Tyre OR Bearing Noise
 

The noise is really driving me nuts. Changed to a set of 17" rims with 215/45/17 Dunlop LM701s couple of weeks back. The tyres were pretty quiet initially but a few days back, i'm getting what seems like very bad tyre noise, which is apparent past 40 km/h and gets louder as the speed increases. The shop where I purchased my tyres from insisted that such low profile tyres will generate noise. I'm not convinced that all low profile tyres of this size will generate this amount of noise. Cruising at 100km/h, the noise drowns out everything including the engine noise. Someone suggested that what i'm experiencing is bearing noise. BTW, I'm driving a W124 230E. Qs is, how do I differentiate between bearing noise and tyre noise?

Go out on an empty road and turn the car back and forth if the noise goes away as your turning it's a bearing.

benzman is correct. I fully expect that the problem will be a tire. I also expect that your tire store balanced these wheels statically without using weights on the outer plane. This causes the wheel to wobble and will then in turn cause a tire to roar.

The tire stores insist on doing this so there are no ugly weights on the outboard lip of the wheel. You can use tapeweights on the insided diameter of the wheel as far outboard as possible. It takes a little patience and a slight amount of brain power, that's why the tire stores usually don't do it.

Good luck,

Thanks for info! Tried making a couple of turns and took a couple of bends as well. The noise is still present, irregardless if I'm heading straight or turning. Looks like its the tyres then.

Larry, are you referring to wheel balancing? If you are, then I don't think thats the cause as my wheels are well balanced, no wobbling or steering vibration even at speeds beyond 100 km/h.