Hello

Of late I’ve noticed and increase in a distinct whirring noise coming from the front wheels, particularly on smooth Tarmac.

I took my car to the dealers and they filmed the tyres on their magic machine and said they are severely “out of shape” i.e. not very round and this could be caused by potholes etc.

I then went to KwikFit to see what they’d say without prompting and they just noticed uneven wear across the tyre which is apparently common on my make of car.

I then had a look at them myself and noticed a weird squiggly wear to the edges of the centre groove. In my mind this would explain the whirring noise.

So.. What causes the below and are they fuberered!?

What tyre make/model? Just out of interest.. I was warned off replacing mine with Dunlop Sport Fastresponse for exactly this reason (I have one worn fitted that that ovalized).. guess which tyre the local fitter suggested 1st.

Over-inflated? How’s your pressures?

Hankook S1 Evo and inflated to whatever it says on the car.

The dealers said the tyres definitely need replacing ASAP yet kwikfit said they weren’t dangerous or illegal.

Confused :-S

Just looked at a photo of a new Hankook S1 Evo and those weird squiggles appear to be there as part of the design?

May be the light but the centre part of the tyre looks very scrubbed.

When one of mine was out of round it caused vibration I could feel through the steering.

I had a pair of Hankooks taken off recently that made the car sound as if the wheel bearings had gone. The casing was visibly closer to fifty pence piece shape than circular – the fitter has seen a few like that. Mine were only half worn.

Laser hunter alignment would reveal your right/wrong suspension geometry. Many modern cars suspension set up hide sawtooth problems. Recently I checked my car fronts and rears were out of shape and required alignment. Changed tyres after alignment too and noise is gone. Very well pleased with results and have print out too. Costed me full £120 to sort out though.

Check http://www.alignmycar.co.uk for hunter equiped centers.

What monkey said, back tyres on a boring Fiesta, think they were Firestones tho’.

Aye – over-inflated. Did you pump them up to the fully loaded/driving at speed value or the lesser one?

The tyres look old (cracking) regardless of how worn they are, replace them & get the alignment done so you don’t waste the new ones.
Cheers.

It didn’t occur to me to look at a picture of the tread of a new one!

There’s no vibration at the steering or anything but the whirring is getting worse. I think I will have to change them as BMW marked them as red on the car diagnostics ‘puter thing (everything else green) but at £135 each I was hoping I could make them last a bit longer as they’re only half worn :-/

– oh and the tyres are pumped to the lesser value (car not loaded up with phat mates and bikes)

I’ve got Hankook run-flat 245s, they have a similar wavy groove, from new.

Good tyres, they are lasting well on my big heavy car

BMW marked them as red on the car diagnostics ‘puter thing (everything else green) but at £135 each I was hoping I could make them last a bit longer as they’re only half worn :-/

What reason did they give for them needing to be changed ?

If they are only half worn, I would be asking what the issue was.

Are they the correct speed and load rating for your car?

Nealglover – they said the tyres are severely out of shape, distorted and basically not very round. Tbh I have a good relationship with them and took the car in thinking the whirring was a wheel bearing.

If they were looking to make a few quid they could have just said the bearings need replacing I guess.

The tyres are indeed the correct size and load rating.

We had Toyos gone out of shape on the wifes mini recently and rumbled badly like a wheelbearing. I guess the state of the roads and humps punish tyres these days more than ever.

. not very round and this could be caused by potholes etc.

WTF! I’m no tyre guru but how would the occasional pothole cause a tyre to become “not very round” without a huge chunk being taken out of it.

I’ve hit some massive and unavoidable potholes at about 50mph and can see it it could be a possibility that they’ve been damaged by them. Also, they’re runflats so perhaps likely to take bigger hits without popping due to the reinforcements perhaps??

What reason did they give for them needing to be changed ?

Because they can make money out of you as simple as that.

.. But they would have made a lot more from swapping the wheel bearings as per my earlier post…

Apparently this none round tyres are getting more common. The c max made that noise, you will probably find that a new set will cure it for a while but if your car is out of line it will develop again. I’d recommend the 4 wheel alignment before spending a lot of money on new tyres.
They’re still legal though, 1.6mm through the centre 3/4 of the width around the full circumference with no cuts or bulges on the side walls the law states.