Yes tyres can make a difference, especially if they are wide low profile things, but i doubt if OE new tyres would normally be fitted if they made such a racket...ah i see the car is nearly new, tyres do get noisier as they wear down.

Its more than likely road roar coming in through panels that have no sound proofing between the plastic trim and sheet steel, prime suspect the rear wheelarches, but could be from the rear floor and rear underseat or front bulkead, lots of other places too but these are main candidates.

Without getting into unecessary dismantling, try a simple test of covering the rear wheelarch areas both sides of the rear seat with some blankets or preferably a couple of old duvets, you could move things around and find where the bulk of the noise comes from.

When you've located the source(s) you can buy some very good self adhesive foam pads made specially for this problem quite cheaply, we've had a discussion on this not so long ago and a search for sound proofing might find it.

Edited by gordonbennet on 22/06/2014 at 22:06

I have had those Continental tyres on a new Nissan Note and a new Toyota Yaris. I detest them. Harsh crashy ride and they dont last. I changed the Note to Falken Ziex 912 s and it transformed the ride. Cheaper than the Conti's they were very very good all rounders. Changed the car to the Yaris and yep back to the flippin Conti's. Just changed to Kumho Ecsta's and so far pretty good but not as good as the Falkens. Your call try looking on the net for some reviews. Personally I think the Conti's are over rated, under performing and way over priced. As for noise I dont believe there's that much difference between the Falkens Kumhos or Conti's.

Edited by Ethan Edwards on 22/06/2014 at 22:12

I ditched the Conti Sport Contacts on my Saab for Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric 2s (non XL version) in size 235/45/17.

I can report that the Goodyears are far and away superior to the Contis in every respect except wear rate (they are wearing at about the same rate) and steering precision.

# much much much quieter
# loads more comfortable
# noticeably less rolling resistance (can lift off earlier)
# massive wet braking performance with huge ABS threshold
# superior wet traction (the TCS has less work to do on familiar roads)
# nice chunky rim protector to guard my black rims (which I had refurbed to black)

the original contis were XLs, so moving back to non XLs I expected a slight loss of steering precsion, which is exactly what I got, but the very small sacrifice was well worth the other benefits.

And they were cheaper! I can thoroughly recommend them, though Efficient Grips might be more appropriate for your chariot (my father has these on his 1 series, very similar characteristics but don't have the "ultimate" performance advantage).

We had Premium Contacts on a Rover 25 and changed to Yokohama Blue Earths (can't remember the model number), they were quieter and more comfortable too.

How reliable they are is another question, but tyres do now have noise ratings.

If the link works, here is a search for tyres in that size in ascending order of noisiness.

goo.gl/awrmIG

I think these are drive-by measurments but you might expect that to bear some relation to the racket they make in the car.

The Hankook Ventus Prime 2 are rated at 70dB, and the quietest at 66dB. That's about 1/3 less sound energy if I understand it correctly (unlikely!) but the perceived difference in loudness will be rather less that that - but possibly noticeable.

I don't think I'd count on a miracle cure, but if it drives you nuts it might be worth looking at the noise rating when you have to change them.

Sound insulation on the other hand can make a big difference to a car especially if it hasn't much to start with.

There are also huge variations in road surfaces. There was a stretch on the M1 north of MK, northbound that was so bad I was convinced I had a disintegrated wheel bearing when I drove on it shortly after getting a new, unfamilar car.

Edited by Manatee on 23/06/2014 at 00:24