I installed a set of Dunlop Star Specs (215-40-17) about 7K miles ago. In the last 2000 miles, I've been hearing some whining. It also coincided with having the timing chain and tensioner replaced. At the same time, I had a Quaife differential installed. I followed the breakin procedure and changed the fluid 1200 miles later.

Anyway, I was thinking the noise was one of the diff bearings. One day while I was at the dealer, (Mini of Baltimore), having the chrome ring on one of my keys replaced, I mentioned the noise, thinking it might be related to the engine work. (maybe a wheel bearing, or a CV joint...)

The shop foreman took a ride with me and heard the sound, and declared it was tire noise... I was a bit skeptical... He said they hear that a lot with tires other than Continentals, and especially with Star Specs... Really?

I went home and rotated the tires and there was no real change. So here I go thinking it's the tranny, and I'm about to take it back to the shop that installed the Quaife, (OX Speed in Pasadena MD) and see what they say.

I figured, what the heck, I'll install the set of snow tires and see what happens.

Michelin Pilot Alpin 3's (195-55-16), and go for a ride.. Lo and behold, quiet as a new...

Now, have others noticed a lot of tire whine when using other than stock tires? There is no abnormal wear on the star specs, they are even and have about 1/2 tread depth, maybe more... OBTW my car came with Bridgestone RE050A's...They were quiet too... So are StarSpecs's just really noisy? It's really bad at highway speeds.

 

I'm on my second set of Z1 Star Specs. Very nice tire!

What I've noticed is that they do transmit more road noise. This is more apparent when the surface of the road gets more coarse. I can't complain with how good of a tire it is compared to the competition. It's kind of hard to judge what a noise is on a forum. A video would help, or a second opinion from someone besides the stealer.

 

--

 

once the Star Specs wear you will think a bearing is going out; they are loud, when they are worn, not so bad fresh

 

I have Continental DW tires and have 10K miles on them and they are as quiet as when they were new.

 

--

 

The DW's are excellent and a bit more civilized that the star specs, they definitely give up some ultimate grip though.

I've been in many cars on Star Specs and I wouldn't say they are abnormally noisy. I didn't think anything could top the incredible noise the crappy stock Continentals make.

 

There are quite a few different stock Continentals. My OEM 15" ContiPremiumContact 2's are quieter than my 16" Star Specs.

 

OK, I got a chance to take a closer look. It looks like the first tread blocks from the outside of the wheel are coming apart on all 4 tires. There is a curved section on the outer edge of the tread block that is worn away and you can pull a bit of rubber off.

Also as the tire wears, the inner edges of the main circumferential groove is ribbed. These ribs are now making contact with the road, and I think that's what making the howl.

I'll be taking the wheels and tires back to the tire dealer , (NTB) and see what they say. But I doubt they could say road hazard when it's happening on all 4 tires in the exact same place... There is probably .004-.005 of tread above the wear bars.. and even wear across the tire. Strange.

 

The star specs are noisy when worn

 

With the negative camber in the rear at specification I have found that the Dunlops (star specs and winter sport M3) and Yokohama (S Drive and Parada) all the inside edge into a ribbed edge that make a lot of noise. If I keep the tires rotated every 1500 - 2000 miles they are not as bad as if they stay in place for 10K miles.

One thing i can say though with my normally agressive driving I only get about 20-22K out of a set of Summer tires and about 30K out of the snow tires (dunlop winter sport M3) But the car does stay stuck to the road which it did not on the Conti DW. I took those off after only about 1200 miles. I slid around way to much on those.

Off course these are only my experience and others will have a different experience.

 

I think they were the 175/xx/15 ContiProContact SSRs. Its been awhile since I got rid of them. They were absurdly loud and the Star Specs seemed silent by comparison.

RichardSperry: what is the build date on those things? That doesn't sound like normal wear, I'd definitely get those checked out.