Looking for any feedback on this subject. I have been running SSR Comp's 17 x 7.5 which have +50 offset (from Tire Rack) with Bridgestone RE 730 (215/45). This winter I ran my original wheels with the wonderful RE 92's, cause for some stupid reason thought we were going to get some snow. Anyway, this spring when I switched back there was a rythmic whirring/wearing sound that varied with wheel speed, that I was concerned was wheel bearings going bad. Also seemed louder with load. Just reinstalled my original wheels and sound is totally gone. No other suspension mods. Have been careful about tire rotation.

Can I safely assume (since the sound is not there with original wheels back on) that my SSR's have not caused or are not causing bearing damage or increased bearing noise? That would be the worse case scenario.

Are RE 730's known for being noisy? Shoulder blocks on one tire in particular seem to be sized more randomly than others (like they cut them rather than molded). I only have about 9000 on this set. Running 35 psi front 32 rear. Have about 25,000 miles on set I have on 87 Milano and they seem fine (great dry and wet traction and decent wear). Any tire inspection things to look for?

 

Sub55,

I'm sorry to hear of the problem - the RE730s aren't known for as much for their quiet ride as they are for their wet/dry performance. They are a bit noisy. If you feel there's a problem with them, try rotating front to rear to see if anything changes - this will help in isolating it to one tire.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I had the RE730's rebalanced and this coming weekend I will remount (rotating front and back) and will see how it does. My main concern is that the SSRs are speeding up wheel bearing failure. Don't mind replacing tires but would hate to either replace bearings or the wheels.