Tire noise

[Clement]

I have a Hyundai Accent with a set of Hankook 835 tires, (85,000 mile warranty) with about 15K miles on em.

Recently, within the last 1000 miles or so, the tires have become noisy, I mean, real noisy.

Actually, this was since the last tire rotation.

It seems like the noise is coming from the front tires, and one of the front tires is a replacement for a tire that hit a nail, about 2 or 3K miles ago. So there is a younger tire on the front.

I've checked the lug nuts to make sure that the wheels were put on properly, I've played with the air pressure.

What else can I do or look at?

Alignment? The car tracks straight as can be.

 

[Willy_G]

The tires mau have 'cupped' while on the back.

This happens a lot on FWD cars with light tails. The noise might have been there in the back, but only brought to your attention when the tires were moved to the front?

This could also just might be a characteristic of the tire? As the tire wears, more rubber hits the road and soe of the noise-cancelling features are lost.

Tires might just be bad, too???

 

[VelociRacer]

How did you rotate these tires? I couln't find these on Hankook's website. Are they non-directional? They seem to be very hard compound (DOT ~600?) so my guess is saw-toothing. Run your hand on the tread back and forth. You should be able to FEEL roughness in one direction, just like a saw. Assuming they are non-directional, you will need to do a forward-X pattern when you rotate. Not just straight front and back. Let me know if I need to explain. Good luck.

 

[Clement]

The tires were rotated by the shop I bought them from. They were done front to back.

Yes, there is roughness in one direction. The front tires, when I rub my hand on them from front (of the car) towards the back on the top of the tire. They are very smooth going the other direction.

I believe they are nondirectional, the tread is in blocks. The blocks are of randomly varying sizes which are supposed to minimize road noise. The tread is very similar to the tire below which is the Hankook 725.

 

[Clement]

I could just try switching the front tires? that would mimic the foward x pattern right?

 

[VelociRacer]

Yes, these are non-directional. Go ahead and swap front left/right. This should reverse rotation of the tire on the ground, thus equalizing wear across every tread block. You will get even more life out of your tires that way. A good shop would know this, but hey, that's what we're here for

PS. Rotate these tires every other oil change (~7,500mi). Forward-X of course.

 

[Clement]

It's hard to tell, but I think the tire noise has decreased.

The car pulls to the left now, mostly under acceleration. The drivers side front tire is the 'new' one, and there is visibly more tread on that tire. It only has about 2000 miles on it compared to maybe 18K miles on the other tires. I think this may be why it is pulling.

I'll give the tires a bit of time to wear into their current positions and see what happens.

Thanks!

 

[VelociRacer]

You're on the right track! Good luck.

 

[Woody]

I would not overlook the possibility of needing a front end alignment.

 

[VelociRacer]

Pulls when accelerating hard with mismatched tread depth? Not an alignment problem. Pulls when coasting on flat level road, steering off-center maybe? Check front toe, which should be 0-2mm total toe-in.

Sometimes rear tires with too much toe in can cause pre-mature wear back there. So stay between 1-2mm total toe-in in the back of a FWD.

 

[Clement]

This is a Hyundai Accent - no rear wheel alignment adjustment possible, and only one front wheel adjustment which I think is at the tie rods.

It tracks straight when I'm not accelerating. Pulls to the left, not hard but noticeable, when accelerating. And I have noticed that I'm driving with the steering wheel a bit to the right when going straight.

I don't see how it could need an alignment as it's never done this until the recent tire rotation I had. I blame it on the 'young' tire I now have in the front.

If it is still doing it after the next rotation, I'll have an alignment done.

 

[XS650]

Bad rubber bushings in the suspension can cause that. Is the car a few years old?

 

[TomJones76]

Is it possibly the accent has enough power to have torque steer?
I know I rented a Chrysler 300 one time where full throttle pulled to the side, but it wasn't alignment, it was just the power delivering funny.

 

[Clement]

I've thought about this, but I don't know. 106lb/ft of torque at 3000rpm. Due to the gearing, this is where most of my driving takes place.

 

[CapriRacer]

Wouldn't toque steer be a function of BOTH torque and the size (and length) of the drive shafts?

That should mean it doesn't matter about the engine - it's the combination that's important.

 

[Clement]

I got sick of the car pulling to the left so last night I switched the front tires back. The car no longer pulls to the left.

Still noisy.

 

[Willy_G]

You have a bad tire. Go to Hankook dealer for possible warranty resolution.

 

[Clement]

Which tire would be bad? The new one, or does this post not have enough information to make the determination.

I would like to go to the tire dealer with as much information as I can.

 

[Razl]

If it were me, I'd put my spare on and see if I can islolate the noisy tire. Armed with that, you should have some good leverage with the dealer. Good luck.

 

[CapriRacer]

I think you're going to have a problem with doing a warranty on the tires as there has been enough time and miles to develop wear that could both cause the noise as well as the pull.

I'd go ahead and try, but don't expect this to be a warrantable issue.