I thought the Michelin PS were quiet tires

At precisely 6500 miles the noise began, and I mean noise. Exactly like the P-Zeros I had on my Boxster S. I sound like a 1971 F350 with 10 ply farm tires coming down the road.....Wa wa wa wa from 25 to about 50 mph or so. What tire is quiet throughout it's entire life for our cars? These Michelins I have now look brand new, they have tons of tread left but I can't handle the noise. It appears to be the rears making the noise, but it's dificult to tell.

bridgestone are a quieter tire. Although, quiet and 18" wheel don't go together in the same sentence. I refuse to buy a Michelin tire. more expensive without equal performance results.

Thanks jyoteen. I know a performance tire will be noisier. But this is crazy. And it started practically overnight...so fast from quiet to extreme noise. I am not even near the wear bars, I don't understand it. Tire pressure maintained although without running down to the car and looking up what I maintain them at I don't remember, but it is less than Porsche recommends which I think is 36/44 Alignment seems fine from factory...not pulling...steering wheel centered (crest not crooked). The front and rears inside row or tread closest to the car are all slightly ramped or feathered but every single Porsche I have ever seen including M3's and others seem to exibit this on their tires.

Your car is too quiet. Add some noise and you wont be able to hear it.

The conti's that came on my 01 C4 had 8000 miles and one winter of storage when they became so noisy I got rid of them. Bridgestones now.

Which Bridgestone are you guys running

I think your best option would be to get Porsche Sport Exhaust installed. You will never again notice the tire noise. The added bonus is that you will never again be bothered by the poor radio reception either because you wont ever use it. Tim

"Quiet" is such a relative term... The outlet that sold my Bridgestone S-03s said that they were noisy tires. Heck, the S-03s are pussycats compared to my old Rossos which hummed like bad kazoos on the freeway. FWIW, I do think that the S-03 makes a good street tire. It has a compliant (professional disclaimer: "compliant" is a relative term )ride, great wet traction, good progressive dry traction, and low road noise IMO. However, if you're looking for a street tire to whip around on the track, then I don't think the S-03 is your can 'o mustard. You may want to look at the Continental ContiSportContact 2... but the fact remains that you're driving a C2 coupe! Get the PSE...

Forget about the S0-3 they are garbage... you have to buy the new S02-A... I'm running these on my car and they are phenomenal! cheers PEt

I also vote with the SO-2A. They are the quietest tire I've experienced on 18" wheels. I don't track the car, so I can't talk to that, but for agressive twisty driving, they are 10/10ths.

Yeah, I had the stock Conti Sport Contact 2 as the tires the car came with, and just wore through them. Amazingly, they lasted 11K miles with 3 track events, and they were 'harsh' on pavement, no doubt due to the stiff sidewall. I replaced them with the S02A's and the feel is remarkably different. The car feels softer and has more give. Less noise and the harshness is gone. I'd be the first to ditch comfort for performance though as I'm used to running R compound tires all the year round even on the street. I just didn't think Michelins were were worth it on my S4. So far, the best tire in terms of compromise I've ran is S02 Summer compound. But they really do suck in rain. Thankfully, I live in LA.

Hey guys, I just read the reviews at Tire Rack by people who have bought S-02A's and most of them claim they are VERY noisy and VERY dangerous in rain. I am SO confused

well... from my experiences they are a great dry tire and to me they are not noisy... (the p-zero I had previously were noisy) - perhaps the michelin sport rib produces less noise? I don't know ... depends on what tires your coming from. as for rain... they are good in the rain but when you 50% you better drive normally... the fact that rain performance degrades as tire wears out suggests they were designed as a dry performance tire and they certainly excel at that... maybe somebody with the michelin sport ribs can chime in and share their thoughts... regards, Pete

My Michelins are the Pilot Sport "Rib"

I have the 18" PS Rib N1's with about ~9K miles. I think they are pretty noisy tires. The rears are 2/3-3/4 gone. A big reason for the differences of opinion regarding tire noise with a given tire is the type of road surface people drive on. On rough roads the PS are very noisy. On smooth asphalt they are much quieter.

I have the PSs on my 90 and love them. Only about 5,000 miles on them and noise is real low now at least compared to the motor. I defintely feel that the PSs ride better and handle better than other tires I have used: Contis, P-Zeros, Bridgestones, and Dunlaps. What about PS2s. I have a set in that will be installed on Tuesday. The CGT is also using the PS2s. I was concerned about the no N rating on the PS2s and made numerous calls including 3 people at Tire Rack and Michelin customer service and tech department. I also spoke with my Porsche service manager about the PS2s and N ratings. The consesus was that the PS2s have better grip, better sidewall construction, closer in circumference than the N rated tires for the TT, have a higher load bearing capacity and will simply run circles around anything else out there. Obviously, the PS2s are new and just apparently have received an N rating because Porsche has yet to designate them as OE equipment, except for the CGT, but even those sizes don't have the N rating as of yet. Apparently, the PS2s are simply the tire to get right now.

Yep, The roads in Charlotte and surrounding areas very much suck. Tread wear wise I have more than 1/2 left, much more actually. But there are a couple smooth roads here...mind you just a couple and the PS's are noisy on them as well

I had Dunlops on my car, and they were great, really quiet, performed well in wet and dry. I got a new set of rims that came with Pirellis, I really don't like em, noisy and harsh ride...when they wear out I'll prob switch back...

Just picked up my TT with the PS2s. The ride is much quieter than the P-Zeros and the ride feels very nice. New tired so I am not pushing them yet, but the ride comfortability is definitely okay with these tires.

The wah wah sound is usually the result of cupping on the tread. Can be caused by alignment or out of balance wheel. The PS2 is a great tire in my view.

SYMA, Just to start an argument North Carolina has the best roads in the USA in my opinion. We drove across the USA in a 5 week trip a few years ago. The year prior to that we flew to Raleigh and spent 2 weeks driving from DC to Savannah. We do lots of road trips. At least one 2000 mile trip each year for 10 years or so, I've only driven in 44 of the states but I have maintained for some time that NC has the best roads. The worst ? Michigan. Just my opinion. Robin

Hmmmm. Interesting. I-85 from Charlotte to Greensboro a complete nightmare. It has been under construction for 4 years and I have yet to see any new pavement come out of this 100 mile stretch of road. I-77 in and around Charlotte is 50/50 in terms of it's condition. I-40 west of I-77 don't go there. Independence Blvd South Blvd All of Uptowns roads except Tryon which is nice Moorehead into Providence Trade Street I can go on and on...... Avoid these roads at all cost And what upsets me is that I alone in the last 4 years of having my cars registered here have given the state About $3600 in property tax on these cars, excluding sales tax.

SYMA, This year my plan was to drive across the USA using the southern route through NM,TX,LA, MS,AL, GA to FLA. Return through SC, NC, KY, TN, and so forth. But the calendar has really filled up this year and I feel I need 5 weeks to get a good trip. You live in a good part of the world. My cousin lives in Chapel Hill but we've already seen them here in Oregon a month ago. I'll have to defer to your critique of NC roads. However, your gas is very cheap compared to the west coast. $2.47 a gallon for 91 octane, here.

Yes Robin our gas is cheap compared to other states. This is a beautiful state indeed. Great beaches and beautiful mountains, mild weather most of the time. Charlotte is a stunning small city with some of the grandest neighborhoods in America, it's just that our roads plain old stink!

I got the wah-wahs all at once on some nearly new Yoko winters (off now). Once you start to focus on something like that you can't hear anything else until it gets way out of proportion. Is this part of the P-car disease?

Hey Webtool, Both my 2001 Boxster S and 2003 C2 do it, Both have completely different tires. P- Zeros on the S. I believe it is some characteristic of the Porsche and/or performance tires. No other car or type of tire I have had do this nor have I had alignment issues with any other vehicle. WAIT ! my Renault Le Car in college got an alignment after I hit a deer and a tree with it then bounced out of the ditch and slammed into a guard rail still going around 35 or so. Got it aligned and was good to go for another 50K miles at least with no issues, and if I remember they were Michelins. Boy did I have fun back then

SYMA Also, the unidirectional tread pattern wears the blocks. If you could rotate the wheels like normal cars we'd be in that quiet zone, but then again, I'll take the wah-wahs. Although my driving history is not as rich and colourful as yours I didn't buy the car to save on rubber either.

I must be missing a part of my brain cause if you ask me to describe or compare the amount of road noise from the various tires I have used, I couln't be able to, even if my life depended on it. Its something I just never notice, it never bothers me to attract my attention. Maybe its different road surfaces? That said, I'm using PS2's and love 'em performance wise like Doug H. said, and do an excellent job in the rain at high speeds, so far.

LOL! I could say the same. But, it also seems that people will never get the fact that all worn tires will be noisier than any given new tire. So, when they change from an older to a new tire, it's always a quieter one no matter what brand(s) they are. There is no way to remember how noisy a given tire was when new at the time of a changeover.

That settles it !! I am ordering a damn PSE . Screw the tire noise

LOL! Now, that is the right attitude.

I am serious Viken. And one day I will drive a GT3 and never hear a thing except that beautiful engine. Only option on the GT3......Delete radio