Wheel Bearing/ Tire noise-0--Help Opinoins

[M35 Sport]

Well I just talked to the service advisor at the Dealership. I dropped my car off yesterday for serveral things, mainly a roaring noise in the front end. Well The service advisor said it is my tires. He said they are all cupped and it is due to the alignment. Now I just got the car 3 weeks ago. It has Hankook Ventus Sport K104 tires on it. About half the tread patterns are left. When I first got the car I noticed the noise. I thought it was one tire (the front left). So I replaced with a new matching tire. The noise was still there. I then had all the tires balanced and rotated, and the noise was still there. This lead me to beleive that it was a wheel bearing. He says it is the tires. He says he will physically show me when I get to the dealership. I told him to go ahead and do the alignment ($140) My questions is what are your thoughts? I originally thought it was the tires, then the wheel bearing. Now he says tires. I bought the car with 29.5K miles on it 3 weeks ago.


Modified by M35 Sport at 9:31 AM 3/27/2009

[szh]

I don't know if the dealer is right or not.

However, our heavy cars are very stressful to tires. If the load index of the tire is not high enough (and, with other than Michelin tires, I would go much higher than the nominal 95), it is entirely possible that the internal belts in the tires have broken or been stressed too much.

I don't know the Hankook tires with personal experience, so I cannot comment on that. But, if Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 (or the A/S) or Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 don't give you the same problems, then the tires are suspect.

Given that some M's have had some problems with the sterering/suspension too, don't give up on this with the dealer yet though!

Z

[M35 Sport]

Well I picked up my car this afternoon. They are saying my tires are cupped. He put my car up on the rack and had me rum my hand along the inside edge of all the tires. You can feel the waviness in them. They are all cupped except for the one I replaced 2 weeks ago. He said the Toe on my alignment was off, and that is what caused this. I talked to him about replacing my tires and he seemed to want to discourage me from doing that. He said that the tires could improve over time now that the alignment is straight. He said "give it a while" My tires still have half their tread left. They also did a full vehicle inspection. My rear diff seems to need a new seal. (don't know why they did not do it today) My electrical system is fine. I just need a new air filter and cabin filter. (will do that my self)

[ArbitrageMan]

It sounds like you're beginning to trust the service manager. Its rare, but its a beautiful thing.

I guess my thoughts are that if the tires were worn incorrectly for half their lives, its going to take that long to get them straight. Give it a couple months and see if theyre better. If not, change them.