I agree. I have done a lot of research on tires for the Model 3 and have come the conclusion that the choices of excellent or even good tires for the category are too limited and that the tire makers need to up their game for the coming wave of electric cars.
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Tire Recommendation - Quietest all season?
- Thread starter superbaka
- Start date
I agree. I have done a lot of research on tires for the Model 3 and have come the conclusion that the choices of excellent or even good tires for the category are too limited and that the tire makers need to up their game for the coming wave of electric cars.
I bought them in March. Awesome tire, especially in wet weather. But they are somewhat noisier than my original tires.
Pirelli P7 Plus 2. Rated very quiet, luxurious and sticks pretty good by both CR and TR. Would have to get sl oversize at 245/45 18 which, along with great wear rating, is also another plus!
Rippin1Gear
Member
It’s so hard reading the reviews of tires off any sales site... like the P7 Plus II have so many unrated reviews, but they have reviews posted.
P-Lo801
Member
I love my Continental PureContact LS. I upgraded from stock aero wheels to 19" aftermarket and have hardly taken a hit on efficiency. I also did not notice any compromise with noise, vibration, and harshness. In fact, if anything, I found them to be quieter and just as comfortable.
The Continental PureContact LS is another nice tire. But the 18" version is only 94v (not XL), so should probably not go onto the LR AWD Model 3. I really want to stick with my 18" rims. Same issue for a number of other tires that I would be interested in, such as the Yokohama Avid Ascend and Bridgestone Quiettrack (both also just 94v in the 18" version). The Yokohama Advan Sport AS+ are appropriately weight and speed rated, but I am unsure how efficient they are or about their durability. And so on for any number of other brands/tires out there....
As far as I can see, there are pretty slim pickings for efficient, durable, appropriate speed and weight-rated tires for the Model 3 LR AWD.
As far as I can see, there are pretty slim pickings for efficient, durable, appropriate speed and weight-rated tires for the Model 3 LR AWD.
P-Lo801
Member
Ah, I didn't know they didn't meet load specs in 18" sizes.
I've also read rave reviews about vredestein quatrac 5, which was the set I almost ended up going with.
I can't tell you what to get for being the quietest, but I can tell you what *not* to get - Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS. Had a small gash on my stock tires at 37K miles and needed new tires ASAP. That's all they had at Costco so I went with it. They sound like there's a swarm of bees following you. It's a droning type of noise and even driving in the rain and with radio turned up it can still be heard. Plus at least a 15-20% hit in efficiency. They're so bad I took them off and put my snow tires for the past 2 weeks. I'm very pleased with those Continental Viking Contact snow tires, as quiet and as efficient as the Michelin Primacy MXM4 which was a big surprise to me when I bought them. I'm exchanging the Bridgestone for Michelin Pilot Sport 4AS. I will say though that the Bridgestone handles really well in the dry and wet.
SomeJoe7777
Marginally-Known Member
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.
I recently installed Michelin pilot A/S 3 set of tires on the OEM 18" aero wheels (LR AWD) and the road noise is awful. Performance is definitely better than the MXM4s* in terms of traction and colder weather but omfg the noise... I will be switching them out Spring 2021.
*I've had 2 sets of MXM4s driven year round for comparison.
*I've had 2 sets of MXM4s driven year round for comparison.
I have Continental Extreme Contact DWS06 on both Model 3 and Model X. I feel like they are about as quiet as the Model 3's OEM MXM4 with foam, and more quiet than the Model X's OEM Conti-Silent. I feel that the OEM foam in the tires do not really add anything other than price! I wanted to try the Michelin CrossClimate which seems to have good reviews, but they were out of stock everywhere when I was looking to replace tires.
Rippin1Gear
Member
That’s funny, our used M3 LR RWD came with these tires when we bought ours from Tesla. I haven’t had a chance to replace these tires yet, but they are pretty noisy. Definitely agree and will be going a different route.
Another thing about tires is that whatever ratings you look at, may not entirely apply to YOUR car. The 980AS is OE on my GTI and are quiet and stick very well in almost all conditions (have only done cold, not snow), but they ARE tied for worst for rolling efficiency (one other tire) out of all that were listed in 2021 CR guide. I have had them for 10k miles and rotated once; they clearly don't work well with your set-up (car, suspension, alignment, ?). If you look at reviews, you will see opinions quite diverse but usually pretty consistent for same car/mileage.
Rippin1Gear
Member
Yes. The PureContact LS 235/45r18 max load is rated at 1,477lbs at 51psi so 5,908 max load capacity. Car is only 4072lbs for the dual motors.
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I don't know about the Standard Range Plus tire specs, but I know that my LR AWD (i.e. Dual Motor) tire specification is 98W (XL). I am willing to go down a notch on the speed rating to 98v (and have done so for my winter tires), but my understanding is that it is not a good idea to compromise on the weight rating.
I know. Reviews of all tires are all over the place. I glanced through the reviews on the Potenza RE980AS and noise complaints wasn't too bad. I even went through a Porsche 911 forums and was surprised some 911 guys go with these tires being all season. I really couldn't believe how noisy the Potenza was right when I picked up the car after installation. I really thought it was all the cars around me making the noise lol, really didn't want to believe they're actually that loud. The noise was present from ~30MPH on, so it's pretty much constant. They seemed to have gotten louder too after around 300 miles on them.
And then I have read complaints of noise on the Michelin Pilot Sport AS4. I was desperate, anything else has to be better than the Bridgestone. Well I got the Pilot Sport AS4 put on yesterday and I'm very pleased with them in the noise department, very quiet. More or less as quiet as the stock Primacy MXM4 was, maybe even quieter, but of course I didn't pay attention to the stock tires' noise until they're getting worn. Only have 30 miles on them so efficiency is TBD, but they are better than the Bridgestone.
Bottom line, read reviews as general guide line only. You'll never know until you actually try it for yourself.
