Quietest tyres

JHMEG

Bit of an unusual request as most people seem to be after 'performance', but basically I will soon need 2 new tyres and I want to get the quietest tyres I can.

The car has two Dunlops on the front. One is UK made and is wearing in flat spots (not completely unusual, but a first for me), is quite noisy, and has a max pressure of only 44 PSI. The other one is a Japanese made Dunlop, max pressure 51 PSI, and is wearing normally. These two are to be replaced.

On the rear are two Michelin Energy. I was tempted to get Michelin Energy Saver (essentially the successor) for the front, but then I read that they are lasting for up to 40k miles for some people. That means hard tyres and hard tyres are noisy. The Energy are also relatively noisy.

The OH has four Goodyear Eagle NCT-5's on her car. They're quiet and I can't fault them, but they're around for years and surely there has to be something better on the market by now?

Thoughts/opinions?

Captain Slow IRL

My last tyres were Pirelli P6000's - had 2 different aged sets on the front and back so couldn't fault any noise with a high or low thread depth.
Currenty have cheapo Ironman's, never again - sounds like wheel-bearing is gone, thread is down below 3mm. But they have lasted around 40k miles, and are grippy!
I was talking to an older mech in work and he reckons a flat sidewall can cause a noisier tyre as well - something else to look out for. (Which the Ironmans have and the Pirelli's don't!)

macplaxton

Maybe take a look at Auto Express

Also the local Delticom site has user ratings including noise.

I end up with Michelins or Bridgestone, but not really through choice, just availability of particular sizes.

colm_mcm

Vredestein Sportracs or Sessantas are pretty quite and very grippy.

Shouldn't you be running low resistance tyres to get the best MPG?

JHMEG

colm_mcm wrote: »

Vredestein Sportracs or Sessantas are pretty quite and very grippy.

Co-incidentally, the Auto Express test above puts Sportrac 3's as the noisiest tyres in the test. I had them on the VTI and wouldn't have said they were noisy.

colm_mcm wrote: »

Shouldn't you be running low resistance tyres to get the best MPG?

Yeah, but not at the expense of my sanity!

colm_mcm

JHMEG wrote: »

Co-incidentally, the Auto Express test above puts Sportrac 3's as the noisiest tyres in the test.

Bizzare. My mother had them on hers and they were very quiet. Also know someone with a RX8 and he says the same...

Tragedy

In the auto express thing, they ran the tyres over "specially prepared rough NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) tarmac".

Might be why it doesn't tie in with what people have experienced in the real world?