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Will new tyres reduce road noise and improve the ride?

I have a 2017 Focus with 30k miles. rear tyres are original Michelin with 4-5 mm tread left. The ride is quite hard. Would fitting new tyres improve the ride and reduce road noise please? I have fitted Goodyear Premium Contact to fronts to improve handling.

Asked on 20 June 2024 by jct27

Answered by David Ross
Changing your tyres for identical replacements would likely have no effect on ride comfort or road noise, so to achieve these improvements you would need to select a different tyre. Looking on blackcircles.com you can choose your tyre size and look for tyres that have a low noise rating. Additionally you can choose a tyre with a taller sidewall - the fourth and fifth digits of the tyre size indicate the aspect ratio, so a tyre with this number increased by five would give you a taller sidewall with a small increase in ride comfort while still fitting on your existing wheels. It is worth bearing in mind that this may also result in a slight reduction in steering response in terms of handling, as the taller sidewall will deform to a greater degree during hard cornering.
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