High Pitched Tire Sound

[jtom]

I have a stock 2003 mazda protege ES with the potenza and whenever I am going 40+mph my tires (im assuming) emit a very annoying high pitched noise. The noise is also extremely loud, and will start to hurt my ears. I usually dont notice it because I am listening to music but I just wanted to know if this is the tires and what I can do to fix the sound.

Thanks

 

[JoshP5]

Haven't heard of tires making such a noise. Maybe you can describe it more? Is it continuous above 40? Did it recently start making the sound?

If it's a roaring sound it's a (or some) bad wheel bearing(s).

 

[jtom]

It starts around 40 mph and it will continue until going below 40. The sound is definetly a roaring sound, its high pitched but not like a squeaky sound. The only thing I can think of is that I have body work done on the bumper a few years ago but I got it professionally fixed so I would think they would have fixed any problems. The sound has always been there; I usually dont notice because of the music but if you are not listening to music you will get very uncomfortable.

BTW, not sure if I said this but its only the rear wheels that do this.

I will look into the wheel bearings, is that the only explanation? I have had my breaks and tires looked at in the past and have never had them say anything about the bearings.

Could it be because the tires are performance tires? I assumed that it had to do with the tire design.

 

[mickeyreategui]

some tires will make road noise

 

[JoshP5]

No one would know the condition of the wheel bearings by looking at the breaks. If you suspect it's the tires, it can't be that loud. A bad wheel bearing usually gets progressively louder until you know it can't be the tires roaring like that.

 

[Action Jackson]

When I had the Dunlop FM901 tires everyone knew I had them on and heard me coming.

What tires are they exactly?

 

[Azaizai]

could be choppy tires too...if its a howl, get up to speed next to a barrier/median and see if you can bounce the sound off of it. Run your hand over the tire, see if it feels uneven

 

[MattyP]

could be choppy tires too...if its a howl, get up to speed next to a barrier/median and see if you can bounce the sound off of it. Run your hand over the tire, see if it feels uneven

yea, thats a great idea!
haha, sounds like a tire checking action stunt. i know (or hope) you are only talking about low speeds for this though. right?

 

[Azaizai]

eh hehe...the run your hand over the tire part was definitely meant for non-moving cars lol. Guess I should have started a new paragraph ><