So the car originally has stock 14's. The front were bald but the rears were good. So I put the rears into the front and put 17's in the rear as a temp solution until I get new tires. Well, now I'm experiencing high road noise at freeway speeds. I ask a wheel shop if I need balancing and they said the rear struts were probably blown so it created uneven wear on the tires so now they make noise and that I probably couldn't hear it since they were in the back. Is this the solution to my problem: To get new struts and shocks before I buy new tires and that the old tires are no good unless I want to use them but just bare the noise.

 

eh? just replace the shock and get new tire asap..

you sure shock is blown? go take a look, if there are any fluids on the shock body. and you didnt put tires wrong way right? lol

 

I'm sure I put the wheels on correctly. I will probably go check for fluids on the struts tomorrow.

 

about.com confirms my problem here: http://autorepair.about.com/library/faqs/bl923.htm

"The only time rotating tires will make a noise is if the rear shocks are bad and the rear tires have developed a "cupping" pattern. This will be plain to see and if you run your hand over the face of the tire you will feel the high and low spots on the tire. If the tires are cupped, then you have no recourse because the problem is in the chocks or struts, not the tires. "

 

try the bounce test to see if a shock is blown. press down on one corner of your car. if it bounces more than once, you have a blown shock. as far as road noise goes, I don't think that simply swapping out 17s for 14s would cause this, a more likely cause is that a lot of the low-profile 17" tires available are noisier tires as they are more performance oriented than 14" tires.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shutupnskate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">try the bounce test to see if a shock is blown. press down on one corner of your car. if it bounces more than once, you have a blown shock. as far as road noise goes, I don't think that simply swapping out 17s for 14s would cause this, a more likely cause is that a lot of the low-profile 17" tires available are noisier tires as they are more performance oriented than 14" tires.
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The noise is not coming from the rear. It started coming from the front when I removed the bad 14s and put good 14s that were originally in the rear. So, I don't think the transition from 14 to 17 for the rear is an issue.

 

ummm, are they directional? that might be ur prob.

are the tires the same diameter from hub center to edge of tire?

if u have 2 different size total diameters the rears will be slower than the fronts causing vibration and unwanted noise

 

I doubt the noise is to do with the shocks,
either the tires are just funny, or something needs balanced.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by akstunt600 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ummm, are they directional? that might be ur prob.

are the tires the same diameter from hub center to edge of tire?

if u have 2 different size total diameters the rears will be slower than the fronts causing vibration and unwanted noise</TD></TR></TABLE>

They are facing the correct way. The different diameters between the front and rear might be a possibility though.