Tyre noise

[Vines5161]

I have been reading the thread about "What tyres to fit". When I bought my '03 Zetec Focus recently it had F1's fitted on the rear. Unforntuately they sound very noisy. They have plenty of tread and stick like you know what to a blanket. I was talking to a tyre dealer the other night on the phone about my problem. He said to me that they have got plenty or tread but sound like the wheel bearings are shot and I told him that is exactly what it sounds like. He said to run my hand around the inside edge of the tread and it will feel like a 50 cent piece. He was right. He said that they are stuffed and there is nothing I can do about it. He said it's a problem with most front wheel drive cars that have not had the tyres rotated every 5000 kms.If you rotate them every 5000 kms this will not be a problem.
Focus's and Fiesta's are particularly bad for it.
Has anyone else noticed this happening to their tyres or been told this as well??

[Fast Eddie]

How many km's has your Focus done? Do you have the Service History? My '03 Focus LX with Goodyear NCT 5's has done 57k and certainly hasn't encountered the problem you've described. As a rule, I've had it serviced every 7,500 i.e. Follow the Regular service manual and the next 7,500 just do the oil and filter though. Likewise, if I KNOW I've hit a bad pothole or rough piece of road I don't wait I just get the wheel alignment front and back checked just to be sure and 9 times out of 10 there's an alignment discrepency.

I'd be getting a second/third opinion. Keep us posted.
BTW What's the deal with your avatar pic. It's a Territory!

[zetec]

Definitely sounds true, classic for a car that hasn't had its tyres rotated. Most front wheel drives will suffer the same fate. I happily saw 45,000km from a set of tyres with very enthusiastic driving and regular rotation, every 10,000km.

F1 GS-D3's aren't very noisy normally, something's definitely wrong. Well worth replacing with the same tyre though, they're a brilliant tyre.

[kirkr99]

Yep, my 2003 zetec did the same thing with the same tyres and I was told the same story by a Brissy tyre dealer.
An easy test is moving the wheels to the front and seeing if the noise moves with them.
A good few forced wheel spins smoothed/quietened mines down again.

[nlfbt8]

We had exactly the same problem with the F1's that were factory fitted ... after 15,000kms the inner section of the tread was badly scalloped, making a whirring noise at any speed above 30k/hr. Had the tyres replaced at 30,000 ... and fear that it would happen again with another set of F1's, decided to go for the Dunlop Sportmaxx. The audible difference was amazing ... so so quite on the new rubber. 10,000 k's into the life of these new tyres, and haven't had a repeat of the problem.

I know the F1's are good tyres ... but just couldn't bring myself to buying another set of tyres that made THAT much noise!

[zetec]

Aaaah now if my memory serves me correctly, they were fitted from factory with Eagle F1 GS-D2's which were a nasty, noisy thing. The GS-D3's are worlds apart and the newer version of the tyre, still currently available.

Anyone with GS-D3's care to comment?

[Conquest_Tsi]

can someone post the stats on the factory tyres for the LS variants please

[melbzetec]

I've had a dream run with the GSD3's.

Not at all noisy (except when I get a liitle too enthusiastic on the loud pedal and spin them at the lights!!!!!)

Good grip, good feedback. I haven't thought about changing them

[zetec]

LS all run Gooedyear Eagle NCT5 eco on all models. not the sportiest tyre, it's a silicon based touring tyre.

[Conquest_Tsi]

Originally Posted by zetec

LS all run Gooedyear Eagle NCT5 eco on all models. not the sportiest tyre, it's a silicon based touring tyre.

Thanks, ive got an LS with the Zetec 17" and last few months have been noisy as described... 20k on the clock and never had a rotation... hmmm