Hi guys,

I've just become the owner of 2009 100hp with 51k on it. Since I have had the car it has made a lot of noise - initially I thought it was a wheel bearing on the way out. Makes a droaning sound from about 20mph upwards. Got my mechanic to have a look at it and he said it was caused by tyres.

At this point I had Uniroyals on the front which have done about 20k and on the back the original F1s. I swapped the tyres front to back and although it has changed the noise a bit...volumes different at different speeds it is still really loud.

Wanted to see if anyone else has this issue or has experienced it. I don't want to go and shell out on new tyres to discover it is a characteristic of the car...

Other than this I am loving it!

Many thanks

Its the car, mainly. Zero sound proofing . F1's and my new Conti's were making so much noise on a motorway at 70 mph that u had to half shout to talk to ur passenger. So I sound proofed the car, bit by bit. Just sound proofing front doors made a big difference. Costs...about £50-60 for 4 doors and £30-40 to do the roof (materials, did the work myself). Its not hard, once u watch few vids on YouTube.

Once ur tires need replacing u can go for low noise tires but they normally cost more and have draw backs like - don't last long or not fuel economical.

Best would be to sound proof if its bugging u so much.

I'm coming to that 7th of July meet at Stanford Hill, if u there I could take u for a spin so u can see the difference sound proofing did.

mean while, have a look through my thread. I've details and pictures sound proofing doors and roof.

Thanks - I'll have a read up on your thread. Sadly I am on holiday at the start of July so won't be around.

What tyre pressures do you run? I was thinking this might make a difference.

Thanks again

davidcaldwell said:

Thanks - I'll have a read up on your thread. Sadly I am on holiday at the start of July so won't be around.

What tyre pressures do you run? I was thinking this might make a difference.

Thanks again

Click to expand...

With F1's I had 2.1 bar all round but found it too soft when pushed aggressively around the corner did like how tires wall was all over the place, so I up them to 2.3 front and 2.2 bar rear.

With Conti's even that was too soft so I'm running 2.5 bar front and 2.4 rear. That's seems to work for me. Tire wear isn't pushed and corners when pushed r not hairy.

Pump urs up, it ll reduce road noise and if its too hard (u will know if it is) then take 0.1 bar out and drive some more repeating this step till u reach the pleasure u happy with. That's what I did. I know some guys here run 2.7 bar

Thanks very much - I'll start experimenting!

This very much explains exactly the issue I was having with mine, I'd checked the baffles in the exhaust, barings, suspension, springs, windows, doors alternator and cam belts, all to no avail.

Glad it's nothing to worry about

Actually I have zero soundproofing on my 100hp, and the noise is very acceptable! There is this dashboard rattle that I can't get rid of, but overall the panda is very quiet...considering it is indeed a Fiat. Cheep tires that the previous owner did not look after can give you loads of noise, even changing to winter tires changes the noise hugely. If you are sure there is nothing wrong with your bearings and mechanics, then your best guess is to change the tires... If you know someone with wheels/tires that will fit, just ask them if you can try it out. Possibly the whole car will be transformed and you will know what's wrong.
Soundproofing will get rid of the "tin can" sound when closing doors or driving over pot holes. It will also effect the acoustics of the car. But if the car makes to much noise on the highway there probably is something else going on.

Just my 2 cents.

Unfortunately u cant compare Belgium roads to UK...

That's my 2 pence

I've got a huge amount of soundproofing in my Panda (it's all documented in my gallery) and hands down the biggest reduction in noise was from fitting a Dynamat Hood (Bonnet) Liner.

I know where you are coming from, had my HP for a few weeks... Compared to a classic mini the panda engine is silent, compared to my Saab, the tyre noise is quite loud!! I just play the stereo a bit louder

In any case, it should not be so hard to determine weather or not car is having a mechanical/tire problems, or if the whole problem is actually not a problem, but just the nature of the car.
I'm fairly sure that the topic starter has "cupped" tires, and that these are causing the noise he almost mistaked to be worn bearings.

I have had a play about with this and.....

My Uniroyal tyres are unevenly worn on the inside shoulders. The tread blocks appear to be at slightly different heights. I would guess this would make them noisy. The F1's I have are worn perfectly evenly and look very good.

However I have run them both on the the front, and while both are loud, the F1's are loudest, by a long way.

Must be a characteristic of the tyre/car.