I bought some used rays and put them on over the weekend.

My big question is: how important are balanced tires?

As the tires rotate, there is a periodic "whir" sound, loudest at 20 MPH.

I had OEM 18s on before, and I don't mind road noise. But I don't like the fact that the noise is periodic (seems like a balancing issue).

With that, I also am not sure if it matters which way I put the wheels on? The tires had no directional markings.

Wider rims are on the back, and I know my car isn't the problem because my 18s were fine.

Thanks for any help.

 

without your tire begin balanced your wheel would start shaking over 60 mph and while you brake in most circumstances.

 

I've gone around 70 on the highway. My steering wheel has no problems, and braking is fine.

The periodic road noise is there.

But since you bring that up, when I'm braking, right around 20 MPH, when the road noise is the worst, the car rumbles and the steering shakes.

Now I'm not saying they're not balanced, I see weights on the wheels from the previous owner. But I'm thinking I should get the rebalanced.

But the other thing that's bugging me is the directionality.

 

Post pics and/or make and model of tire - you should be able to find out if they are directional or not. Also, some tires are just noisy.

 

Bridgestone Potenza's

225/40/19 front
245/40/19 back

"Outside" is on the face of the rim.

 

RE050s? Yeah, loud as fawk when they get kinda worn. If they're relatively new, you may just have to balance and put up with the noise, or research and buy quieter tires.

 

^ Yup, RE050. 50% tread on front. Almost done on the rears.

So it's just the nature of the tires? No directionality?

 

I believe those actually are directional, look for an arrow indicating rotation direction. But yeah, probably just the tires. When I first got my 19s, they had pretty worn RE050s on the front and they roared like a constipated lion.

 

I was gonna say tire feathering, cuz I had that problem and the noise was worst at around 20-25mph, but I don't recall my steering shaking. But yeah, you might want to check on that too.. the noise was just unbearable..

 

tire balance is the most important thing to do with tires bud.

 

Feathering is another potential problem, but I'd put money on it simply being worn RE050s.

 

I have the same exact problem with my 19s. Had 17s before with no issues. Whirring sound at low speeds and my car vibrates when I come to a stop but I have been at 90 and its totally fine. I don't have those tires but with an exhaust I don't hear tire road noise anymore. I was going to get them rebalanced but lost my key so now I have to go through more bullsht to fix it. I figured the same thing since it was balanced previously it would be fine. Now that you posted I think a balance is what's necessary.

Others suggested to me it might be warped rotors but I don't think thats the case.

 

Hm, thanks.

^ Sounds EXACTLY like my situation.

I was thinking rotors as well, but I literally switched from 18's a day ago, which had no problems at all.

As for my tires, they're RE050A, which are non-directional.

Leaves: balancing, tread depth, feathering, pressure?

I don't care about the road noise, use to that with my 18s. I don't like the weird vibration at 20mph

 

Get some KDW 2's and then we'll talk about road noise! I think your problem is just a combination of tire wear and balancing. Tho 19" tires aren't cheap, your best bet may be to replace the tires with something not as loud. You will also need to make sure to get an alignment with the new tires so you don't run thru the new ones being out of spec.

 

Although I can't say for certain since my experience did not involve the steering wheel vibrating when you come to a stop, I don't know if it's balancing or worn tires. When I first bought my car, the car had about 6/32+ all around, but the noise was already there. Then I switched to winter set, and the noise was gone, and when I switched to my summer set, the noise was there still although I got the set balanced/mounted/aligned at the stealership. Unfortunately, I was told that there's no way to "fix" feathering once it occurs, so you either live with the noise until the tread wears out, or replace the tires.