NX 450h+ Road Noise on 20 inches wheels

[Pavan]

Hi All,

Apologies if this topic is discussed million times but with the stock bridgestone alenza 20 inches run flat tyres, I am finding the road noise unbearable. Yesterday, I drove my friend's NX 300H with 18 inches Michelin Cross Climate 2 non run flats, I found that they were super quite.

3 variable i am thinking of-

a) 18 inches vs 20 inches

b) Run flats vs non run flats 

c) Bridgestone vs Michelin tyres

Options I can think of

a) Change RF to NRF with Michelin Cross Climate 2

b) Change 20 inches wheels to 18 inches wheels

c) Change RF Bridgestones to some other quieter Run flats.

Opinions please!! Happy to know if there are other options to reduce the road noise.

Thank you in advance.

Pavan  

 

 

[ColinBarber]

Stock tyres are normally poor (cheap, or only focused on one feature (e.g. emissions)) compared to the best on the market. I'd switch to the best run flats or move away from them if you are happy to lose the puncture protection.

Moving to smaller wheels is obviously a more expensive option - you would get better comfort, better economy, rims less prone to pothole damage and less noise but you give up the look of the larger wheels (if that is of interest to you). If you go with Lexus original wheels then you wouldn't, IMO, need to inform your insurance company as they would be deemed factory installed equivalent - otherwise you would need to inform them and possibly pay an admin fee to get the change noted on your policy.

Michelin CC2 aren't the quietest of tyre, but they are a good all round tyre for the UK.

 

This is probably the best resource to research tyres:

https://www.youtube.com/@tyrereviews/videos

 

[Pavan]

50 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

Stock tyres are normally poor (cheap, or only focused on one feature (e.g. emissions)) compared to the best on the market. I'd switch to the best run flats or move away from them if you are happy to lose the puncture protection.

Moving to smaller wheels is obviously a more expensive option - you would get better comfort, better economy, rims less prone to pothole damage and less noise but you give up the look of the larger wheels (if that is of interest to you). If you go with Lexus original wheels then you wouldn't, IMO, need to inform your insurance company as they would be deemed factory installed equivalent - otherwise you would need to inform them and possibly pay an admin fee to get the change noted on your policy.

Michelin CC2 aren't the quietest of tyre, but they are a good all round tyre for the UK.

 

This is probably the best resource to research tyres:

https://www.youtube.com/@tyrereviews/videos

 

Thank you for your reply. Personally, i would not care much about the looks of 18 vs 20 as long as the road noise is less. I know its not going to be a cheap option but hopefully, I might find someone who would want to swap 🙂

Thanks also for the youtube link. 

[Big Kev]

1 hour ago, Pavan said:

Thank you for your reply. Personally, i would not care much about the looks of 18 vs 20 as long as the road noise is less. I know its not going to be a cheap option but hopefully, I might find someone who would want to swap 🙂

Thanks also for the youtube link. 

Simple solution……bin the runflat Bridgestones….! Then stay with the aesthetics of 20”. Bridgestone as a marque, imho, are the noisiest tyres available. They are a very firm compound in general terms to the feel. Factor in the firmer sidewall to facilitate their runflat capability, and they should issue bloody ear defenders as standard.

I havexquite extensive experience of Bridgestone in my Rav4 years, and detest them with a vengeance as a company. They tried to form  a price cartel on their Rav runflats with Toyota dealers, even inventing a special machine requirement to remove or fit the gubbers! This consisted of a steel inner rim that acted as the runflat support, originally used in WW2 for bullet based punctures fgs..!.

Rant over….bin yer Bridgestone carp tyres.

[Pavan]

8 minutes ago, Big Kev said:

Simple solution……bin the runflat Bridgestones….! Then stay with the aesthetics of 20”. Bridgestone as a marque, imho, are the noisiest tyres available. They are a very firm compound in general terms to the feel. Factor in the firmer sidewall to facilitate their runflat capability, and they should issue bloody ear defenders as standard.

I havexquite extensive experience of Bridgestone in my Rav4 years, and detest them with a vengeance as a company. They tried to form  a price cartel on their Rav runflats with Toyota dealers, even inventing a special machine requirement to remove or fit the gubbers! This consisted of a steel inner rim that acted as the runflat support, originally used in WW2 for bullet based punctures fgs..!.

Rant over….bin yer Bridgestone carp tyres.

Love the rant. 

What would you recommend. Michelin Cross Climate 2 seems like a great option? Any other?

[Big Kev]

3 hours ago, Pavan said:

Love the rant. 

What would you recommend. Michelin Cross Climate 2 seems like a great option? Any other?

Cross Climates are quiet and great performing tyres. Never the cheapest so shop about.

[Ken R]

10 hours ago, Pavan said:

Hi All,

Apologies if this topic is discussed million times but with the stock bridgestone alenza 20 inches run flat tyres, I am finding the road noise unbearable. Yesterday, I drove my friend's NX 300H with 18 inches Michelin Cross Climate 2 non run flats, I found that they were super quite.

3 variable i am thinking of-

a) 18 inches vs 20 inches

b) Run flats vs non run flats 

c) Bridgestone vs Michelin tyres

Options I can think of

a) Change RF to NRF with Michelin Cross Climate 2

b) Change 20 inches wheels to 18 inches wheels

c) Change RF Bridgestones to some other quieter Run flats.

Opinions please!! Happy to know if there are other options to reduce the road noise.

Thank you in advance.

Pavan  

 

 

I ran a NX450H for 2 years and didn't experience any annoying road noise issues with the Bridgestone RF tyres. As I have said on this forum previously I was not a great fan of RFT's but having then suffered a puncture on a motorway I appreciate the practicality of these. If I could have specified these on my RX450h+ I would have!

[Scotlex]

14 hours ago, Ken R said:

I ran a NX450H for 2 years and didn't experience any annoying road noise issues with the Bridgestone RF tyres. As I have said on this forum previously I was not a great fan of RFT's but having then suffered a puncture on a motorway I appreciate the practicality of these. If I could have specified these on my RX450h+ I would have!

I'm not a fan of Bridgestone or RFT's but am not aware of any great annoying road noise. Given that the NX in electric mode is pretty quiet I'm sure I would have noticed.

Some road surfaces are noisier than others so perhaps your area has noisier roads.

I'm not suggesting that you should move house 😅.

Try the Michelins first 😃

[Pavan]

Thank all for the suggestions !! 

Quick question, Do i have to inform my insurance company before I change my RFT to Non-RFTs? Tyre dealer near my house was suggesting to it to avoid any insurance claim issues.

 

[stepppy]

1 hour ago, Pavan said:

Thank all for the suggestions !! 

Quick question, Do i have to inform my insurance company before I change my RFT to Non-RFTs? Tyre dealer near my house was suggesting to it to avoid any insurance claim issues.

 

As you are straying away from the standard specification of the car, I would definitely contact them... better to be safe than sorry.  

Changing to a different brand of run flats would be fine, but you are in essence taking away a safety element, so I would check.  Personally if my NX had run flats I wouldn't change them for that reason, but luckily my 18's are standard tyres.

[Pavan]

29 minutes ago, stepppy said:

As you are straying away from the standard specification of the car, I would definitely contact them... better to be safe than sorry.  

Changing to a different brand of run flats would be fine, but you are in essence taking away a safety element, so I would check.  Personally if my NX had run flats I wouldn't change them for that reason, but luckily my 18's are standard tyres.

Make sense. I just called my insurance and they confirmed that it will not have any issues with changing as long as it is like for like. 

[NemesisUK]

37 minutes ago, Pavan said:

Make sense. I just called my insurance and they confirmed that it will not have any issues with changing as long as it is like for like. 

What does that actually mean, "like for like"? 

[stepppy]

28 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

What does that actually mean, "like for like"? 

I would interpret that to mean run flats for run flats, so I would want further clarification unless that has already been established. 

[Alan Thompson]

I have an NX450h+ with 20" Bridgestone RFTs and I can't say I've noticed excessive road noise.

There is one simple (and free) solution. Turn the music up!

[Pavan]

16 hours ago, stepppy said:

I would interpret that to mean run flats for run flats, so I would want further clarification unless that has already been established. 

Like for like as confirmed by the insurance company means as long as dimensions and load rating are same, we can change RF to NRF. Apologies for the confusion. 

[stepppy]

58 minutes ago, Pavan said:

Like for like as confirmed by the insurance company means as long as dimensions and load rating are same, we can change RF to NRF. Apologies for the confusion. 

Perfect, that’s good news 😃

[Pavan]

Thank you for all the suggestions. Has anyone replaced Run flats with non Run flats. Any first hand reviews or impressions?

[Pavan]

On 10/14/2024 at 9:40 AM, Pavan said:

Thank you for all the suggestions. Has anyone replaced Run flats with non Run flats. Any first hand reviews or impressions?

anyone?? I can't believe that I am the only one to replace my Run Flats 😞

[Scotlex]

This is the first time that I have had run flat tyres. (I would rather have a spare wheel!)

I believe a lot of BMW owners change to "normal tyres" because of cost and ride quality.

[Jumper68Y]

On 10/8/2024 at 9:18 PM, Ken R said:

I ran a NX450H for 2 years and didn't experience any annoying road noise issues with the Bridgestone RF tyres. As I have said on this forum previously I was not a great fan of RFT's but having then suffered a puncture on a motorway I appreciate the practicality of these. If I could have specified these on my RX450h+ I would have!

I thought all the NX450H models came with Run Flats? A quick google turns up them being £340 a corner so quite a pricey option.

I assume you can just change them to a non run flat without much issue, but again assume you can not mix run flats and non run flats. 

 

[Ken R]

No. The premium model comes with 18" wheels and "standard" tyres. Premium Plus pack and all grades above have the 20" wheels and rft's as far as I am aware.

You can indeed eventually change to non run flats but as you say you shouldn't mix.