I finally upgraded my stock 16" steelies yesterday. They are 18x7.5 Murano SE rims wrapped in 235/40/18 front and 245/40/18 rear. They look fantastic, but I noticed it's a lot noisier than before, is that normal???

Is it because:

- Rubbing (my max is NOT lowered)?
- Water inside the tires (they didn't wipe it dry before fitting onto the rims)?
- Tread pattern is facing the wrong direction?

If there's water inside, would it eventually evaporate? Common sense says it wouldn't, since no air can escape.

How should the tread pattern be? The tire surface that's on contact with the ground should be:

- "| / /\ \ |" for the front (better traction for acceleration)?

- "| \ \/ / |" for the rear (better traction for breaking)?

Please help! TIA.

Any advice? I may have to double post in the 5th Gen section...

Which tires are on the wheels? That may have something to do with it. More aggressive tread pattern. Also, if they are directional tires, make sure you have them rotating correctly.

Sounds like you reversed two of the tires. They are directional and they all need to face forward. I//\\I . Plus your running a much bigger tire with a lower profile so the road noise is normal. As for water being in the tire, I don't think that'll evaporate in an air tight enclosure, are you sure there's water in there?

I checked the directions, there are "Rotation ->" marks on each tire, and they all seems to point toward the front of the car, so I guess they were mounted correctly.

Front:
- Dunlop SP Sport 8000
- Pattern on contact with ground "| \ \/ / |"
- 235/40/18
- "Rotation ->" sign pointing toward front of car

Rear:
- Bridgestone Pentenza 040
- Pattern on contact with ground "| / /\ \ |"
- 245/40/18
- "Rotation ->" sign pointing toward front of car

It's weird the tread patterns are opposite (front vs. rear), should I ignore the "Rotation ->" sign and rearrange it?

No, always follow the rotation posted on the sidewall. Just ignore the tire noise.

I guess it's normal then. I've never driven a car with low profile tires, this is the first time for me. If it sounds this noisy for my 18"s, I can't imagine how your 19's sound like =P Maybe I should switch to 17"s, or get different set of 18" tires.