2012 Passat road noise

[TomB]

And it would be "best" if the other thousand compromises in any car were otherwise. The steel used in cars is not ideal, it's a compromise of cheapness, strength, flexibility resistance to metal fatigue, etc. Why not make cars of titanium and carbon fiber? Most materials in cars are calculated to only last a certain time. Given the lifespan of cars, why put extremely durable materials in the car and have to raise the price? Safety is a compromise. It's been known for a long time that if cars incorporated roll cages and five-point harnesses and were forced to wear Nomex suits like race drivers, a significant number of traffic fatalities could be prevented. I'm sure you can fill in the rest of the blanks for yourself. Do all these things and the sticker on a Passat would have as many digits as a Bugatti Veyron.

For those of us in climates that require winter traction tires, this is a reasonable thing we can do to get better performance in BOTH seasons. Whereas with the ALL seasons we would not fair well at all.

 

[Knarrly Viking]

Traction tires. I'm assuming you mean studded tires. Those things are what's eatten wheel tracks into I-5 between Seattle and Tacoma. Talk about road noise; that's roads noise from those lousy studded-tire eatten roads. A good set of Michelin All-Season Mud + Snow have never failed me, even on hills in Washington, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Maryland. You just have to know how to drive in snow. Helps if you have a FWD, AWD, or 4WD vehicle.

 

[JARED_LA]

Took receipt of my TDI SEL with Hankook's this Sunday and put 300+ miles and driving on concrete pavement is VERY loud and bumpy. On asphalt it is much quieter. Do you think these tires are causing this? I'm coming from a 2006 Ford F150 KR 4x4 (200,000 miles) and it seems to ride better and quieter on this type of pavement. I wanted to drive to my nearest tire dealer and scrap those tires for new ones!

 

[TomB]

Traction tires. I'm assuming you mean studded tires. Those things are what's eatten wheel tracks into I-5 between Seattle and Tacoma. Talk about road noise; that's roads noise from those lousy studded-tire eatten roads. A good set of Michelin All-Season Mud + Snow have never failed me, even on hills in Washington, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Maryland. You just have to know how to drive in snow. Helps if you have a FWD, AWD, or 4WD vehicle.

I despise studded snow. I have Blizzaks and use the cable chains on all four wheels when needed.

Studded snows on WET pavement are a HAZARD to everyone around you. Your stopping distance is dramatically decreased and with our continuously wet pavement in the NW that is all the time. Studs are only good on ICE.

 

[TomB]

Took receipt of my TDI SEL with Hankook's this Sunday and put 300+ miles and driving on concrete pavement is VERY loud and bumpy. On asphalt it is much quieter. Do you think these tires are causing this? I'm coming from a 2006 Ford F150 KR 4x4 (200,000 miles) and it seems to ride better and quieter on this type of pavement. I wanted to drive to my nearest tire dealer and scrap those tires for new ones!

Yep. I rented a 2012 Passat last weekend in California and it had the Continentals. They were QUIET! It is the tires, not the car.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Agreed. The Hankooks are very noisy.

 

[APT]

My Feb 2012 build SEL came with Bridgestone EL400 that seem just as loud as the Hankooks on the SEL I test drove.

 

[kydsid]

I don't find ours loud at all. Now this is comparing it to a 2006 Pathfinder and 2010 F150. It is much quieter than the pathfinder, and lord if it wasn't I'd be hearing about it because the Passat is HER car.

The Hankooks are however rated at tire rack as not at all good on noise, but when you have driven things that are mostly noisier its nice to actually get in our car.

 

[FSD]

Well, I bought a new Passat sel tdi and after a week with the roads around here, I caved and bought the Michelin's. I am please with them and would say the ride is better and the road noise is a lot less, not gone, but significantly less.

 

[Turtherlips]

Well, I bought a new Passat sel tdi and after a week with the roads around here, I caved and bought the Michelin's. I am please with them and would say the ride is better and the road noise is a lot less, not gone, but significantly less.

For those of you that have upgraded tires, what did you do with the Hankooks? Did the dealer buy them back, ebay...?

 

[darrelld]

For those of you that have upgraded tires, what did you do with the Hankooks? Did the dealer buy them back, ebay...?

Discount Tire gave me $200 for the set of Hankooks with less than 1000 miles.

 

[ValveCoverGasket]

Agreed. The Hankooks are very noisy.

this must be what was on the DSG TDI i test drove a while back. that car was louder inside than my much older mercedes (on ultra hard ecopias nonetheless)... that was probably my main complaint with the passat... good to hear its the tires not the car though

 

[Niner]

this must be what was on the DSG TDI i test drove a while back. that car was louder inside than my much older mercedes (on ultra hard ecopias nonetheless)... that was probably my main complaint with the passat... good to hear its the tires not the car though

The title of this thread is sort of a misonomer... the car is not noisy, the stock Hankook tires are.

 

[verylongdrive]

After 2000 miles in a few days just now, the wind noise was always there an annoying - it was a lot like when GM first had doors with wide window frames that covered up the actual B pillar (like the 91-96 Caprice), and at first had no seal between the front and rear doors. Somewhat loud, and you wonder how they could not catch this early enough to fix it - particularly since there seems to be good rubber sealing etc., and the mirrors seem to be the likely culprits - unless it's the shape of the hood rear edge/water tray/etc.

Sometimes I can an open-door-like noise from the center rear, as if from the sharkfin antenna. A leak?

With the many varied roads over these 2k miles, I find that the Hankooks are silent when the road would be silent for any other tire, but given any amount of "loud" road, they are way louder than any crap tire I've ever had the misfortune to drive on.
This was at times so deafening, on road surfaces considered normal enough to be used on all lanes of an interstate highway with no menas of escape for 10-20 miles in a row, that I'm wondering how to complain to VW about it - the demo I test-drove certainly didn't use this junk.

 

[JARED_LA]

After 2000 miles in a few days just now, the wind noise was always there an annoying - it was a lot like when GM first had doors with wide window frames that covered up the actual B pillar (like the 91-96 Caprice), and at first had no seal between the front and rear doors. Somewhat loud, and you wonder how they could not catch this early enough to fix it - particularly since there seems to be good rubber sealing etc., and the mirrors seem to be the likely culprits - unless it's the shape of the hood rear edge/water tray/etc.

Sometimes I can an open-door-like noise from the center rear, as if from the sharkfin antenna. A leak?

With the many varied roads over these 2k miles, I find that the Hankooks are silent when the road would be silent for any other tire, but given any amount of "loud" road, they are way louder than any crap tire I've ever had the misfortune to drive on.
This was at times so deafening, on road surfaces considered normal enough to be used on all lanes of an interstate highway with no menas of escape for 10-20 miles in a row, that I'm wondering how to complain to VW about it - the demo I test-drove certainly didn't use this junk.

Check your air pressure. Made a world of difference for me. Not where I would like, but acceptable.

 

[FSD]

Same for me, $170 a tire installed and a $70 mail in rebate.

Discount Tire gave me $200 for the set of Hankooks with less than 1000 miles.

 

[EJS]

.........Seriously, you need to drive the 2005 Passat then you know what a real car drives like. The 2009 Jetta is a class below the Passat in handling and ride.

You can not compare them. The Passat was designed for a more "floaty/boaty" ride, the Jetta a more sporty ride (harsher).

Tires can make all the difference, my '09 came with POS Bridgestones.......replaced them with Cooper Zeon RS3-A. Made all the difference in the world.

 

[TomB]

You can not compare them. The Passat was designed for a more "floaty/boaty" ride, the Jetta a more sporty ride (harsher).

There is nothing floaty/boaty about the Passat ride and handling. It was a totally superior suspension system than the Jettas with many components and design borrowed from the A6.

The Jetta that I test drove did not handle sporty, it handled harsh. Every bump was thoroughly transmitted into the cabin your body with the noise as well. I sat in the back seat for part of the ride and upon hitting a pothole it was transmitted right into your back.

 

[JackMars]

Noise ?

It's the tires. My came with Bridgestones, loud as Wallmart no name tires. My winter tires were better. Switching to Michellins soon.

 

[CalibreTDI]

It's the tires. My came with Bridgestones, loud as Wallmart no name tires. My winter tires were better. Switching to Michellins soon.

Hmm, I have Contis on mine. Why do these all have different tires on? I have had good luck with the Contis in the past. These current ones are super quite!!!

CalibreTDI

 

[IXLR8]

Hmm, I have Contis on mine. Why do these all have different tires on? I have had good luck with the Contis in the past. These current ones are super quite!!!
CalibreTDI

I talked to my dealer about this and requested my car not have the Hankooks due to all the reports on how noisy they were. He said the factory puts out a bid and orders $100,000.00 worth of tires at a time and when those run out, they put out another bid. I have no idea if this is actually true or not. He said there was no way to know, or any way to control, what tires were coming on the car until it arrived. I told him I wouldn't accept the car with Hankooks on it, he just huffed and ended the conversation.

 

[MyAvocation]

Nothing wrong with sticking to your guns on this, but it really is out of his control. If you're lucky he may agree to swap like-wheels to make you happy. I would not expect this unless he's not discounting much from MSRP. Just keep in mind he has to pay someone to do it, so as a last resort consider offering to pay for the labor if they have what you want on the lot, or $100 markup on the sale price, etc. It's really how bad you want it. It'll certainly cost much more to do this yourself.

 

[tdiatlast]

I agree with ^^^. Dealers have no control over the tires, but if you're lucky, and you have a good rapport with the dealership, they might be able to make something work...it might cost you a few $$$...

 

[TheHardWay]

I test drove two Passats back to back, one with Hankooks and one with the Bridgestones. I found the road noise with the Hankooks to be unacceptable and had that been the only Passat there it would have lost the sale. The Bridgestones are much quieter. Even so, when those are worn I'll certainly opt for something better.

 

[njtdifan]

FWIW I got the Contis on my SE TDI. My friend got Hankooks on 2.5 SE. The driving experience was so bad in hers (extended drive) I begged her to take into a shop to have them looked at. I don't know if it was sidewall flex or what, but highway confidence was major suckage. Traded an 08 Jetta SE with the Contis at 64k miles and the tires were still in good shape.

 

[ColoradoDriver]

Asked my dealer about swapping the tires today, and they don't offer anything like that. Has anyone had any better luck?

My dealer was great! Bought back my original tires at close to what he pays wholesale for them. I then had the dealership mount and balance new tires I bought through Tire Rack. I actually went with a taller size so I could get a better selection of tires. Ended up with 225/50R18. I then altered the speedometer and odometer (using Ross-Tech VCDS) to make them even more accurate with the new tire size than they were with the original tires. Went with Tire Rack's number one rated ultra high performance all season Bridgestone RE970AS. Ride and handle very well, but still a bit noisy.

 

[1alfie]

Have had no problems with the Hankook tires on my Passat. In fact I find them much quieter than the Continentals installed on other VW vehicles I've owned over the years.

 

[Knarrly Viking]

Have had no problems with the Hankook tires on my Passat. In fact I find them much quieter than the Continentals installed on other VW vehicles I've owned over the years.

If your Hankooks are quiet, then you must have really good roads around you. My Hankooks are loud, so loud it's difficult to hear the engine rpms to know when to shift my 6MT.

Even my coworker, who was riding shotgun with me today, said the car was great, but the road noise was deafening.

 

[gergg]

If your Hankooks are quiet, then you must have really good roads around you. My Hankooks are loud, so loud it's difficult to hear the engine rpms to know when to shift my 6MT.

Exactly, my Hankooks are quiet as a large mouse on nice pavement, get them on some ugly roads and they howl.

 

[Ace Deprave]

I just bought my Passat 2 days ago, and it has the Hankooks. While the road noise is noticeable, after driving a 2008 Mazdaspeed3 for the last 3+ years, the Passat is still much quieter in all respects.