Can anyone recommend a tire for commuters in dry climates that want the quietest road experience?
I put on a set of Continental Extreme Contact DWS06 tires on my S 85D and absolutely love these tires. ... The tires are quiet and provide a comfortable ride.
Just FYI for everyone on tire noise -- tire noise is not a constant over the life of the tire. Any tire, as it wears, loses the flexibility of it's rubber because there's less of it. Tread blocks on a new tire that are 9 mm high flex way more than the worn 3 mm tread blocks on old tires. That lack of flexing contributes to noise.
What this results in is that everyone always says "wow they're so quiet!" as soon as they put new tires on their car, no matter what tires they bought. Of course they're quiet compared to the old tires -- because they're
new. This is reflected in the online ratings as well -- people rate the new tires they bought based on the first 500 miles of driving. That doesn't tell you about how the tire will perform 2-3 years later.
Whether any tire will remain quiet throughout it's life depends on many factors -- the wear depth, the rubber compound, the overall build of the tire, how often you rotate them, the air pressure in the tire, and even the temperature.
Those Continental Extreme Contact DWS06 tires might sound really quiet when you first put them on. Get them worn to mid-life tread height (5.5 mm), having not rotated them, and in 50F weather and I guarantee that on dry pavement, they'll howl like a wolf.
Take a mid-life set of Primacy MXM4s that have been rotated every 5000 miles in 80F weather and they'll be quieter than nearly anything else.
If noise is your concern, this is how you reduce noise over the life of your tires:
- Use a Grand Touring tire. Not a max performance summer, not a UHP all-season, not a performance winter tire. If you need to use those other types of tires, do so, but understand that they can never be as quiet as a grand touring tire.
- Use a tire for the appropriate temperature range. Use a Grand Touring summer if your temperatures don't go below 60F. Use a Grand Touring all-season otherwise.
- Maintain proper air pressure. Always. Check it every month. 42 psi for city driving, increase to 45 psi for road trips to bump up efficiency. Be aware that temperature and elevation changes will alter your pressure -- get it back to 42/45 as soon as you can.
- Spend some money. Michelin, Continental, Bridgestone, Pirelli, and other large name-brands have huge research departments that continually innovate and come up with new ways to make their Grand Touring tires quiet. An off-brand that is cheaper simply doesn't have that capability.
- Rotate the damn things. Every 5000 miles. No excuses. Do the first rotation early, at 2500 miles. Use a rearward-cross pattern. I don't care if they're wearing evenly. I don't care if the guy says that there's no need to rotate. I don't care if BMW says you get better performance from not rotating. I don't care if the Ouija board flipped itself over when you uttered the word "rotation". Do it anyway.