Boxster S-tire noise

I bought an '01 Boxster S, four months ago with new Continental Sport Contact-2 tires on 17" 'S' wheels. I like the ride and the way they stick but after one autocross and one trip to So. Cal., I am having horrendous tire noise, (roling noise/feedback)--sounds like it is in the rear.

Question: has anyone experienced something like this.. is it the Continentals or does the Boxster transmit this kind of feedback/rolling tire noise with any tire as they wear? It is possible there is a wheel bearing going bad; I'm having that checked out, but it does not sound like that.

Does anyone have any suggestions or a good alternative tire? I live up on the north coast and drive this car alot on great Porsche roads. Thanks for any help you can give. Al Forster

You'll get a lot of opinions on this, but let me give you my experience so far.

I had the Conti SC2's. I am not sure what mileage you have on them, but I did not experience the problems you are having. I had two track days, and several trips to Los Angeles, not including my round trip from the bay area, to Reno, to Tahoe, to Death Valley, to Vegas, to SoCal...you get the picture.

I replaced these tires however at about 15K to opt for new wheels, which came with tires. I have Yokohama AVS Sports and I am REALLY liking them. Currently they have about 10k on them, including 6 trips (roundtrip) to LA and a track event. They are holding up great, I like how they feel on the road and I don't hear a peep.

Good luck!

Robyn

As Robyn says, you'll get lots of opinions. Some tires get pretty noisy after a while. This can be greatly impacted by the alignment. Or lack thereof. Bridgeston S02's tend to get pretty noisy. My Pilot Sports were fairly quiet to the end (13K street miles + 7 track days) and my S03's have been pretty quiet as well.

Some people will put up with the noise if the tire is a good performer. My car is a daily driver so wet handling as well a decent ride are important to me - in addition to reasonable performance.

This is 2001S and 18 inch tires.

Had them since early July. Pirellis got noisy at 8000 miles. Some say getting alignments would have prevented that. S02s were even noisier from day 1. These have been quiet. I would follow up on your hunch that there may be a mechanical problem. Get it checked out... better to be safe than sorry FWIW

18 inch. They were very near the wear bar in the rear. The roar was so loud I thoughT I had a bad bearning. Tech verified it was tire roar. Put N2 Contis on the rear (again, at 14K miles) and noise was gone. Fronts are still good. I figure these second rears will be gone about the time the first fronts go and I'll replace all 4 with Kuhmo.

My original 18" Contis were quiet (a relative term) down past the wear bars on the rears. So far, first few K miles on my SO-3's have also been quiet.

Both tires were very quiet on most asphalt roadways. Noise picks up considerably at highway speeds on cement... particularly if it's grooved.

You might try driving on some new asphalt to see if you still get rolling noise.

From what I recall, the Conti's are rated among the quietest. Your autocross or (more likely) a rear end misalignment may be at fault.

I have Conti's on 18 inch rims. A while back mine developed noise that I thought was the tires but it turned out to be a failed wheel bearing...

Doug

1. Drive at a higher RPM.
2. Turn your stereo on.
3. Speed up until the windnoise drowns out the tire noise.
(assuming top is down. if not, .... drive with top down)

with about 3100 miles on them, including about 8 autocrosses (Box 2.7 with 17's).