose my initial concern is whether I should have expected to hear a change by rotating tyres. However Barums are totally budget and they’ve all got an amount of uneven wear, but unfortunately still 6mm of tread!

So I’m stuck between living with the noise whilst the tyres wear down, or taking the plunge and spending best part of £300 on two tyres...

Funny that, I had two sets of Barum Bravauris 3HM’s on my previous A3 and they were amongst the best tyres I’ve ever owned (and I’ve had them all). In terms of road noise, grip in wet/dry they were up there.

And they aren’t budget at all, they just aren’t as ridiculously priced as so called ‘premium’ tyres that’s all. You can get much much cheaper tyres than the Continental made Barum’s.

Not bad for ‘budget’ tyres