Is there a low noise A/T?

[Mundy55]

I have had BFG A/T KO2s since new on my Pajero and have done 96k km on them over 4 years, so from a wearing point of view, very happy. The only thing is they are a bit noisy but I'm not sure if its the tyres or the relatively poor noise attenuation of the Pajero. They've got about another 10k in them before I need to replace. I am considering those again as well as Cooper ST Maxx's Or AT3's.

Does anyone have any experiece or knowledge on which of those, or other similar tyres are significantly quieter than the others?

Given the wear life I have had from the KO2s, price isn't a major factor for me. Wear and quietness are. I do a lot of touring kms towing a camper plus occasional off-roading with my 4wd club (eg Vic high country, Gardens of Stone, Caves to Caves).

Any advice appreciated.

[old Jack]

Hi Mundy,

All tyre's become noisier as they wear and age, even HT's.
The more aggressive the tread pattern the noisier the tyre's will become especially as they wear. New tyre's are much quieter than worn tyre's so even if you fit BFG's again then they will be quieter.

Primary role of any tyre is to provide traction in all conditions, if you are always on bitumen then a HT in a P construction is quiet and comfortable. An AT is a compromise tyre between on-road and off road, just like the Pajero is a compromise between on and off road. Factory fit tyre's are passenger construction mild AT tyre's, go up a step in tread aggression and noise, and there is a whole range to choose from in both passenger, passenger XL and light truck 8 ply construction, with the light truck construction being the strongest. Go up another step in off road ability and toughness to 10ply LT and you have a choice in tread patterns from AT through to MT but this comes at a higher unit purchase price, higher fuel consumption and more noise.

BFG are at the aggressive end of the AT scale, next step up is the Hybrid AT/MT like Cooper ST Maxx, Mickey Thompson ATZ P3, Kumho MT 51 and Goodyear DuraTrac.

Cooper AT3, Toyo OPAT AT2, Bridgestone D697, Hankook ATM RF10, Falken Wildpeak and dozens of other similar tyre's are less aggressive than the BFG and come in a range of P and LT construction.

The Cooper ST Maxx is the tyre of choice for me, I am on my 3rd set, each lasting about 70,000kms but I change tyre's once they are worn to a tread depth of 3-5mm.
They are noisy and use more fuel, but this is the price I choose to pay for the on and off road performance, load carrying and durability I require. To keep the noise down they need to be rotated every 5,000kms ideally, 7,500kms at the latest.

As the saying goes "no such thing as bad tyre's just abad choices for the application".

OJ.

[aussieintas]

Mundy55, when I got my NS it had BFG KO2's on it with around 5mm tread left. They were as noisy as anything so changed them out to new tyres.......quiet as!

[wanderay]

FYI - my son has new Ko2s on his NW Pajero and they are much noisier than my half worn D697's on an NT Pajero. Yes the noise damping is poor so I go with quieter tyres, no punctures yet in 2 sets of 697's (they last about 60,000 and cost about $215 each).

[erad]

I have found over the years that any tyre with a "blocky" type tread pattern seems to be noisier than the ones with a pattern more like a highway design. Of course, the blocky type patterns have more grip when it matters offroad. I have Hankook AT tyres on my Pajero NW. They were quiet and generally they still are. When they get hot, I seem to notice them more than when they are warm. When they are really cold (around zero Deg C), I seem to hear them more. Overall, I think they are not too noisy as yet. They are probably half worn now so I expect that the noise will increase from here on.

I just bought 4 new tyres for my wife's Outlander - Michelin Primacy. Thusfar they seem to be quieter that the Dunlop Grandtrek tyres which were fitted as original equipment. They were noisy from the start. I am taking a gamble on the Michelins - I know they can be noisy, but I am a Michelin man from way back - hell I am even built like him! The Outie tyres were damned expensive - they were dearer than the Hankooks I have on the Pajero. Mongrel size I guess - 215/70/16 vs 275/75/17 for the Pajero.

[geopaj]

I’ve previously had Bridgestone b697s and BFG AT2. The Bridgestones were quite but suffered a LOT of punches off-road. The BFG ATs has great off-road grip but we’re really noisy.
I’m currently running the new Cooper AT3 tires. They are heaps quieter that the previous BFGs (even the wife noticed the Pajero was unusually quiet after they were fitted - she normally never notices that type of thing. (17 inch rims)

I also have a set of 18 inche rims with the old previous Cooper AT3 tires. They are also quite compared to the BFGs.

[Seigried]

Im currently running mickey thompson baja stz's on the NS. Not even remotely quiet.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Mundy55]

Thanks for all the comments. Think I'll go for the AT3s. Geopaj, what are the load and speed ratings of your tyres? I am wondering if, alll other things being equal, a 110/Q tyre is quieter than, say, a 119/T tyre.

[old Jack]

Hi Mundy,

The only possible reasons the 110 load index passenger construction tyre might be slightly quieter than the 119 load index 10 ply Light Truck construction tyre is the tread depth on the passenger construction tyre is 9.9 to 10.3 mm deep compared to the 10 ply light truck constriction has 12.7mm tread depth and the passenger construction tyre will flex more easily as it rotates.

The Cooper AT3 4S is the passenger construction version and has tread depths of around 10mm deep and they will not last as long or be as strong as the AT3 LT which are 10 ply light truck construction with 12,7mm deep tread.

Neither of the Cooper AT3 will give the same off road traction as the BFG KO2 but they will be quieter and the AT3 LT version will be as strong.

The AT3 4S will be slightly cheaper to purchase but will not last as many kms compared to the AT3 LT, the AT3 4S should be slightly more fuel efficient than the AT3 LT of the same size.

OJ.

[geopaj]

Thanks for all the comments. Think I'll go for the AT3s. Geopaj, what are the load and speed ratings of your tyres? I am wondering if, alll other things being equal, a 110/Q tyre is quieter than, say, a 119/T tyre.

Hi, the 17” Cooper AT3s I’m running are LT with a load rating of 120 (10ply). I still have one of the BFGs at home so can check their load rating also but IIRC it is also 120.

[Mundy55]

Thanks, OJ and Geopaj.

[Patagonia]

Ive used lately Pirelli ATR, Cooper AT3, BFG KO and Toyo Opat2, the Pirelli are far less noisy than the other 2 (though when cornering at speed they make more noise than straight) Regarding traction at least in mild offroad didint noticed big differences, in mud dont know. Also found some grip problems with the Opat2 and KO in wet bitumen.

[Seigried]

I was running perelli atr's on both car, and still run them on the nw. Much quieter than the factory spec dunlops. They are also much better off road then they get given credit for. I would have put another set on the NS, but it was finding the limits off road (powdery hill climbs, odd angles etc)and causing the traction control alarms to turn on. As I was due for tyres anyway I decided on a more offroad bias tyre. Now i just need to put some decent sound deadner in, gxl ns has bugger all.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk