Gen 3 and tire noise

O

offthepath

Adventurer
On my gen 3 I have been running Cooper ATP tires for about 15k. I've really liked the tires performace, but they have a constant hum that is getting old.

I am considering getting something else that has less road noise. I think the unibody construction may contribute more to road noise so I wanted to see what tires other gen 3 users have had good success with?

I want a good AT tire. I'm considering going to the KO2.
 
plh

plh

Explorer
I have KO2s, relatively quiet so far (about 10k miles) not silent thou, no A/T will be silent on a Gen 3. WAY quieter that Falken Wild Peak A/Ts that I had on a while back. Never had Coopers so I cannot compare to that.
 
E

evol911

Observer
Had Cooper AT3's on wifes Limited. Real noisy, I actually didn't realize just how loud until we switched to Yokohama Geolanders. Nice and quiet now. I preferred driving my Gen 2 over the Gen 3 because of how bad the drone was over long distances.
 
C

coffeegoat

Adventurer
I find the Toyo Open Country AT/II's to be very quiet, though my comparison was an old nissan pickup, so... basically anything is quieter than that. I would put the Gen III on Toyo's a little better than our 2015 Honda Fit from a noise perspective.

One option that I'm considering (for other reasons than tire noise) is to do an insulation upgrade when I install the roof rack and speakers. Since you have to pull most of the trim panels anyways to do the job I figure I'll do a full seats-out clean, and put in some sound dampening and thermal insulating materials while I'm in there. It won't be free but it would be substantially cheaper than new tires.
 
O

offthepath

Adventurer
Thanks guys. The drone reference is about right on. I find it tiring after a while. For such a nice vehicle that noise gets old real fast. Anyone else running BFG KO2s that can comment? Id hate to spend the money, with nothing better in the end.
 
K

KyleT

Explorer
Gen3's are very tire sensitive. The aussies have a ton of tire reviews for them. The chassis/unibody is so stiff that the tire noise transfers worse than most vehicles.
 
1

1morebike

Adventurer
I'm dealing with the same thing. I bought the truck with a set of pretty new at3s on it. It still has it original shocks and the tires are cupped so it makes a crap load of noise for set of tires with about 10,000 miles. Anyway new shocks and some new tires and I hope it will be better.
 
normal_dave

normal_dave

waytoomuchwritinginposts.
So I know most of us desire an A/T profile, but consider these:
I've always saved up for the trusty Michelin LTX M/S. We know how quiet they are, how long they last, and surprisingly decent in the rough, (for a highway tire).
My '02 Limited needed tires pretty soon after I bought it, had some mismatched Geolanders, and the seller claimed bad wheel bearing. Nope, tires. Anyhow my old-school tire/alignment shop of 30+ years convinces me to take a look at Sumitomo's Encounter HT. It's an all season, M/S highway tire, that has a Michelin style tread, but a little blockier. Is that a word?
Quiet? absolutely, mine is a daily driver, I do sales/service work for a small business and spend lots of time on the road. My auto climate control is louder than the tires.
Value? No question
Off-Road? Well I didn't buy them for that purpose, I had intended to find a spare set of rims, and outfit them with something more aggressive. The results have been impressive enough that I've about discarded the off-road spare rim set idea. Sandy soil, Georgia red clay, that wet grassy embankment that was begging me to test it, pretty impressive. Again, not going win a beauty contest, but how much time do we really spend off-road on a regular basis?

Read the reviews, interesting comments, check out the specs.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tiresWillFit=true&tireMake=Sumitomo&tireModel=Encounter+HT&partnum=67TR6EHT#RatingsReviews

For visual comparison an internet picture of the older Michelin LTX M+S (not MS2)
http://bentondiscounttires.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Michelin-Defender-LTX.png

http://www.sumitomotire.com/assets/products/light%20truck/EncounterHT.pdf
Bottom line, the wife's sport gets a new set of these (if the Michelin's ever wear out, maybe the sidewalls will start cracking before the tread wears down!)
 
P

PirateMcGee

Expedition Leader
offthepath said:
On my gen 3 I have been running Cooper ATP tires for about 15k. I've really liked the tires performace, but they have a constant hum that is getting old.

I am considering getting something else that has less road noise. I think the unibody construction may contribute more to road noise so I wanted to see what tires other gen 3 users have had good success with?

I want a good AT tire. I'm considering going to the KO2.
Click to expand...

It's the ATP, mine also started fine but then started making a really irritating harmonic as they wore. I hate them. Considering the Yoko G015.
 
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2

2to4wheels

Adventurer
Any one have experience with the Falken AT3w? I currently have Cooper AT3s and yes, not a big fan on the "drone" even at slower speeds
 
S

Senor Carey

Observer
I have the new Falken AT3 in 275/70/18 format on my UZJ100 Cruiser. Been running them for about four months. I actually really like them. I notice no drone, plus they're pretty aggressive looking for an AT tire. They performed great in all of the snow and rain we had this winter and they're relatively inexpensive.

I run BFG Mud Terrains on my Gen 2.5 and they're quite a bit louder. They are older, though.

I realize that neither of these is a Gen 3 and that it is quite unique in the unibody compared to my two trucks. So just data points for you, really. Perhaps some well placed vibration dampening panels in the doors and roof might mitigate some of the drone?
 
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