Hello everyone, hope you guys have been doing great ......... Happy New Year to y'all!!!

My "new" '09 Sonata GLS has successfully completed 33k miles - trouble free (fingers crossed). But now I feel that it has become way too noisy! Took an 11 hr trip yesterday (it was a wonderful drive, (31 mpg avg - according to my calculator) but for the noise. It was really bad, couldn't converse without raising the voice. Didn't quite down on different road surfaces as well. I'm wondering what it could be. Is it the tires? Anybody has similar experience in their cars?

 

It's probably the tires. At 33k miles, they are probably fairly worn and in need of replacement.

 

Time to check the tires for tread depth.

Tire 'noise' is a combination of several things;
First is the air being 'squished' out as the tire rotates and contacts the road surface.
Second is the tread blocks as they make pavement contact & squirm because of that contact.
Third would be the tire sliding across the pavement and shaving some of the tread off.

I'm willing to bet your 'wear bars' are getting close, (if not showing), and that has changed the pitch or volume of the noise you now hear at highway speeds.

 

Thanks Jim. That makes sense. I'll check the tread depth and will start looking at replacement deals.

Any suggestion for good replacement tires? I don't want to change the size but welcome suggestions for a good tire.

 

When looking for tires, you'll find prices anywhere from $75 to $200 each, plus mounting, balancing, disposal fees, TPMS sensor replacement....

Think about your needs.... 33K miles on an '09 tells me you are on the highway alot, and near the Texas coast, you get some heat & humidity & rain.... start with the UTQG ratings on the sidewall. I'd be looking for a tire with a 400AA score, (or higher), with a 'S' speed rating at a minimum, or even a 'H' rating. A score of 400 or more will give you a longer tread life, and the AA rating will help you in the wet, as well as with the heat.

If you were happy with the factory Michelins, go for them again. If your budget allows, Continental makes a good quality tire, as does Pirelli, Yokohama, some Goodyear products, and Bridgestone/Firestone. Lower cost, but still good tires, can be had from folks like Falken (many in my area run the Falken ZIEX-912's), Hankook, Cooper, and General.

Many tire places will try to sell you lifetime balancing & rotation, (can be good as regular rotation can add a lot of miles to a set of tires), free repair/replacement, (can be good if you have a lot of construction in your area), siping, (a good 'A' tire already will have good water displacement abilities), among a host of other crap.... which can add up to 1/3 more for the cost of a set.

Discount Tire is very popular in my area.... http://www.discounttire.com

Happy Shopping!!!

 

I ended up buying my last set from my dealer of all places. They needed the work and rolled it into a free inspection. By the way I got 60k out of my oem tires . Have you rotated and kept up with tire pressure ?
2005 with 72k now.

 

Yes, I've tried my best to keep up with the rotation (at 7000 miles) and checking tire pressures everyday ! (my neighbors can vouch for that as they keep giving me strange looks during the morning when I check the tire's pressure).

It's not the tread ... there is plenty left its just that the tires have started making so much noise that we can't have a discussion inside the car. I don't remember that happening when the tires were new. It was a really quite car (my other car is an '02 Camry - this one was quieter than camry). Thats why I was interested in getting them changed.

I have narrowed down my choises to General Altimax HP (95H) rated or Kumho Ecsta Platinum (95V) rating. With the general I was thinking about going for 225 size instead of 215 .... because it has a round edge and I was thinking maybe I'll compensate for the sharpness and body roll by having a slight larger size BUT thats just my "thought" for now. I don't want to change the OEM size.

What do you think?

MSK

 

I'm a real PITA for maintenance. Every 6,000 miles I rotate & re-balance the tires. Tire pressure is checked weekly.

I figure I've paid once for something, so I'm gonna eat it up, wear it out and use it all.

 

@Jim, I agree with your philosophy.

My "check tire pressure daily" habit was formed in my early driving years. I used to drive a '68 beetle with worn out tires (in Pakistan) and couldn't find the correct replacement tire for the car. So I made sure the tire were filled up correctly on a daily basis, before I started driving the car!

Anyways, do you think using Nitrogen is helpful? I was thinking about testing it out in the new set of tires. Is it worth the effort? How do I refill Nitrogen?

MSK

 

Unless you're racing, nitrogen is a waste of money.