Bridgestone Turanza Or Dunlop D8z?

[willydoit]

Hi All,

I currently have D8Z's fited to my 98 ls400 they are the original tyres supplied with the car when new, the car has done a genuine 20,000 miles but the last MOT said the fronts need changing soon due to the outer edge wearing due to power steering.

I have been dreading this moment with D8Z's being hard to find and being paranoid about roadnoise, everyone says the D8Z's are the quietest although mine are noisy in my opinion on most of the lousy road surfaces round here, certainly roadnoise is of a higher frequency than I experienced in my Jaguar XJ8 with pirellis fitted but am not sure if this may be partly due to the age of the tyres, would they deteriorate after almost 10 years in such a way as to increase road noise?

My local tyre suppliers have just telephoned to say they can get me Japanese DX8's but I also hear good things about the Bridgestone Turanza ER300so I am now in a bit of a quandry.

So at long last my question is has anyone experienced both these tyres and does anyone have any particular advice, the car is not driven hard and only completes around 10k per year now so the most important issue is to eleiminate as much road noise as possible.

Any help and suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your time.

[passman53]

Hello,

I've a 98 400 too and it has bridgestones fitted (on when I got it).

I am quite happy with these and do not think they produce much noise. The problem is that "noise" is a personal opinion, I suppose it depends on how good your hearing is.

[JellyBean]

Why not read my posting on the thread headed "Kumho Kh11", on Nov 11th?

Meanwhile, I am hoping someone will respond to it - it should be of interest to all of us.

[Chris Skelton]

As I've posted before; it's the stupid policy in this country to use rough road surfaces to PRODUCE noise! The concept is that you'll drive slower if you can hear this! (Anyone noticed anyone slowing down lately?) In Germany, the roads are silent I believe, and here in Bristol they tried using this surface once as an experiment,(but didn't continue, the fools!).

Can't comment on Bridgestones, but Dunlops are fine on mine. Don't forget to rotate (diagonally every few 0000s miles) to even the wear. (And get all four wheels done/balanced. Preferably at Wheels-in-motion! There's aplug for a fellow member!) :winky:

[willydoit]

I just knew someone would throw another alternative into the hat, unless someone can give a good reason not to I am looking to make my decision over one of the two I have narrowed it down to, unfortunatelt as Chris said, roads are bad in uk and round here is no exception, basic throw on the chippings and let you bed them in stuff.

Both tyres are costing around the same 117 each fitted and balanced inc vat which is on the pricey side but I need to minimise the road noise, the dunlop would be cheaper in that I have a brand new spare in the boot so would require 1 less, but again it is almost ten years old, so an opinion on whether 10 years deterioration could have any bearing on road noise would be very welcome.

Thanks for the feedback so far. if we could add a few more opinions I would be grateful, I believe Manesh said the Turanza was good a few years back after first buying them, any feedback since?

Anyway guys, thanks for the help so far.

[Haylands]

Hi,

Have a look at recent threads about tyres.... there are a few....

Just used my brand new spare, car is nearly 7 years old and the tyre looks and feels new, I think they are fine when kept in the boot and away from sunlight which will decay the rubber and harden it.

Personally having had cheap tyres on the car when I bought it I would always use the recommended Dunlop’s, yes I can hear road noise still but these cars are the quietest around so all you can hear is tyre noise it’s just that with the Dunlop’s it is a lot less than with other cheap tyres.

If you do a Google image search on the Dunlop D8 (LS400) or the Dunlop sport 270 (LS430) you will see that the tread blocks are very small and that the blocks around the edge of the tyre are of different sizes, this disturbs airflow over the tyre and stops drumming, the small tread blocks are also broken up by more grooves and this reduces noise, apparently the directional tyres with the large V grooves in them are the noisiest... so have a good look at the tyres before you buy them, you want them to look more like the D8's. They is also a difference in the sidewall construction and the rubber compound....

Basically.... pay your money and take your choice, Lexus recommend Dunlop because they worked with Dunlop to create the quietest car in the world and they know more than me so I'll go along with them,

Good luck, let us know what you choose and let us know what they are like

Isn't it great that all we have to worry about is tyre noise, when I ran a Merce**s S class tyre noise was the last thing on my mind all I worried about was if it would still work tomorrow..... mostly it didn't.... well mostly some button or other had forgotten what it was supposed to do and that was on a newer car than my LS430. The buttons on the LS have a much better memory as all of mine can still remember their jobs

Pete

[passman53]

I have just read this months copy of ADI News, A driving instructor mag. They have done a series of tests for tyres. The tyre is 215/55/16 w rated and were fitted to a VW Passat. All tyres were supplied by the manufacturer. They compared things like Braking, wet and dry/ Cornering/handling,wet and dry/rolling resistance and noisr produced inside the car.

The comparison for noise was:

Khumo-Ecsta-----------------69

Hankook----------------------69.5

Fulda--------------------------69.5

Maxxis------------------------69.6

Matador---------------------- 70

Uniroyal---------------------- 70

Dunlop------------------------70.5

Yokohama--------------------70.5

BFGoodrich-------------------70.6

Continental-------------------70.7

Goodyear-Hydra grip--------70.7

Bridgestone-E300------------71

Pirelli--P7---------------------71

Michelin-Primacy-------------71.1

Toyo--------------------------71.3

Vredestein-Sport trac 3---- 71.7

The results are in decibels measured inside the car. The article reasons that the human ear can usually hear a difference of 2-3 decibels.

[JellyBean]

I have just read this months copy of ADI News, A driving instructor mag. They have done a series of tests for tyres. The tyre is 215/55/16 w rated and were fitted to a VW Passat. All tyres were supplied by the manufacturer. They compared things like Braking, wet and dry/ Cornering/handling,wet and dry/rolling resistance and noisr produced inside the car.

The comparison for noise was:

Khumo-Ecsta-----------------69

Hankook----------------------69.5

Fulda--------------------------69.5

Maxxis------------------------69.6

Matador---------------------- 70

Uniroyal---------------------- 70

Dunlop------------------------70.5

Yokohama--------------------70.5

BFGoodrich-------------------70.6

Continental-------------------70.7

Goodyear-Hydra grip--------70.7

Bridgestone-E300------------71

Pirelli--P7---------------------71

Michelin-Primacy-------------71.1

Toyo--------------------------71.3

Vredestein-Sport trac 3---- 71.7

The results are in decibels measured inside the car. The article reasons that the human ear can usually hear a difference of 2-3 decibels.

VERY interesting, but no Falkens tested!

[willydoit]

That all looks interesting, the Khumo would seem to be the quietest and the dunlop quieter than the Bridgestone, just, depends which Dunlop model they tested, the info relating to the tread pattern on D8s makes sense, so at present am leaning towards the Dunlop, would love to know what the situation is with the age of the tyres as Petes comments regarding hardening of the rubber would obviously increase road noise, therefore should I replace them all to get the quietest ride? having only done 20,000 miles the rears are probably fine, will check them tomorrow, what I amy do is put two new ones on the front, and swap one of the rears for the spare, does that make sense to everyone?

Anyway thanks for the feedback so far, will probably make a decision on Thursday so just time for a last minute flurry of advice :winky:

[chrisfs]

I'm not an expert, but I would have thought one 20,000 mile tyre and unused one on the same axle would not be a good idea.