Michelin tire noise??

I wore out a pair of Defender LTXs prematurely on my 2013 F-150.  Bad alignment. That part was my fault. 
 

Bought a new pair of tires. Had a shop remove a "leveling kit" the previous owner had put on the truck (1" shims on the top of the front struts), and immediately noticed loud road noise on the new tires. Took it in for an alignment, and that didn't correct the noise. 
 

Most of the alignment specs are now within spec, except for the camber and cross caster. I'm told the only way to adjust these is with after market adjusters (is that true?)

It sounds like I am riding on snow tires.   Frequency changes with speed, exactly like noisy tires.
 

I've used these tires before and never had this problem. Michelins are some of the quietest tires out there. 
 

Any suggestions on what else it could be?

Im beginning to wonder if I got a bad tire from the factory.

FYI... 

The 2 tires went on the front of the truck yesterday morning. I didn't notice the noise (but it was raining hard). 
 

I didn't notice the noise this morning (dry roads, but I hadn't had my coffee yet.  I might have still been asleep).  Took it to a shop first thing to remove the leveling kit, and noticed the noise as soon as I left the shop.  Turned around, put it back on the lift and checked for scrubbing, etc.

Drove straight to the alignment shop (same shop as the tire shop).  They also checked for mechanical issues and found none.

All happened within 1 day, and less than 5 miles total driven. 

Did you loose some factory isolator or something in the lift kit removal?

In reply to MrJoshua :

Hmm... interesting thought. 
 

The leveling kit was rubber, so it would certainly have acted like an isolator (intentionally or otherwise).  But it wasn't OEM, so that doesn't explain it entirely. 
 

There is no way these Michelins should have sounded like this on an OEM setup.  Is there an isolator of some sort on the top of an OEM strut?

I think the camber adjustment on these trucks is to loosen the inner lower control arm bushings and then slide them in and out in the frame and retighten. Frame holes are slotted. 

However, most shops will not do it because it is a pain in the behind to adjust the lcas with a prybar. So they ask you to buy aftermarket adjustment cam bolts that allow you to twist the bolt head instead of using prybars. 

So that might be what you are hearing from the alignment shop.

I just did struts on mine. No parts between strut and frame pocket.

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

Are you saying the camber could be the cause of the road noise?

Except the camber was the same with the old tires, and I didn't have the noise.  (Although they were unevenly worn, so may have been compensating for the camber)

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

...and the shop wasn't trying to upsell me adjustable camber bolts.  They don't do them, because they don't want the liability for after market parts (large national chain)

In reply to SV reX :

No my thought on the noise is you have a bad tire. Swap fronts to rear and see if it changes. 

I was just responding to what the shop told you about aftermarket adjusters.

SV reX said:

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

...and the shop wasn't trying to upsell me adjustable camber bolts.  They don't do them, because they don't want the liability for after market parts (large national chain)

Well then they are simply wrong. You CAN adjust the camber without aftermarket adjusters. It just sucks to do it.

I believe it is also how you adjust caster on the trucks.

I've also heard that many alignment shops are "toe and go" meaning they don't touch the other stuff at all.

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

That's certainly possible. 

Dad's last truck had Michelins and they were hella loud from factory. He drove them 50k, replaced them with new Michelins and they were hella loud. I've never been impressed with their tires

I've run the LTXs on our Rav4, Odyssey, and Pilot. Never had an issue with road noise with them. The Rav4 and Odyssey tend to be loud all in their own, so my ears may not be amazing.

Perhaps the "levelling kit" installation involved removing some rubber isolator parts, and the previous owner threw them away?

The truck has now made 5 separate trips to the shop. We've aligned it, rebalanced all the wheels, and rotated the fronts to the rear. Still the loudest tires I've ever owned. 
 

The most noticeable change was when we swapped them front to rear. It definitely got more muffled, but still very noticeable. I think that rules out rubber isolators, etc. I think it also rules out mechanical issues (like wheel bearings).   If it was a bearing, I wouldn't have noticed a difference when we rotated. 
 

The tread pattern looks identical to my old tires. All were manufactured in Brazil. Date code shows only a month and a half from manufacture, and both tires match. They are not a directional tire. 
 

I'm stumped. 
 

Anyone heard of anything like this with Michelin Defender LTX m/s?  Any recalls, etc?

Michelin generally makes quiet tires and most reviews of the LTX2 indicate low road noise, at this point I'm thinking one or both of the new tires may have been defective in some way, maybe swap the wheels with the new tires on them with another vehicle to confirm?

Road noise.  Interesting.  When I bought the GR86 in May I drove 5 miles to the tire shop and installed Michelin Pilot Sport 2 All Season tires .  So, I really did not have any previous experience with the car/tires.   The setup seems really noisy compared to other cars in our fleet.  The "truck lane" on most interstates is especially loud. I did some research and saw that some California guys are talking about adding more sound deading to gen 2 GR86s to make them quieter.   I do think it is a product of the tires...  YMMV

I've driven over 5,000 miles in the car in 6 weeks... so it must not be bothering me too much.

Hi SV reX, did you confirm this was the tires?

I bought a Toyota Sienna recently that has a set of the same Michelin LTX's and the road noise is horrible. I am thinking about adding sound deadening under the carpet, but I think it is the tires. Wondering if I should replace them, but I hate to waste mostly new tires.

In reply to tedroach :

I did confirm it. Sort of. 
 

I did everything possible- rotated, balanced, swapped, eventually replaced.  I also checked the bearings and the entire rotating drive line.  It wouldn't go away. I finally gave up and decided to live with it. 
 

Then I got a different truck...

I swapped the wheel/ tires off the old one to the new one without any change whatsoever, because I am a cheapass.  It blew my mind when I realized I couldn't hear them in the new truck. 
 

Old truck was an FX4.  New one is a Platinum. Same age. The only thing I can think is that perhaps the Platinum has better sound deadening or something. 
 

So, you might be on to something with that idea. Best of luck!

I know it's a little late now, but I might have the answer. SV reX, I think the key is that you removed the leveling kit.

What I think happened is the leveling kit was installed and then many, many miles were added to the truck. In that time, the front halfshafts (4WD truck, right?) wore themselves internally into a nice happy place at that slightly higher than stock ride height. Then, when you removed the leveling kit the halfshafts are now working in a new place that wasn't the previous happy place. They now have to contact in new areas internally and this can generate a noise just like bad tires. That would also explain why the noise didn't follow the tires onto the new truck, since you didn't move the halfshafts too.

-Sean

Interesting developments. I guess that I will have to try the sound deadening and go from there. I will also check all the suspension parts and door seals, just to rule that out as well. It is fairly quiet at lower speeds, but on the highway it is very loud (but no vibrations).

Thanks for the update!

In reply to ShawneeCreek :

That sounds like a good theory. 
 

I put the old off road tires that came with the old truck back on it, and of course there is still tire noise (there is supposed to be with off-road tires), but it doesn't sound excessive. Might just be that the tire noise now aligns with what my expectations are. 
 

Maybe it's the half shafts. Don't know. I'm content with both trucks.