Excessive road noise

[car21milton]

Hi All,
New to the forum and Kia's.
We have just bought a Kia Rio 3 EcoDynamic.
We love the car and have just been on our first long run in the car.
The car drives well and is very quiet apart from excessive road noise. On some road surfaces it is great and on others it is very noisy. I've asked around and have been told it is the type of tyres fitted that is the problem.
It's fitted with Continental 'Run Flat' tyres.

Is this a common problem with this type of tyre?
Can anyone recommend a tyre that is less noisy than the Continental?

I have been searching the forum and people have been indicating that its the under floor sound insulation that is the problem but I am not convinced.

Any advice / ideas would be most welcome.

Thanks,
Bob.

[kiwalian]

Hi car21milton. Unsure what part of the world you are in.

I am in Australia and I have heard some of it has to do with the type of sound deadaning that is used by Kia. Changing the tyre will help but i believe you will have some road noise in any car you drive. It depends on the road conditions and tyre pressure etc.

I also have some road noise but I have got use to it.

Thanks

Kiwalian

[Dr Bob]

I've found that Yokohama tyres are fairly quiet. Standard "A.Drive", but only available in certain sizes.

[JBOZSLI]

I got rid of the Continentals on my SLI and fitted Nexen N8000 (215-45-17).
Vast improvement in road noise on most surfaces.

[tarmpung]

Originally Posted by JBOZSLI

I got rid of the Continentals on my SLI and fitted Nexen N8000 (215-45-17).
Vast improvement in road noise on most surfaces.

So, do you have to change spare tire also? will it still fit when placing into well trunk? Or you don't need to spare tire anymore?

[OzSLS]

+1 for Yokohama

[Wry 'Cuda]

Originally Posted by tarmpung

So, do you have to change spare tire also? will it still fit when placing into well trunk? Or you don't need to spare tire anymore?

Why not change the brand of tyre and keep the same size? That way, you'll be able to keep the spare and save some money. If it's full-size and you want to include it in the rotation, best to swap it too. Unless you have money to burn, leave the upgrade until the original tyres are well worn.

Do you have a full-size spare? In some countries, KIA only supplies a repair kit; other possiblity is that you have a temporary spare. In most cases there's plenty of room in the trunk for a full-size spare. This underlines the craziness of the temporary spare phenomenon: (Too small to be of much use; saves an insignificant amount of weight; expensive to repair/replace).

The Yokohama tyres mentioned in a couple of posts generally have a fairly conservative tread pattern, and this helps to keep down road noise. I've noticed that some brands (e.g. Michelin), get noisier as the tread wears.

[chitko]

Anyone tried this ?

Adding soundproofing to your car to reduce noise

I mean spraying rubber on the wheel wells ?

[RioBravo]

Road noise doesn't bother me...we've too many different road surfaces in Texas; I run the factory Hanooks; and on long drives (out of state) is mostly interstate (nice until you go through Louisiana). After 4 or 5 hundred miles, you don't notice it.

[JruckaFTW]

i guess im the only one that blast music loudly year round so i never really heard things like that other then snow when it hits my car from other cars