2006 Forester tire noise relief

[The Other Dave]

With only 3900 miles on the odometer, I destroyed an OEM Yokohama tire on my
new Forester the other day- must have hit something nasty, as there was a
one inch slit in the tread just at the sidewall. Funny thing is I did not
see or hear anything but the thump-thump of the rapidly deflating tire.
Anyway, I have been disappointed in the noise level of this vehicle and
suspected the tires were serious contributors to the problem. I stopped in
at the local friendly tire shop where I do business. They found that they
could procure a replacement Yoko for about $115.00. The question was did I
want to invest the money in preserving this set of OEM tires, or should I
bite the bullet and find something better (I.E. quieter). Ultimately, I
opted to install a full set of new Toyos, 800 Ultras, a 100K rated tire that
I have run on an older Legacy. Wow- what an immediate improvement in noise
level. This is like driving a different car. I don't know about performance
aspects, but I don't care, as I'm an old guy not worried about such things
anymore. $435.00 net cost (traded in the three remaining Yokos) and I am a
happy camper. I would heartily recommend this tire to anyone looking for a
significant noise reduction.

 

[Rock]

With only 3900 miles on the odometer, I destroyed an OEM Yokohama tire on my
new Forester the other day- must have hit something nasty, as there was a
one inch slit in the tread just at the sidewall. Funny thing is I did not
see or hear anything but the thump-thump of the rapidly deflating tire.
Anyway, I have been disappointed in the noise level of this vehicle and
suspected the tires were serious contributors to the problem. I stopped in
at the local friendly tire shop where I do business. They found that they
could procure a replacement Yoko for about $115.00. The question was did I
want to invest the money in preserving this set of OEM tires, or should I
bite the bullet and find something better (I.E. quieter). Ultimately, I
opted to install a full set of new Toyos, 800 Ultras, a 100K rated tire that
I have run on an older Legacy. Wow- what an immediate improvement in noise
level. This is like driving a different car. I don't know about performance
aspects, but I don't care, as I'm an old guy not worried about such things
anymore. $435.00 net cost (traded in the three remaining Yokos) and I am a
happy camper. I would heartily recommend this tire to anyone looking for a
significant noise reduction.

 

[Rock]

I too picked up on the extream road noise from my 06 Forester LL Bean
edition. Even on the test drive I commented to the sales person that
there was a lot of road noise inside the car, seemingly coming from the
area behind the rear seat. I traded in an 02 Grand Cherokee which was
exceptionally quiet. Now, a few days short of a year's ownership - I
still hate all that road noise. Did the tires really make that much of
a difference? If so, I know what my next purchase will be.

 

[bigjim]

Subaru seems to equip their cars with noisy tires. The Bridgestones on
my 04 OBW were quite loud on certain roads. Getting kumho kh18's
helped a lot although Iliked the Bridgestones better for grip for the
first 35k miles then they went downhill fast.