Im pretty sure the road noise on the interstate in my 62 is excessive because I cant hear thru my earpiece when Im using the cellphone. (My hearing is fine and the windows are all closed when Im driving.)
Is there anything I can do to reduce the road noise?? Im using radial tires and have already installed new shocks and springs.
Ed
Gday Edward,
I think you have answered your own question.
Radial tyres can be either quiet or very noisy, depending on the brand, tread pattern, and the like.
Goodyear Ducaros are really noisy.
Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV
What pressure are you running the radials at? I would run them at 25lbs. When radials were introduced-in the mid seventies Cadillac ran them at 23lbs when ride and quite were the focal points...until 1980 or so when they started to up the pressure for fuel economy. You could also have a center support bearing making alot of noise in the driveline.
Gday William,
With radial tyre pressures, it is always recommended to run them at least 4 psi above standard pressures when converting from Cross-ply tyres to Radials.
The biggest killer of tyres is over heating, and radials dont like to be overheated.
I run my 60 CDV on 32 psi, and if going on a trip at highway speeds, I will inflate them to 34 or more.
Running them too low might give a, smoothish ride, but the vehicle will wander all over the place like a drunken bridesmaid. This is dangerous.
Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV
I agree with Bruce on tire pressure. When I first put the Coker WWWs on my 57 I was very dissatisfied with the ride and noise. I had inflated them at 36psi per Cokers specs. I called Coker and the lowest they would go along with is 32psi. I tried a going lower but the tires warmed up more than I was comfortable with, at 32 they stay cool. The ride improved at 32 and only slightly more at less than 30. The road noise is still more than I am happy with. I am going to pull the driveshaft when I park it for the winter and replace the carrier bearing and u-joints before spring. The Flowmasters are also going away in search of a quieter ride.
Not sure how many new Cadillacs would have been sold if running them at the recommended pressure at the time would have caused them to drive like drunken bridesmaids. The later increase in pressure by Cadillac was due to fuel economy reasons (cafe), if you wanted a car to handle in the 70s...you bought an import with 45lbs in the tires.
How about undercoating?
-d
How exactly were you able to determine that your tires ran at a temperature higher than you were comfortable with at the lower pressure and ran cool at the higher pressure? Higher pressures theoretically means lower (and safer) tire temperatures, but I dont know of a way for the driver to determine his tire temperatures while driving.
I used a very low tech method, I felt of them after 100+ miles at 70mph, tires hold their heat for some time after stopping. I was going on a little road trip one day and drove one way with 32psi and returned with 26 psi. I made it a point to stop and feel the tires shortly after leaving the freeway each time. There was a noticable difference, they were not too hot to touch but were definitely warmer. I am sure it would not be a problem with the typical driving done with these cars unless you are going for an extended road trip. I decided I would follow Cokers advice.
Higher tire pressure and lower heat are definitely related. I do not know if you follow Nascar or not but during last weekends Nextel cup race at Lowes Motor Speedway, Nascar mandated a minimum tire pressure due to all the tire failures experienced during the race.
When a truck driver goes through a DOT inspection there will most likely be a check that the tires are inflated to a minimum psi. Here in Minnesota you very seldom see truck tire treads laying on the freeways in the winter but you see many in the summer.
I go by the tread wear, on my Van I ran the tires at 35 psi and they had excessive wear in the center. Dropped them down to 32 psi and they trued up pretty good.
Max inflation is 50 psi, good for heavy loads.
A non contact infra red temperature gage works well to measure tire tempratures. A gage that measures from below Zero to 500 deg F costs in the neighborhood of $50 - $100 and is very usefull in diagnosing temperature related problems with the engine. Most of them now have a laser pointer attached so that you know where they are measuring.