Just picked up a new/used 2010 TDI and drove it 100 miles highway to my house. My main complaint is that there seems to be LOTS of road noise which may be coming from the tires.

They are Conti stock tires on 225/45-17 wheels. Could these be the problem? Any history of loudness with these tires? Any chance of dealer resolution (car has 5000 miles)?

 

Everyone complained about the OEM Pirelli tires, I got Yokohamas awhile back, and they were quiet, had an imbalance, rotated them and the noise went up. I now think it's just the car, unless your tires are perfect then there is going to be noise.

 

My OEM Pirelli P6's were really loud once they reached about 20-22,000 miles. Fortunately they were worn down enough that I replaced them with Conti ExtremeContact DW's. It was like night and day, road noise gone.....at least for the time being. :-)

Are the Conti's you have all season tires? Conti makes dozens of models so knowing which exact model you have might add some information to this discussion.

 

I think they are Conti ProContact. They can on the car and are all season for the Premium Plus TDI.

 

My CPO came with a set of Cooper Zeon A/S tires. They look new, so I'm guessing the dealer had to put new tires on the car to pass the CPO process and these were the cheapest thing they could find. I've put a couple thousand miles on them and so far so good. The road noise is a bit higher than my BMW 330i, but thats to be expected because the A3 is a hatch.

I have read a lot about road noise issues with this car. From what I can tell you need to get new tires pretty frequently. Not great, but not enough to ruin the car for me.

 

I'm on my 2nd set of tires. OEM Continentals lasted 38000 before the noise became so excessive, I could stand it no longer. Bought expensive Michelin to replace them, and now, 12000 miles later, the noise is back. Costco took the tires off and said they were cupped, especially the rears. Of course the road hazard warranty doesn't apply to something like this.

My question is this, many years ago I remember buying tires (cheap ones during my college years) that were not "round". We simply took them to a shop where they shaved or lathed the tire back into "round". Would something like that work to remove the cupped thread? I'm sure it would take several thousand miles off the life of the tire, but at this point in time, I'm ready to can these michelins.

Also, anyone know why the car does this?

 

I drive a 2007 A3 - had Contis, Had Hankooks and now back to conti's (the car is logging 119,000+ now... I drive a bit)
Had extreme road noise with my factory contis after about 20k... everyone at the one dealer said that they were just cupping, and that this was common. Finally took it to a non-audi garage - very quickly they pointed out that it was the rear wheel bearings that were shot. (to test, put the car on a lift - spin the wheels - you can hear the noise.. it should be silent)
This was AFTER spending the money on new tires! But all is well now - and have not had any issues in the last 100k mi...so... maybe ask someone to check these - My dealer was surprised...

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll have the rear wheel bearings checked on my next service.

 

Hi all,

New to the forum. Have a 2007 A3 with 1,360 miles and it has P6 4 season tires. The road noise is so bad I am about to sell the car. After reading a bit about this and seeing some comments on bearings, can the rears wear out in just 1300 miles?

I guess I could put new tires on it, but with only the amount of miles the P6's are virtually new. How about Yoko AVID ENvigor? I have AVIDs on my CRV with 60k+ no noise and I have Yoko S Drives on my Miata, less than 2,000 miles quiet as a church mouse.

Any thoughts I can't stand the noise and I drive 30 miles one way on the Interstate to work, it's killing me.

Thanks in advance -- Steve
Dayton, OH

 

I'm a huge fan of Yoko tires. How do you have a 2007 with only 1,360 miles???