Some of you might remember from some years ago the long running saga of a road speed related noise that eventually proved to be tyre noise from the 25% worn Wanli tyres that the car came with when I bought it. Changing to a full set of Toyo Proxes totally cured the noise. A few months ago I had a ‘fast road’ laser alignment carried out which has transformed the handling of the car - possibly the best money I’ve ever spent on a car - and after a long period of minor niggling faults being cured and a MX5parts stainless steel exhaust, all was set fair for some enjoyable motoring. Sadly, not to be!
Over a period of only a few days a noise appeared that was very similar to the original Wanli tyre noise but very much more of an aggressive ‘growl’ than the rather ‘melodic’ noise from the Wanli tyres. I’ve carried out all the usual sensible checks and can find no mechanical reason for the noise and I’m 99% certain that it’s tyre noise yet again. The Toyos are now, coincidently, about 25% worn. I’ve swappped the wheels front to back with no improvement.
It follows extactly the same pattern as the original Wanli noise - same speeds, with no change in the noise when cornering, braking or accelerating - but is massively louder. At 40 mph it’s so loud that you just wouldn’t believe it and is, yet again, spoiling the pleasure of every mile I drive. On the assumption that it is indeed tyre noise again, can anyone offer any suggestions as to why my car might be so prone to this? The suspension alignment is now clearly OK and I can find no obvious wear or any other problem with wheel bearings, brakes, drive shafts or the propshaft. I promise I’m not being over-sensitive or ‘nit-picky’ over this - the noise is horrendous! My car is a 2002 1.8i S-VT and came with non-standard Mazda 16" wheels, as fitted to the Sport model.
I am completley at a loss as to understand why I’m plagued with this problem and any suggestions would be very gratefully received.
Is this noise that you are hearing, with the hood down? Have tried the car out on a newly laid strip of motorway just to make sure it isn’t the road surface? I have found that I get different noise levels in my car depending on the road surface and I use toyo tyres and have done since December 2008. On a good motorway surface my car is very quiet.
Hi Pollyanna - I’ve got a hardtop on mine - that hasn’t been off since I bought the car as I’ve nowhere safe to store it - red faced about that. Different road surfaces don’t appear to make any substantial difference to the noise. The only thing that I should have added is that it’s possible - but I’m clutching at staws in hope when I say this - that since swapping the wheels back to front etc., the noise might (only might) be getting marginally quieter. If it is, and I’m not yet ceratin that it is, presumably this is as each tyre adopts a new ‘profile’.
I was going to suggest that your tyres had taken a ‘set’ to the suspension set-up you had and may now be out of harmonic balance with the fast road set-up, It may take 1000 miles to wear them in to the new set up. Swapping front to rear may or may not have helped?
Thank you for those replies. Regarding the drain tubes: I sealed them some years ago when the ‘Wanli noise incident’ was in progress, but thank you for the suggestion. I will remove the bungs if the hardtop is removed or when I eventually sell the car.
I’ve just returned from a 40 mile round trip on a road that has a variety of surfaces including some very smooth new tarmac. Exactly as before with the Wanlis, the noise appears to become louder on a very smooth surface, but in fact this is not the case. What happens on a smooth road is that the perfectly normal and natural tyre noise is reduced, making the ‘offending noise’ appear to become louder.
I shall get it up on the ramps again tomorrow and have another fumble about with the drives shafts and propshaft, but I don’t expect to find anything amiss. Exactly as before, the noise appears to be from the front of the car but I know this can be misleading. I changed the rear wheel bearings on a Mk 2 Sprite once, only to find it was the front bearings that were at fault! In fact before the Wanli tyres were found to be the culprit I changed the right front wheel bearing, having convinced myself that it was the cause. It wasn’t! Currently I wonder about the diff, but I would have thought that any diff problem would have varied with power on/power off.
I have also wondered if it is caused by some strange harmonic within the structure of the car, but if so, why only with my car when so many others run 16" wheels with Toyo Proxes quite satisfactorily? (The noise from Wanli tyres was widely reported across many other owners club websites.)