Thank goodness for the Apple store in Munich!! BUT on our long journey around Europe I have a problem with my tyres. Has anyone had the problem of very noisy driving between 40 and 60 mph? It sounds as if we are driving over cobbled stones. Two different VW dealers here in Germany have told us that it is a common problem with the tyres that VW puts on the Eos and the Tuareg and Touran. And they don#t use them anymore. When we rang our garage in England they#re response was basically, 'Rubbish.' And they were not interested.
Tim, if you read this - can you imagine? I found an APPLE store!!! The mother ship calling me home again!!

Thank goodness for the Apple store in Munich!! BUT on our long journey around Europe I have a problem with my tyres. Has anyone had the problem of very noisy driving between 40 and 60 mph? It sounds as if we are driving over cobbled stones. Two different VW dealers here in Germany have told us that it is a common problem with the tyres that VW puts on the Eos and the Tuareg and Touran. And they don#t use them anymore. When we rang our garage in England they#re response was basically, 'Rubbish.' And they were not interested.
Tim, if you read this - can you imagine? I found an APPLE store!!! The mother ship calling me home again!!


Home responding to mother ship - about time you called; all play and no work we think!!!!

Seriously, this kind of noise may be associated with the early stages of tread delamination from the tyre carcase. The usual cause for this delamination is damage from impact with pot-holes, road debris or similar situations. I have had a few instances of both tread and sidewall delamination from these causes and one major blow-out fortunately at low speed. The usual indication of tread delamination is a regular "thump,thump, thump" which varies as your speed varies. If you take the wheel off the car, and run your fingertips around the tread you will feel the bulge. Sidewall delamination is much easier to pick as the bulge is more noticeable on visual inspection due to the thinner cross-section of the sidewall; the thicker tyre tread results in the bulge being less obvious.

Most importantly, do not attempt any land speed record attempts on the autobahn until you have found the cause of the noise. The chances of a catastrophic tyre blowout increase exponentially with increasing speed.

Over and out from home base.

Trust silvershadow to paint the blackest possible picture :-).

I'd suggest to take a step back and consider "scalloping" or "sawtoothing" as a possible cause for your noise.

My experience with our Passat from about one year ago:
Tyres: Pirelli PZero Rosso
Pressure: regularly checked and maintained at 38 psi
Geometry of car (i.e. wheel alignment): never checked
Start of "whoopwhoopwhoop": at about 32,000. Very sudden, thought I had a partial blowout. It has gotten worse - like in your case, the once oh-so-quiet experience ("Can you hear that PD engine working away?") has been replaced by a truck ambience (but you can't hear the Diesel anymore).
Life left: Probably another 5,000 - 10,000 on top of the 40,000 I've done so far.

I have since replaced the tyres (at about 43,000km).

When we first picked up our Eos I had the alignment checked straight away, and it was out by a fair whack (can't remember exactly how badly).

So by all means check your tyres as recommended by silvershadow (anything tyre-related should be taken very seriously, it's your connection to the road!!) but my guess (based on experience) would be that the tyres are fine for driving, just not so nice in terms of noise level.

Hope this helps, and hope you're enjoying your trip. Many students in Tübingen yet?

Regards,
Michael

Hi

That's a weird coincidence - on my Tour de France in July I started hearing a dull drone then, later, a bump bump bump, seemingly from my tyres on the smooth french roads. This only happens at between 18 - 22 mph and has since continued on our return to the UK.

I am due a " lubrication " service next week, so I am told by my garage - only 6 months and 10,000 miles from the last one! - and I have asked them to check into this noise when they do it.

After your experience I am now convinced that the noise is coming from the tyres, and , come to think of it, I increased my tyre pressures before our trip in view of the increased load we were carrying - and I have realised I have yet to decrease them! ( oops! ). So I'll reduce them asap and see ( or listen to ) what happens............

I'll let you know the outcome.

cheers


Richard

I've had this on my rear tyres for a while now - I mentioned it to my dealer (of the VW kind that is) and they said it was quite possibly uneven tread wear.