Excessive tyre noise

[stuarttunstall]

I am having a major problem, with what I believe is either a faulty tyre, or tyres. I have had all the suspension and wheel bearings checked, and these are OK.

Problem.... If I drive on a very smooth road surface, the tyre noise is very, very loud, and you can feel through the steering wheel. The noise is just like a wheel bearing faulty But it does not do it all the while, only on smooth road surfaces.

I am due to take it into the dealer to see if they can solve it, but a tyre company has said it sounds like a change of tyres is required, although he have never heard of a problem with Bridgestone tyre. I agree with this as I had 2 sets on my last Cupra with no problems.

Any idea?????

Can't be make or size of tyres, as they were the same size/make on my last car.

 

[DanGB]

Hey stu, havent seen you in a while!

check this post yesterday
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=116362

 

[stuarttunstall]

Hey stu, havent seen you in a while!

check this post yesterday
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=116362

Hi MAte

I have been viewing the forum now and again, just not logged in But this problem is now getting on my nerves and that link has answered it for me, last post is spot on!.

I do have a good relationship with my dealer, so I will be faxing a copy of this to him today, and see how it goes. I do not expect a new set of tyres for nothing, I have no objection to a contribution for the mileage I have done... it started at around 5-6000 miles, only done 9000 now

Stu

 

[Shabba0070]

Hi Stuart, I am having excatly the same fault on my my06 TFSI Sport with bridgestones the rear tyres acording to the dealer are feathering... But they say that it is due to the stearing rack needing changing which is beening done tomorrow because of the left lock noise problem. I am not so sure myself . I first started to notice this at about 5000miles and had got slowley worse i now have just 9000miles on and it's REALLY bad. My Dealer has advised me to have a go at Seat Customer Service which i am about to do. However my dad has at MY2006 Skoda Octavia 2.0TDI DSG Est and he has just had to change his tyres for more or less the same issue. Me thinks may be an issue across the VAG Group platform...

Regards
Chris

 

[TDI_Drew]

Hi Stuart, I am having excatly the same fault on my my06 TFSI Sport with bridgestones the rear tyres acording to the dealer are feathering... But they say that it is due to the stearing rack needing changing which is beening done tomorrow because of the left lock noise problem. I am not so sure myself . I first started to notice this at about 5000miles and had got slowley worse i now have just 9000miles on and it's REALLY bad. My Dealer has advised me to have a go at Seat Customer Service which i am about to do. However my dad has at MY2006 Skoda Octavia 2.0TDI DSG Est and he has just had to change his tyres for more or less the same issue. Me thinks may be an issue across the VAG Group platform...

Regards
Chris

Chris, I don't think it is the steering rack needing changing that is causing the fault. I have exactly the same issue as yourself which only became apparent at 8000 miles. The rack was changed at 2000 miles.

Regarding getting in contact with Seat customer service, I wrote a letter to them a couple of weeks ago and have received a reply stating that the dealer has found no faults with the vehicle and I would have to go to Bridgestone as they hold the warranty for the tyres. Interestingly, they also stated "whilst we are aware of some isolated cases of this nature, it is not a known concern to SEAT UK" Reading a few other posts here, it appears to be more common than SEAT UK suggest. I have also been in contact with Bridgestone regarding this issue and am just waiting on their reply, which they have promised will be by the end of the week.

It may be worthwhile contacting SEAT UK anyway, as the more complaints they get the more chance there is of the problem getting looked into further.

 

[Shabba0070]

Hi Stuart,
Well have been onto Seat C/s today and what a waste of time all this " burger Flipper " could say was tyres are not covered under warrenty , but i tried to get though to said ex-mcdonnalds employee that the damage to the tyres is conciquencial i.e if the rack had not been faulty then there would be no damage to the rear tyres . Also my dealer has said that the front tyres are almost ready to be changed and that can also be but down to the rack and 4 wheel alilment been out .
I am currently waiting for " burger flippers " boss to call me back so i can explain to him/her .
If you could post the contact info you have for bridgestone that would be really helpfull if as i suspect they will refer me to them.

Chris

 

[kevinjp]

Would it be possible to do a poll on this topic for people to say if they believe they have excessive tyre noise as a result of the Bridgestone Tyres supplied on the Leons by Seat? That way we would see if there are only 'isolated' cases as Seat seems to think there are.

 

[TDI_Drew]

Just had feedback from Bridgestone - they have stated that the wear is "heel and toe" wear, where the back edge of the tread leaves the road surface - which is often caused by low pressure or hard acceleration and braking.

They also went on to say "In the case of uneven wear patterns, these are often caused by external factors such as vehicle geometry. For sports vehicles, settings are commonly chosen to optimise handling characteristics at the sacrifice of wear performance."

Their suggested long term solution is to use an asymmetric tread so that the tyre can be rotated on the same axle helping to even up the heel and toe effect.

My driving style could be described a sedate, and the pressures are regularly monitored, so the problem must be in the set-up of the car, or that SEAT have specified pressures that are too low.

Any thoughts on this based on their feedback?

Andy.

 

[stan boyd]

would be interested in results too, i bought 18" alloys 2nd hand of a golf and tyres already had this problem, what offset alloys are you running as i have noticed leon have 53 offset

 

[MartH]

My FR TDi came with pirelli's as standard and the front were completely worn out at 12,000 miles. Checked the rears when they were changing the fronts and the inside edge is feathering up. Noise seems to be ok on some surfaces but terrible on others...
Have had dunlops fitted so will see how they are. My previous car was a MK ** golf gti and that used to wear out the rears the same!

 

[Chuckie]

the dealer has found no faults with the vehicle and I would have to go to Bridgestone as they hold the warranty for the tyres.

Looks like SEAT are trying to pull a fast one with that comment, your warranty is with SEAT for the whole car, SEAT may have a warranty with Bridgestone for the tyres but that is for them to sort out between themselves. Your contract when you bought the car was with SEAT, you should not speak to Bridgstone as they may (correctly) say that they have no contract with you and therefore you have no warranty with them.

Hope that helps!!

Pirelli tyres on my TFSi FR are ok to date but with only 1700 miles on they should be.

Ch

 

[stuarttunstall]

Looks like SEAT are trying to pull a fast one with that comment, your warranty is with SEAT for the whole car, SEAT may have a warranty with Bridgestone for the tyres but that is for them to sort out between themselves. Your contract when you bought the car was with SEAT, you should not speak to Bridgstone as they may (correctly) say that they have no contract with you and therefore you have no warranty with them.

Hope that helps!!

Pirelli tyres on my TFSi FR are ok to date but with only 1700 miles on they should be.

Ch

Problem is... Warranty book states that there is no warranty on tyres through Seat....

 

[JP Stratford]

I noticed the same problem at about 11000 miles

I have had my Stylance 1.9 TDI since December 05. I started to notice tyre noise at about 11,000 miles which has slowly but surely been getting worse. The car has now been back to the dealer twice but they have found no fault on both occassions. My car is fitted with Goodyear tyres, so I think it is safe to say after reading the other posts that this is not a tyre manufacters problem.

I have checked the tyres every couple of weeks regular as clock work since I took delivery of the car. The rear tyres still look as good as new but the front tyres look like they have been to the moon & back on a bad country lane!! When I pointed this out to the dealer they said it was just normal wear for a front wheel drive car. I have been driving for 17 years now & owned four different cars prior to buying my Leon & I have never had so much wear on the tyres of a car before.

 

[Shabba0070]

Update.....
Today after a few weeks of talking to Seat Customer Service they have agreed to renew ALL 4 of my tyres... the rears are knackered both inside edge's worn down to slicks and the fronts are not much better.
After a "few" chats with a manager at customer services he has more or less said that the problem is known and has been passed onto Seat Technical and they are doing tests to discover if it's a SEAT problem or a tyre manufactuer problem and pending the outcome they may "recall" my car for changes and also again change the tyres for new.
So if anyone else is having the rear tyre / Feathering issues regardless of what the handbook says call SEAT Customer Services and stick to your guns they do know there is a problem.

 

[Pummy]

Thanks for the info Chris. Nice to know we have some recourse.