Tiresome Road Noise & Ride A3 SB

It seems that the Conti Sport 5 AO Audi OEM tyres are not only noisy they have quite high rolling resistance (E rated). I have noticed my car uses less fuel on the ASY2's already. Audi probably fitted them because they have excellent handling characteristics. There doesn't seem to be any other logical reason!.
 
snakehips said:
May I suggest a Prius would be perfect for you?
Click to expand...

Don't think it would be as nice to drive as an A3, especially if I go for the 184 quattro s-tronic like yours. I don't mind listening to the sound of the car, providing there is not excessive noise from the tyres. I just prefer listening to music on my home hi-fi rather than in the car.
 
h5djr said:
Don't think it would be as nice to drive as an A3, especially if I go for the 184 quattro s-tronic like yours. I don't mind listening to the sound of the car, providing there is not excessive noise from the tyres. I just prefer listening to music on my home hi-fi rather than in the car.
Click to expand...

TBH same here. I typically have news and sports channels on in the car. But it does always have to be something. I hate silence.
 
Goodyear AS2 have a very quiet db rating, quieter that their low rolling resistance EfficientGrip too. That is one factor, the other as has been mentioned is the sidewall, softer walls more compliant and less likely to transmit noise in to the cabin wheras Bridgestones always usually stiffer will be harder and often noisier as a result.

Another thing with the pressure, I have run my A3 on around 32psi for a while now and though I'd put them up to the crazy AUDI figures, noticing a major increase in primary ride noise and jigglyness to the ride with little other benefit.
 
New tyres can be deceptive as the rubber has not been compacted by the weight of the car for any length of time and the tread blocks are at their deepest giving a sense of much lighter steering / improved ride.

I've had Conti's 3/5, Goodyear Assy, Toyo T1R, Mich PS2's, Uniroyal RainSport 2's and Dunlop Sport Maxx over my 7 years of S3 ownership.

I'd rate Michelin PS2 best for outright grip in dry, but they drone on grey cement motorway road surface really badly (PS3's supposed to be better for this)
Goodyear I found to be best all-rounder, very competent in most situation, good on lack of noise intrusion
Uniroyal best for wet weather cornering / grip
Toyos, not really great at anything
Conti's gave poor wear rate, high noise, and didn't seem exceptional at anything
Only had Dunlops for 1000 miles before I put RS3 rims on, but they were generally good all rounder

If I had to buy today I'd buy Goodyear followed by Mich PS3 followed by Dunlop SM
 
  • Like
Reactions: DAYTONA 500
audi upgrades
I've heard really good things about dunlop sportmaxx RTs in particular - my Z4 will be due a new set of boots soon so i was going to try them as that's awful for road noise at the moment (current RF tyres don't help)
 
I'm torn between Dunlop Sportmaxx RT, Goodyear F1 Assymetric 2 and Falken ZE-914. Dunlop and Goodyear are a similar price, but Falken's are £30-40 cheaper each. I've had Falken ZE- 912 before and they were excellent in terms of grip and wear rate.

Also considering Michelin Pilot Super Sports if I'm feeling flush, but not sure if they'll be wasted on a daily driver.
 
I have Sportmaxx RT on my 8P on the front.
Fantastic tyre for grip in wet and dry but it seems a very soft compound.
Mine have 3.5mm left after 6500 miles.
Wearing too fast for my liking!
Remind me of Yokohama's.
 
I have the Continental tyres on mine. I find the road surface has a huge impact. But coming from a car with run flats anything is quiet and comfortable.
 
FYI I've just found the Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetrics 225/40/18 92Y XL on Asda Tyres fully fitted for £115.90!
 
squiretolley said:
FYI I've just found the Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetrics 225/40/18 92Y XL on Asda Tyres fully fitted for £115.90!
Click to expand...

My current 8P came with Hankook S1 evo tyres when in was new in 2012 and I have found them very accetable, both in grip and the noise level. I have just put two new ones. I went on-line and found some prices and mytyres.co.uk gave a fully fitted price of £95 each. I phones a local tyre depot and asked if they would match that price and they said yes so they fitted them for me.

The Hankook evo s1 are not that well known in the UK but are fitted a lot in Germany and they have been quite a number of reviews in German car magazine which rate the as very good and quieter than many others. Depending on what tyres come on my new 8V, I may change them for Hankook's especially if the tyres fitted from the factory are noisier than my present tyres.
 
Last edited:
h5djr said:
My current 8P came with Hankook S1 evo tyres when in was new in 2012 and I have found them very accetable, both in grip and the noise level. I have just put two new ones. I went on-line and found some prices and mytyres.co.uk gave a fully fitted price of £95 each. I phones a local tyre depot and asked if they would match that price and they said yes so they fitted them for me.

The Hankook evo s1 are not that well known in the UK but are fitted a lot in Germany and they have been quite a number of reviews in German car magazine which rate the as very good and quieter than many others. Depending on what tyres come on my new 8V, I may change them for Hankook's especially if the tyres fitted from the factory are noisier than my present tyres.
Click to expand...

I second that.
Used the Hankooks to replace my run flats on my previous 1 series, 225/40/18 up front and 255/35/18 rear. Amazing tyre for the price and they gave me nearly 20000 motorway miles before I sold the car with at least 4mm tread remaining.
Would 100% recommend them! they saw me through the snow as well and didn't get stuck once.
Prefer them over my current ContiSports, actually would say the Hankooks gripped better as well, my 8V is terrible for wheel spin in dynamic mode!!
 
We have an a3 8p s line company car found high levels of tyre noise from continentals Bridgestone etc. Dunlop sp sport maxx rt and Goodyear efficient grip drastically improve road noise and maintaining excellent wet/dry grip would highly recommend.
Also found upgrading to eibach springs on the two sport models I've owned make the ride quality better as they are progressively wound springs and eliminate the crashy ride quality.
 
Just ordered 2x Goodyear AYS2 225/40/18 fully fitted through F1 Autocentre for £197 total. Fantastic deal I think!
 
Worst reading 82 dB on dB Meter phone app (says equivalent to an alarm clock !!)

I replied to this thread some time back as took delivery of my A3 January 3rd and noticed the problem from the start. The Continentals I have on seem really bad on some road surfaces and just plain bad on all others. Has anyone else used a meter app to check what they are getting? It says inside a car should be 70dB. I also wonder if anyone has complained directly to Audi as surly they should be made aware of the problem. I really don't know if my dealer will have taken it further but unfortunately doubt it.
It would be interesting to find out what others are getting dB wise with decent tyres on?
 
I wouldn't trust a phone app. Even dedicated dB meters need to be used with an understanding of their limitations.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Daveotto
RossR said:
I wouldn't trust a phone app. Even dedicated dB meters need to be used with an understanding of their limitations.
Click to expand...

OK - However it would be interesting to find out whether, for instance, Goodyear equipped tyres from new are nearer 70dB.
 
Only if you use the same app, on the same model of phone, held in the same manner, on the same road surface at the same speed.
 
RossR said:
Only if you use the same app, on the same model of phone, held in the same manner, on the same road surface at the same speed.
Click to expand...

OK lets just ask if anyone can sit an iphone on the drivers seat and let it record on a few road surfaces. It may be meaningless to you but could be interesting to some even if flawed.
Can any one record only 70dB?
 
twig said:
I also wonder if anyone has complained directly to Audi as surely they should be made aware of the problem. I really don't know if my dealer will have taken it further but unfortunately doubt it.
Click to expand...

I complained to my dealer about the tyre noise shortly after I bought the car, but they didn't want to know. They just said it varied with different makes of tyre.

I've driven three A3s including my own, which had Pirelli (my car), Michelin and Bridgestone tyres. All are/were terrible for tyre noise, and on pretty much any surface. I also drove a Golf GT (Mk.7) with the identical Pirelli tyres as my car, and that was very quiet - a night and day difference.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Mr Tidy
Road noise
Replies
20
Views
2K
Mr Tidy
Mr Tidy
H
Road noise
Replies
29
Views
18K
h5djr
h5djr
U
Facelift Mag ride noise
Replies
17
Views
9K
amb66
amb66
brad9753
Annoying Road Noise
Replies
8
Views
2K
Dylock
Dylock
T
Road noise - please help!
Replies
3
Views
1K
tomlinp76
T
Top
Back