[NewV90Owner]

Noise cancelling tyres can't work miracles.

Tyre/wheel noise comes in may different forms:

1. Noise from the tyre on the road (classical tyre roar) and this is the value on the tyre label.

2. Noise from the resonating air inside the tyre itself - it is this noise that noise cancelling tyres are focused on.

3. Noise from the the vibrations on the road being transmitted through the tyre to the axle through the suspension through the subframe and then to the shell of the car itself.

Noise cancelling tyres can't do much about 1 or 3.

A wider tyre (for the same profile) has a larger contact area and hence more noise (type 1).

A taller tyre has more damping from road vibrations and hence less noise (type 3).

A tyre with a higher load rating will typically have thicker side walls and hence more type 3 noise.

This is all sensitive to the exact make up of the tyre.

The elephant in the room is that heavier cars have wider tyres and higher load ratings and hence they can be noisy unless heavily sound proofed.

Cars with separate frames can have a high level of isolation between the body and the frame and hence little type 3 noise (older Discovery models and Shoguns for example). Some cars also have excellent subframe isolation (e.g. BMW 5 series).

Lower profile tyres typically have a higher pressure and smaller contact area than higher profile tyres and that is why the wheel width goes up as the profile goes down (as in most Volvos).

This is also why a Ford Fiesta on tiny wheels and tyres is quite quiet!